After the first few chapters, I thought this was some blatant feminist circle-jerk for feminists that need a bigger enemy to fight against or something, and that I would just have to dnf pretty soon. But I have to give credit here, it turned out that the author put a lot more nuance into this aspect of the story. It is, unsurprisingly, still very much a feminism-focused story to the point where it can get very annoying even if you don't have any sexist prejudice or backward conservative/traditional/religious ideas about women.
But it isn't some unreasonable and one-sided manifest against men.
With that out of the way, let me get to my actual problems with this book.
I am sad to say that the world-building doesn't hold together in the slightest which compromises the entire plot as well.
The core idea is actually much more interesting in practice than it sounded in the blurb.
And on the surface, at least at first, it seems like this could actually be very entertaining.
Even many of the core plot points and conflicts are well-designed to make for a good story.
But it all frays at the edges from the start until everything unravels.
I usually give a book the benefit of the doubt if it starts with an unbelievable premise or some illogical initial setup. There is this initial grace period where a book can basically ignore common sense to get to some interesting starting point.
But I expect that beyond the premise and its surroundings that a story tries to stay internally consistent.
This one does not. The author just makes shit up along the way constantly without having any backing explanation whatsoever.
And these are not just some minor details, the majority of the entire plot and world-building is made of these bizarre additions.
What is even more baffling to me is that this very much seems like it's all planned out and not just some spur-of-the-moment addition or a discovery-written story.
But the building blocks from which the story is built are one more absurd than the other.

The writing style is very enjoyable, I had no problem connecting to the character and the plot pulled me in but the further I got the more I disconnected because nothing makes any sense towards the end.
The ending is just a "to be continued" without any real climax or anything. But towards the end there the logical consistency problem spread to the characters' reasoning as well which made less and less sense either. This loss in character coherence at the end there is what ultimately made me rate this only 2 stars. ( )

I really enjoyed this. I guess I would call it speculative fantasy as it’s not quite historical. The book is set in a version of modern-day America changed by the discovery of magic 100 years previously, and having a late 19th/early 20th century feel. The setting seemed predominantly Neo-Victorian to me though and, perhaps because of this, I struggled to imagine how some of the more modern elements, such as cars and fridges, fit in. I don’t know if it was the author’s intention but eventually my mind settled on a combination of Suffragette-era and 1950s aesthetic. In any case, the book offers an interesting take on how the discovery of magic might have affected the development of society, particularly regarding women’s rights. I loved the magical system, though I was hoping for more background to it – e.g., how was it discovered, why Old English for the spells? What I really loved most about the book though were the two main characters and the development of their relationship. This was “enemies-to-lovers” done well, with convincing chemistry between two people struggling with an unfair power dynamic (something I found fatally lacking in the last book I read, which just happened to also deal with an uneven power dynamic, ahem, Girl with a Pearl Earring). I’m looking forward to the next book in this series and more from this author. ( )

If you like fantasy romance and feminists, this is the book for you! Enemies-to-lovers (ish). It takes place in the 21st century, but it feels like the suffragette era.

I love Beatrix. She's a woman who knows who she is, and doesn't let a pretty face sway her. I also love how she doesn't let the strong man take on her battles. He helps, but it's still very much hers.

Someone I follow on TikTok randomly recommended this. I'd never heard of it and she really sold it! I immediately went to KU and I was not disappointed. ( )

A bit heavy-handed, but it was a quick read that was nice enough when looking for something to scratch that itch. ( )