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�� 2.5 stars ��

What to Expect:
�� Hate-to-Love
�� Reluctant Allies
�� Opposites Attract
�� Slow Burn
�� Forced Proximity
�� Adventure Rom-Com
�� Stand-alone
�� The Mummy Vibes
�� Ancient Curse
�� Third Person POV

With a few changes, I think I could have loved this, but there were some issues I just couldn’t get past. My biggest hang up was the FMC. After following the clues left in his journal, Margot discovers that the MMC (Van) was turned to stone nearly a hundred years ago and she is miraculously able to bring him back to life. This would be an absolutely amazing and terrifying event to witness for her, but can you imagine how traumatic it would have been for him? Any normal person would treat him with kindness and explain what happened to him with care. Not Margot, she immediately starts arguing with him about unimportant things and unceremoniously reveals to him that he had been a statue for 100 years without an ounce of empathy.

She is laser focus on her desire to find the shards and put together the vase and seems unconcerned by what that could mean for Van (you will see that it means a lot). At the very least you would think they would both be concerned about being turned into a statue for good, but I’m not sure that thought ever even crossed their minds. At one point during a discussion/argument she tells him something along the lines of “at least everyone who hated you is dead.�� I was shocked by this line. Honestly, how inconsiderate and unfeeling can a person be?

I guess it’s really just the FMC that needed some tweaks. I think the author was trying too hard to make this enemies-to-lovers. Yes, we love that trope, but not everything needs to be enemies-to-lovers and I think this is a good example of that. I would have much rather she have shown him empathy and support as the only person in the world who knew what he had been through. This had so much potential! I really wish I had loved it more!

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Pre-read: Whoever is doing this author’s cover art deserves a raise. 🤌🏻

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