In Charm's Way | Lana Harper
"liked the rain, myself. there was a cleansing and just slightly melancholy feel to it that dovetailed with how i felt."
When desperate Delilah casts a dangerous
blood spell to repair her memory, she accidentally becomes a beacon for
malevolent creatures. An attractive stranger shows up
to help her and Delilah feels she has no choice but to trust her as she defends
herself and her town.
The story opens with a disabled Delilah. Her memory keeps slipping
because of an oblivion spell Nina performed in the previous book, and those
first chapters were some good writing, powerfully capturing the confusion,
overwhelm, grief, and anger of when your brain/body no longer works the way you
want it to. Enter
Cat, a half-fae warrior who saves Delilah and sticks around while they get to
the bottom of this mayhem.
I have to say, I hated both of the main characters. I can
understand Delilah’s issues up to a certain point, but I did not like her at
all and found he to be pathetic. She had few redeeming qualities and
basically whined the whole book. I don't get why Delilah is completely closed
off from everyone except her ex-girlfriend for 80% of the book. For a town that
has housed her family for centuries and which she feels a great affinity for,
we never experience her interact with any of her relatives. However, we don't
really learn much about Delilah's past or why she has such a prickly
relationship with Emmy or half the town. It just seems to chalked up to being
Delilah's personality. And for someone
who’s supposedly very closed off she was oddly instantly and fully trusting of
a (presumably dangerous) stranger.
I felt for her situation from the previous book, and was
looking forward to seeing things resolve for her. However, I very quickly
realized that Delilah herself was very unlikable. To hold a grudge or withhold
forgiveness is one thing, but to verbally abuse and take advantage of the
people around you is another. This lasted far too long for me while showing
very few redeeming qualities. I was also really frustrated that she seemed to
covet the position of shopkeeper/historian which was originally not supposed to
be hers, and then she casts this forbidden spell and doesn't want to tell
anyone because she's afraid of being stripped of her position. It was
hypocritical and quite self-righteous of her to put herself in some sort of
moral high ground and then still act in her own self-interest after putting her
town at risk. I enjoy morally grey characters and anti-heroes but this was
written as if we were supposed to sympathize with Delilah, as if this behavior
didn't make her a bit of an entitled brat. In addition, as someone who prides
herself on being logical and discerning she certainly has interesting ways of
justifying her own actions and those of her even more problematic partner.
Catriona has a beautiful name, but is an absolutely insufferable
person. I hated her. I knew from the first moment that she was bad and so did
everyone else except, of course, Delilah. Every scene she was in made me angry. She is a duplicitous monster
hunter from the Shadow Court, who came to Thistle Grove to steal a magic book
and I guess take a witch as a slave back to the Court. She constantly lies to
and manipulates Delilah and I am supposed to root for her as a romantic partner?
In the beginning she helps out by slaying the monsters that Delilah attracts,
but over time she seems to encourage her more destructive and selfish tendencies
which sucked.
This book was a slog. I missed the hustle and bustle of
Thistle Grove’s tight community feel that we got in the first installment. The plot
was overly simple and the tension and suspense was unbelievably low. The way in
which the central problem is solved is incredibly straight forward and the
obstacle to this solution felt very contrived. The romance really didn’t work
either as Delilah seems attracted to literally every woman in town and
I'm at a loss for what makes Cait so special to her in such a short period of
time, especially as we suspect, and later confirm, that she is a terrible person.
Delilah is solely to blame for telling Cait all the secrets
of her town – which are secrets for a reason. And then she just lets her leave
with the book of blood spells and absolutely nothing bad comes of it. So, really
no suspense at all. Delilah forgives Cat
incredibly easily when she turns up at the end of the book out of nowhere
asking to make Thistle Grove her permanent new home, and to my absolute astonishment
she mentions love in relation to this traitorous bitch. Delilah is angry and
then she forgives and that's it. But why all the animosity towards Nina earlier
on, when Cait’s actions are objectively worse?
And finally - did we really need Cait to come back? There
is no future in which I'm okay with these two being together after everything
Cait did to Delilah. I guess we needed the central pair back together for a
HEA, but this one is toxic and unearned. Honestly, Delilah being single and
working on herself would’ve been a happier ending to me. Having their quazi-relationship
being the catalyst for change in Delilah, would be ok. But them being together
after all of that bullshit? No thanks.
Thankfully there is only one more book in this series. I really hate myself for buying books before vetting them well first.
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