ladygrey
Some things I really liked. It was funny and cute and witty. There were certainly some great moments.
But also it felt like Buffy and Supernatural and [b:The Season|3751593|The Season|Sarah MacLean|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1297370321l/3751593._SY75_.jpg|3795453] and I don't know if those are places she drew inspiration from or if they just left such an imprint on me that I'm conjuring the comparison. I'd like to think it's the latter because I'd hate to think once someone does something in a story, no matter what any does thereafter it will draw comparisons no matter how original they're trying to be.
I think my main issue was not connecting with the characters motivations. Elizabeth May did a fine job of explaining them, I just didn't understand them because they're not the choices I would have made. I don't understand why Gavin walked out of the room.
And I don't understand why she said she only had platonic affection for him when they flirted and were literally perfect for each other and moved in perfect harmony. And were so good together.
Though I suppose if I was the eighteen year old version of myself I might have preferred the alluring, mysterious guy I fought with.
Kieran made sense to me. He's like that line from Pirates of the Caribbean. "I'm dishonest. And you can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you have to watch out for. You never know when they're going to do something stupid." Kieran had secrets and dodged the truth and had more character consistency than any of them. Except maybe Derrick.
And for most of the story I had no idea WHY they had to wait. It made sense in the end, but the way it was played there's no way any of the people insisting they had to wait would have known they had to wait. And even then, why wait until everyone's out? Why not just repair it as soon as possible? She tried to explain that but the plausibility was flimsy.
In the end, I think I would have liked it considerably more if I'd believed any of those things (the plot bit or Gavin). Or the clock bit - why running into a clock helped at all I didn't catch.
But I did like 85% of the characters and that one moment and a lot of the dialog. I'm curious to read the next one to see if it makes me like it all more or less. I didn't even mind the gigantic cliffhanger, though I think I'd seen that mentioned somewhere so I'd steeled myself.