let's talk about A R Cs

Let's talk about you and me

Let's talk about all the good things

And the bad things that may be

If you did not sing that in your head, then you need to go watch Pitch Perfect and pay close attention to the riff off. And if you don't know what a riff off is, well then you need a movication.

But anyways . . . ARCs. Or advanced reader's copy. Every true reader's dream to own, yet no one seems to know how to get one. Receiving an ARC means you get to read the book before everyone else. You typically have to leave an honest review of the book across different platforms. This creates buzz for the book and helps new reader's find it. It helps the author earn money and see what is working and not working in their novels.

Recently, one of my favorite authors, Katie McGarry, posted on Instagram asking if people were interested in being part of a review team. Being part of this team means you get an ARC of the book in exchange for leaving a review of it. Naturally, I signed up and got an ARC of McGarry's latest book A Wicked and Beautiful Garden. I got right to work reading the book and it took way longer than I expected it to, but I finished. Unfortunately, I was not as impressed with the book as I had hoped.

As per the agreement, this is my review:

I didn’t hate this book. I love Katie McGarry and her style of writing. This book was intended to be different from her other books but that is where the book fell short. McGarry is a young adult romance writer. Her books are coming of age and all about growing up.

A Wicked and Beautiful Garden is McGarry's first adult novel that took a dip into the fantasy genre. McGarry should have stuck with her YA romances.

The premise of this story is that Cassie (the MC) reconnects with an old love that she thought was dead. She also finds out she is a witch and has this weird connection with a baby that is said to be the Fae queen. The Fae are fallen angels who live to protect humans and the earth. Cassie’s old love is a Fae. So as she is finding Orion again and figuring out she is a witch, there is this underlying idea of finding the baby.

Overall, the I liked the idea of this novel. I can see where McGarry was trying to go, however, it was not executed well. I felt like most of the book was too focused on Cassie learning what and who she is rather than the intense plot line. There was also this idea of a budding romance with her old love, but the way that was delivered didn’t work well. There were so many different plot lines happening that nothing was fully developed. I didn’t feel the intenseness that I typically feel with books like this. It didn’t feel like it mattered if this baby was found or not. I think focusing just on Cassie and Orion would have given the book more depth. But McGarry tried to focus on all these different points making it hard for me to enjoy any of them.

I also found the flashbacks and dreams Cassie was having to be jarring. I couldn’t really keep track of what was happening in the story and what was just a dream. Not that Cassie really could either.

All in all, the book was okay, but I had higher expectations for it. I’m excited for the sequel to come out and I’m hoping with how much was laid out in the first one, the second will have more action to it.

Rating: 3/5 stars

I will always love Katie McGarry and her novels. Any of her typical young adult romances are amazing. This just wasn't her best or my favorite. But . . . I encourage you to check out Say You'll Remember Me, Thunder Road Series, Only a Breath Apart, Echoes Between Us, and the Pushing the Limits Series.

-Cath