Book Review: Ladybirds by R. Raeta

Genre(s): Romance

Book Synopsis:

Miracles don’t come free and words are binding…

His miracles have a cursed edge, but he’s not the villain Sara expected. Still, she’s not exactly thrilled about being stuck with a centuries old ghost with a flair for the dramatic and a nasty habit of pushing her buttons just for the fun of it. With his penchant for boredom—and the fact that she’s the only one able to see and hear him—he’s about as common as her shadow and as welcome as mold.

Even if he is pretty handy in her British Literature class.

Review:

In classic me fashion, I picked up this book without reading the synopsis (it was this month’s book club pick). I didn’t know what I was getting into—and even after reading the synopsis for this post, I’m not sure it (or the cover) really does the book justice.

At the beginning of the story, Sara makes an unwitting bargain with Seth. He offers to save her boyfriend’s life in exchange for her soul. She thinks she’s crazy, but soon realizes he wasn’t lying. Her boyfriend survives, but has no memory of her. And she’s stuck with Seth, an entity only she can see and hear. She’s understandably frustrated and blames him for her boyfriend’s condition. All of this happens very early on in the book.

Sara has her share of trauma and grief beyond what I mentioned above. This is definitely a book that pulls on the heartstrings a bit. Sara was a relatable character (at least, for me) and I really loved Seth. Moreso at the end than at he beginning. And I loved the book’s ending—after all the grief and pain, they were both happy.

Ladybirds is very well written. I liked the story, and I loved the characters, but I have to say this (and it is 100% a me thing): I’m not a fan of third-person/present tense. I had a tough time with it, and never managed to become fully immersed in the world. But the story was wonderful and the characters were great.

For those who don’t mind third-person/present, this is definitely worthy of a 5-star rating (I can appreciate the artistry of the writing, even if it didn’t work for me specifically. It really was well done.)

Author website: rraeta.com

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