Black Bird of the Gallows
I wish I would have liked this better than I ended up doing. It took me a while to read this, and then another while to work out what I didn't really like about it.
In fact I love the idea behind it.
The world building is imaginative and I loved the beekeepers and harbinger of death bits.
The story line left me divided. I loved the first half. The first bit of romance. But I wasn't a huge fan of the second part of the romance. It felt too fast too much and suddenly their attraction felt too melodramatic too put on.
Same goes for the plot. I was intrigued in the beginning, then about 60%in I kinda lost interest. I knew where it was going and frankly some of the turns felt too convenient and way too neat.
The writing style was ok. It's a bit too simplistic at times for my taste and some of the dialogues felt a bit generic.
Last but not least, the character building. Again, I felt that the first part was done better than the second part. I liked Angie and her friends. I got her insecurities, liked her relationship with her father and her friends. I loved Reece. The cast in general was interesting, even if there were a few generic support cast members thrown in. In the second part, however I felt less and less connected to the characters. I think partly this is due to the plot taking over. There was loads happening, one calamity after the other. But somehow, I found Angie, less relatable as well. It was too fast of a shift of emotions, it felt a bit unreal.
So while I think this is a really neat idea and though I did like the end, a lot. I found myself not quite convinced. It's somewhere between ok and good. So 2.5 Stars. But because I loved the first half and I adore the cover.. I rounded it up.