What do you think?
Rate this book
How Not to Summon Your True Love
Though it doesn't really come as a surprise, Cy is still crushed when he's dumped. His relationship with Alex had lasted longer than all previous attempts, and started promising when Alex had proclaimed he was perfectly okay with Cy being asexual.
On impulse, convinced no one will ever really see him as worthy relationship material, Cy turns to a book that belonged to his late mother, a grimoire of magic spells that obviously won't work. It's a stupid idea, and even if magic was real there's no way a true love summoning spell would work for him...
On impulse, convinced no one will ever really see him as worthy relationship material, Cy turns to a book that belonged to his late mother, a grimoire of magic spells that obviously won't work. It's a stupid idea, and even if magic was real there's no way a true love summoning spell would work for him...
144 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 16, 2016
4 people are currently reading
422 people want to read
About the author
Sasha L. Miller
59 books231 followersSasha L. Miller spends most of her time writing, reading, or playing with all things website design. She loves telling stories, especially romance, because there’s nothing better than giving people their happily ever afters. When not writing, she spends time cooking, harassing her roommates, and playing with her cats.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
February 22, 2016
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Edited to 3 stars, down from 3.5. Didn't hate it but didn't love it.
I liked the concept of this book, and, at the very least, it was a pretty fun story. I really liked the character of Dig, but Cy was on likable for part of the time. For most of the book, he was whiny, negative, and annoying. It made it really hard to root for him to get together with someone as charming as Dig, because, well, I just wanted to smack him. I also found it annoying that they stopped for gas so often. The fact that their car couldn't drive for more than 3 hours on a tank of gas was a little unbelievable. It was a rental car, so it wasn't in bad shape, and most cars now get better gas mileage than that on the interstate at a consistent decent speed. It might be nitpicky, but I swear they were stopping for gas every other page.
I had initially rated this book at 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 because Goodreads hasn't implemented half stars, but I dropped to 3 stars as I was writing this review... mainly because, after some contemplation, I realized the book was pretty much two guys sitting in a car. Nothing much happened. There were a few moments with the black SUVs, etc, but for the most part, it was them, sitting in a car, stopping at gas stations, having the same conversation over and over.
I'll end the review here because if I keep dwelling on it, I'm sure I'll end up taking another star off the rating.
Edited to 3 stars, down from 3.5. Didn't hate it but didn't love it.
I liked the concept of this book, and, at the very least, it was a pretty fun story. I really liked the character of Dig, but Cy was on likable for part of the time. For most of the book, he was whiny, negative, and annoying. It made it really hard to root for him to get together with someone as charming as Dig, because, well, I just wanted to smack him. I also found it annoying that they stopped for gas so often. The fact that their car couldn't drive for more than 3 hours on a tank of gas was a little unbelievable. It was a rental car, so it wasn't in bad shape, and most cars now get better gas mileage than that on the interstate at a consistent decent speed. It might be nitpicky, but I swear they were stopping for gas every other page.
I had initially rated this book at 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 because Goodreads hasn't implemented half stars, but I dropped to 3 stars as I was writing this review... mainly because, after some contemplation, I realized the book was pretty much two guys sitting in a car. Nothing much happened. There were a few moments with the black SUVs, etc, but for the most part, it was them, sitting in a car, stopping at gas stations, having the same conversation over and over.
I'll end the review here because if I keep dwelling on it, I'm sure I'll end up taking another star off the rating.
February 5, 2016
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this book. The writing style was fun, and the plot nicely engaging. I really liked the characters, and it was nice to read a story with an asexual main character. I felt for his fears, and insecurities, and I appreciated how that shaped, but didn't define or limit his character. I thought the ending was nicely done, and I thought it worked well with what I knew of the characters, and their interaction. Another fun story from an author I really like.
I really enjoyed this book. The writing style was fun, and the plot nicely engaging. I really liked the characters, and it was nice to read a story with an asexual main character. I felt for his fears, and insecurities, and I appreciated how that shaped, but didn't define or limit his character. I thought the ending was nicely done, and I thought it worked well with what I knew of the characters, and their interaction. Another fun story from an author I really like.
February 16, 2016
How Not To Summon Your True Love, Sasha L. Miller
Received to review via Netgalley
How Not To Summon Your True Love is apparently part of a project at Less Than Three Press to include more asexual and aromantic characters, which is awesome. It is under the title “Solitary Travelers“, which does raise my eyebrow a bit — why are ace/aro people associated once more with being alone, when it looks like these stories celebrate queerplatonic and asexual relationships too, if not in all of them? But still, it’s a nice idea for a project, and I was pleased to see Sasha L. Miller’s book on Netgalley, since I’ve enjoyed her work before (The Errant Prince).
The story itself is a pretty quick read, with a fairly generic magical world set-up — territories, official relationships between those, magical politics, etc. The main character uses a “true love” spell, which summons a naked, soapy, and rather irritated young man into his dorm room. Things go downhill from there, at least from the point of view of the status quo. Suddenly Cy’s on a roadtrip to Idaho, to take Dig (the guy he summoned) back home.
The romance is fairly incidental; there’s little by way of romantic feelings, and it didn’t feel like Cy was that interested in Dig, even in the sense of having a squish. The ending feels like an epilogue, where they decide to try dating. Still, their relationship is cute, their banter along the way is fun, and it’s nice to see an ace protagonist getting the guy and finding out that hey, turns out he’s ace too.
Originally posted here.
Received to review via Netgalley
How Not To Summon Your True Love is apparently part of a project at Less Than Three Press to include more asexual and aromantic characters, which is awesome. It is under the title “Solitary Travelers“, which does raise my eyebrow a bit — why are ace/aro people associated once more with being alone, when it looks like these stories celebrate queerplatonic and asexual relationships too, if not in all of them? But still, it’s a nice idea for a project, and I was pleased to see Sasha L. Miller’s book on Netgalley, since I’ve enjoyed her work before (The Errant Prince).
The story itself is a pretty quick read, with a fairly generic magical world set-up — territories, official relationships between those, magical politics, etc. The main character uses a “true love” spell, which summons a naked, soapy, and rather irritated young man into his dorm room. Things go downhill from there, at least from the point of view of the status quo. Suddenly Cy’s on a roadtrip to Idaho, to take Dig (the guy he summoned) back home.
The romance is fairly incidental; there’s little by way of romantic feelings, and it didn’t feel like Cy was that interested in Dig, even in the sense of having a squish. The ending feels like an epilogue, where they decide to try dating. Still, their relationship is cute, their banter along the way is fun, and it’s nice to see an ace protagonist getting the guy and finding out that hey, turns out he’s ace too.
Originally posted here.
April 1, 2016
The asexual MC was what lured me into this novella -- in addition that I liked Sasha L. Miller's stories before.
I thought this was cute enough premise. It was refreshing for me, as an asexual, to read about two MCs who don't think about how HOT and SEXY the other person is all the time. Or how they cannot wait to tear each other's clothes and have sex.
Instead we had Cy and Dig doing across states road-trip since Cy 'pulled' Dig all the way from Idaho to Pennsylvania, and Dig needed to return to his home state.
Unfortunately, I thought the road-trip part of this story to be slightly missed-potential. I would like to read more about them connecting with each other. Because in the end, Dig was still felt rather undeveloped to me compared to Cy.
Then again, maybe they were too busy dodging the people chasing them, and the road trip was not exactly a leisure one *lol*.
I did notice the repetitiveness of stopping for gas, which the other reviewers mentioned, and it was rather distracting.
But in overall, I quite liked this. Yay for asexual MC.
I thought this was cute enough premise. It was refreshing for me, as an asexual, to read about two MCs who don't think about how HOT and SEXY the other person is all the time. Or how they cannot wait to tear each other's clothes and have sex.
Instead we had Cy and Dig doing across states road-trip since Cy 'pulled' Dig all the way from Idaho to Pennsylvania, and Dig needed to return to his home state.
Unfortunately, I thought the road-trip part of this story to be slightly missed-potential. I would like to read more about them connecting with each other. Because in the end, Dig was still felt rather undeveloped to me compared to Cy.
Then again, maybe they were too busy dodging the people chasing them, and the road trip was not exactly a leisure one *lol*.
I did notice the repetitiveness of stopping for gas, which the other reviewers mentioned, and it was rather distracting.
But in overall, I quite liked this. Yay for asexual MC.
October 17, 2016
This book was very promising at the beginning—the scene where Cy summons Dig was really funny, and I was looking forward to the rest of the book. Unfortunately, it quickly went downhill. Almost as soon as the road trip started, it began getting very repetitive, as we were told every minute, boring detail of the characters’ actions. As other reviewers have mentioned, Cy and Dig are always stopping for gas—but that wasn’t the worst of it. We’re told every time they take off their jackets or put them on. We hear not just that Cy checked his email, but that he picked up his phone, typed in his passcode, and clicked to his email app—which is very realistic, but there’s a reason stories aren’t written like real life. The whole road trip section is like that, which made it incredibly boring; the overwriting bothered me so much that I had a hard time finishing the book.
Plus, all the interesting aspects of road trips, and this road trip in particular—the long conversations you have, arguments over what music to listen to or where to eat, the scenery shifts, the quirky places you pass, the weirdness of sharing a small space and a hotel room with a total stranger—are ignored. And as other reviewers have noted, Dig and Cy really don’t develop much of a relationship. We don’t see them really get to know each other or establish much of a connection, even though they’re stuck in a car together for days. The plot also felt somewhat contrived, because certain things weren’t explained or elaborated on enough—for instance, what do the magic practitioners actually use magic for?
The asexuality aspect also wasn’t very in-depth. Cy basically just thinks, multiple times, “no one wants to date me because I don’t like sex.” That’s all we get. As an ace who read this book specifically for the ace representation, that was somewhat of a let-down. I would have liked (spoilers) for it to come out earlier that Dig was ace too, so that they could have had an actual conversation about it, instead of that discovery getting stuck in at the end.
Plus, all the interesting aspects of road trips, and this road trip in particular—the long conversations you have, arguments over what music to listen to or where to eat, the scenery shifts, the quirky places you pass, the weirdness of sharing a small space and a hotel room with a total stranger—are ignored. And as other reviewers have noted, Dig and Cy really don’t develop much of a relationship. We don’t see them really get to know each other or establish much of a connection, even though they’re stuck in a car together for days. The plot also felt somewhat contrived, because certain things weren’t explained or elaborated on enough—for instance, what do the magic practitioners actually use magic for?
The asexuality aspect also wasn’t very in-depth. Cy basically just thinks, multiple times, “no one wants to date me because I don’t like sex.” That’s all we get. As an ace who read this book specifically for the ace representation, that was somewhat of a let-down. I would have liked (spoilers) for it to come out earlier that Dig was ace too, so that they could have had an actual conversation about it, instead of that discovery getting stuck in at the end.
February 5, 2017
This story has an ASEXUAL PROTAGONIST! I was so excited to read this. I didn’t even know that there would be a road trip in it, which I love to read.Queer road trip books are the best. Then there is also a little magic and witchcraft. This hit on a lot of things I like to read and I was pleasantly surprised by the overall story.
I really liked Cy as a character.You can see how he’s been affected by his past relationships. Everyone seeks out sex when he doesn’t want that.When he cast the spell he doesn’t think it will actually work. Partially because he doesn’t believe magic exist and largely because he does not think he has a true love.He starts to believe it can never work with someone because sex is so important to people. I found myself rooting for him from the beginning.
I liked Cy’s reaction to finding out about magic. Cy has the ability to come up with different options for himself pretty fast. He’s not impulsive at all. He takes his time to make up his mind, but he isn’t running around like a chicken with its head cut off. He’s thoughtful, but not panicked. Even when most people would be. Not the typical protagonist I have read.
I liked Cy’s relationship with Dig. It was a much more relaxed pairing than I’ve seen in some stories lately. I felt like it worked really well. I’d ship it. I was for the entire thing. I also liked that there was no pressure for a relationship between the two because of the spell cast in the beginning.A spell telling you that your someone’s true love can be a little too big of a push, but I didn’t think that affected them at all as they bonded.
I do wish we could have seen some more magic.The conversations Cy has about it with Dig seem really interesting to me. I have so many theories and questions about the world of the book. The territory dynamics reminded me of something I usually see when it comes to werewolf stories and I sort of loved seeing witches being so territorial. I’d definitely love to read more in this world. Someone needs to make that happen.
** I received this ARC from NetGalley **
I really liked Cy as a character.You can see how he’s been affected by his past relationships. Everyone seeks out sex when he doesn’t want that.When he cast the spell he doesn’t think it will actually work. Partially because he doesn’t believe magic exist and largely because he does not think he has a true love.He starts to believe it can never work with someone because sex is so important to people. I found myself rooting for him from the beginning.
I liked Cy’s reaction to finding out about magic. Cy has the ability to come up with different options for himself pretty fast. He’s not impulsive at all. He takes his time to make up his mind, but he isn’t running around like a chicken with its head cut off. He’s thoughtful, but not panicked. Even when most people would be. Not the typical protagonist I have read.
I liked Cy’s relationship with Dig. It was a much more relaxed pairing than I’ve seen in some stories lately. I felt like it worked really well. I’d ship it. I was for the entire thing. I also liked that there was no pressure for a relationship between the two because of the spell cast in the beginning.A spell telling you that your someone’s true love can be a little too big of a push, but I didn’t think that affected them at all as they bonded.
I do wish we could have seen some more magic.The conversations Cy has about it with Dig seem really interesting to me. I have so many theories and questions about the world of the book. The territory dynamics reminded me of something I usually see when it comes to werewolf stories and I sort of loved seeing witches being so territorial. I’d definitely love to read more in this world. Someone needs to make that happen.
** I received this ARC from NetGalley **
October 17, 2018
For being so short I did enjoy this overall but I wish more took place in it. It is mostly a boring round-trip with some magic concepts thrown in. Very light romance, bit of intrigue. Light fantasy element and I would have liked more. With the cover, I was expecting something a bit edgier on the romance but more of a light comedic part. Bit misleading. It makes sense right away in the book though.
Cy has to decide whom to trust. His character is a bit whiny though and too trusting on many levels.
Dig's character I really liked He is just one easy going, up front guy. I am curious about other works by this author and will be keeping an eye on her stories in the future.
Cy has to decide whom to trust. His character is a bit whiny though and too trusting on many levels.
Dig's character I really liked He is just one easy going, up front guy. I am curious about other works by this author and will be keeping an eye on her stories in the future.
April 5, 2019
Super cute story featuring:
*unexpected magic
*a rudely interrupted shower
*a sudden roadtrip
*a nosy roommate
*a regretful ex
*way too many big black SUVs
Seriously, this was a lot of fun, quick to read and easy to follow. For being so short it included a surprising amount of woldbuilding without becoming confusing or too much, but enough to make it interesting, feel elaborate and left me wanting more.
Content warnings include: death of parents, grief, character gets dumped with the strong assumption that it's because he's ace and not interested in sex.
*unexpected magic
*a rudely interrupted shower
*a sudden roadtrip
*a nosy roommate
*a regretful ex
*way too many big black SUVs
Seriously, this was a lot of fun, quick to read and easy to follow. For being so short it included a surprising amount of woldbuilding without becoming confusing or too much, but enough to make it interesting, feel elaborate and left me wanting more.
Content warnings include: death of parents, grief, character gets dumped with the strong assumption that it's because he's ace and not interested in sex.
August 25, 2020
3.5/5
Delightful. Charmingly delightful.
Cy was such a sweet character and so was Dig. I liked them together, even if the ‘romance’ was very muted. Even asexual people get butterflies around a crush, speaking as an asexual person who turns into a blushing mess around pretty guys and girls. I kinda wish there had been a few more hints that Cy was really feeling something for Dig. They were very cute together though.
The little road trip was fun and the world was interesting. This was a little slow and a lot of the same sentences were used (I get it, they put their jackets in the back seat, you don’t need to tell me AGAIN). I would have really liked a sequel all about the magical school and Cy settling into his new life and new relationship.
I do really love the asexual rep, it’s very rare to see. It’s even rarer to have a romance book about an asexual character. Beautiful.
Delightful. Charmingly delightful.
Cy was such a sweet character and so was Dig. I liked them together, even if the ‘romance’ was very muted. Even asexual people get butterflies around a crush, speaking as an asexual person who turns into a blushing mess around pretty guys and girls. I kinda wish there had been a few more hints that Cy was really feeling something for Dig. They were very cute together though.
The little road trip was fun and the world was interesting. This was a little slow and a lot of the same sentences were used (I get it, they put their jackets in the back seat, you don’t need to tell me AGAIN). I would have really liked a sequel all about the magical school and Cy settling into his new life and new relationship.
I do really love the asexual rep, it’s very rare to see. It’s even rarer to have a romance book about an asexual character. Beautiful.
August 12, 2022
Cute road-trip romance with a magic twist. I liked that the ace part of the romance was central but also handled in a nice, casual way. But the book was a bit light on the romance for my taste, and I would have liked to see more of their romantic feelings developing and them actually being together.
May 17, 2020
I've enjoyed this author's work before, but wow, this was boring. It started off well, but most of the book is the two MCs on the most boring road trip ever. All they do is stop for gas, take their coats off and put them on the back seat, look at their phones, and so on. It's stultifying. There's little in the way of connection between them and not a whole lot of conversation. It sounded cute and had an ace MC, so I thought I'd try it, but I was pretty disappointed. The magic is not explained and it's all pretty dull. At least it was short.
February 1, 2016
First I want to thank NetGalley for the ARC ebook copy.
I really enjoyed this story. It was a short, cute, read. And can I just say how awesome it was read a story where the main character was asexual? It was refreshing. I could understand Cy's struggles of thinking "how on one could possibly want to be with me when I'm not interested in sex"?
I really enjoyed this story. It was a short, cute, read. And can I just say how awesome it was read a story where the main character was asexual? It was refreshing. I could understand Cy's struggles of thinking "how on one could possibly want to be with me when I'm not interested in sex"?
October 9, 2016
I would've read like 100 more pages of this, whyyyyyy. Or a sequel, I'd take a sequel.
May 18, 2021
Why is this book named as such? He exactly did the right thing the right spell and got the right person! And that’s the only place in the book where we see magic or supernatural stuff. Everything else is just talk about witches, magic, territories etc. no show. It’s so so so boring. And usually I like books about asexual’s but this was just without any romance in it. It was just such a boring dialogue between two acquaintances. I don’t have no idea how they became soulmates. Could not see their interest in each other or how they felt about each other they just behaved like polite strangers always.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 13, 2019
yay for ace rep, everything else not so much. this was very fun at first, sort of mediocre towards the middle part and just meh at the end. things sort of happened for the sake of happening and e try word was taken as an universal truth. the universe was intriguing but not convincing because of this. just a little too rushed for my taste.
May 21, 2023
I was expecting more romance but this was mainly just a road trip book. Just because you’re ace doesn’t mean you don’t deserve love, babe ♠️♥️ so happy there was that, but sad he didn’t think he would get it for a while. Hate that narrative in asexual rep books (as in they start thinking they can’t love or won’t get love).
June 27, 2020
This was really cute with a good story!
Good enough that i very much wish that it had been longer.
Good enough that i very much wish that it had been longer.
March 22, 2016
I've been excited for this book since Sasha L. Miller started talking about it in bits on twitter. I'm a big fan of her work and I love stories of people summoning their love interest whether on purpose or otherwise, so the title and asexual hero had my attention straight away. Overall, it was a very enjoyable read, although I feel the relationship between the two characters could have been developed a little more.
I really liked Cy, Dig, and Cynthia. I could really relate to Cy's insecurity that no one would ever want to be with him because of his asexuality and the hopelessness after finding out his ex hadn't been interested in him to begin with even. He's so negative and insecure throughout the story, which really feels realistic for his situation–his whole life has been uprooted and flipped upside down. Dig made a good complement to him, being generally more composed and upbeat.
I enjoyed the road-trip element of the story and the world-building. It sounds like an interesting setting and I'd love to see more from this universe...maybe some more Dig and Cy? My biggest complaint is just not seeing up build-up of their feelings, not enough flirting or just little moments to show Dig's interest or Cy developing feelings despite how hopeless he feels about his romantic life. Although the moments with Dig dropping Cynthia's mugs were absolutely precious, as well as the little detail of Cy preparing Dig's coffee for him because they've gotten to know each other well enough that he knows how he likes his coffee... a minor thing but it shows a sort of closeness that struck a chord with me. The last scene was so sweet, too! But it just made me wish there were a little more to the book to offer a little fluff with them. (Maybe some ficbits in the future? ;D)
I really liked Cy, Dig, and Cynthia. I could really relate to Cy's insecurity that no one would ever want to be with him because of his asexuality and the hopelessness after finding out his ex hadn't been interested in him to begin with even. He's so negative and insecure throughout the story, which really feels realistic for his situation–his whole life has been uprooted and flipped upside down. Dig made a good complement to him, being generally more composed and upbeat.
I enjoyed the road-trip element of the story and the world-building. It sounds like an interesting setting and I'd love to see more from this universe...
March 16, 2016
2.5 stars.
I’m quite a fan of Sasha L. Miller’s books, so I was really excited to see her take on an asexual romance – and this one also sounded like it could be quite fun. Ah well, the anticipation was nice while it lasted.
This is less of an asexual romance than a road trip with lots of talk of magic and an asexual hero. There really is no romance between Cy and Dig, for all that the spell Cy uses is to summon his true love. Instead they become sort of friends throughout a cross-country road trip. Cy shows absolutely no romantic inclinations towards Dig, there are times when I’m not even sure he likes him all that much. I know he’s ace but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t feel happy to be with him, want to know him better, want to spend more time with him. There’s nothing like that here. They get from A to B and at the end, oh, they like each other.
Hmm. Personally, I found the road trip pretty monotonous and repetitive – kind of like a real road trip, except with lots and lots of stops for fuel. I’m worried about the mpg of that rental car, because either the tank is minute or it has a serious guzzling problem. It might also have been nice to have seen some magic too, since there’s plenty of talk, but apart from the one big spell, there’s nothing else.
So overall this one fell a little below my expectations. The world set up here is actually pretty good and I liked Dig a lot, but Cy’s kind of whiny at times, the road trip drags and the romance is non-existent. Loved the idea, but sadly it missed the mark for me.
(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)
I’m quite a fan of Sasha L. Miller’s books, so I was really excited to see her take on an asexual romance – and this one also sounded like it could be quite fun. Ah well, the anticipation was nice while it lasted.
This is less of an asexual romance than a road trip with lots of talk of magic and an asexual hero. There really is no romance between Cy and Dig, for all that the spell Cy uses is to summon his true love. Instead they become sort of friends throughout a cross-country road trip. Cy shows absolutely no romantic inclinations towards Dig, there are times when I’m not even sure he likes him all that much. I know he’s ace but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t feel happy to be with him, want to know him better, want to spend more time with him. There’s nothing like that here. They get from A to B and at the end, oh, they like each other.
Hmm. Personally, I found the road trip pretty monotonous and repetitive – kind of like a real road trip, except with lots and lots of stops for fuel. I’m worried about the mpg of that rental car, because either the tank is minute or it has a serious guzzling problem. It might also have been nice to have seen some magic too, since there’s plenty of talk, but apart from the one big spell, there’s nothing else.
So overall this one fell a little below my expectations. The world set up here is actually pretty good and I liked Dig a lot, but Cy’s kind of whiny at times, the road trip drags and the romance is non-existent. Loved the idea, but sadly it missed the mark for me.
(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)
Read
May 1, 2016I've perhaps spent too much time on tumblr because I thought this story was about an ace person who summoned a succubus. But that's my fault.
There's a lot to like about this story: the quirky opening where Cy summons Dig, the world building, the circumstances that lead to that and their results, and the two main characters.
However, the journey across the country and the driving force behind it fell a little flat. While that part of the story dragged a little, the things that were revealed during the journey were all important to the story and worked to develop the relationship and trust between Cy and Dig. Maybe I just hate literal journeys, but I have to say I love imagining Cy and Dig together in this world that Miller painted.
There's a lot to like about this story: the quirky opening where Cy summons Dig, the world building, the circumstances that lead to that and their results, and the two main characters.
However, the journey across the country and the driving force behind it fell a little flat. While that part of the story dragged a little, the things that were revealed during the journey were all important to the story and worked to develop the relationship and trust between Cy and Dig. Maybe I just hate literal journeys, but I have to say I love imagining Cy and Dig together in this world that Miller painted.
December 20, 2021
Trigger warnings: aphobia, blackmail, fake friendship, car chase.
Well this was adorable. It's essentially a forced proximity roadtrip story with a little bit of magic thrown in for good measure. It's barely 100 pages and I would have liked to have more in the story than car chases and avoiding bad guys. But the characters are delightful and I laughed out loud multiple times while reading it.
Add in some solid asexual rep and some fantastic discussions about the potential difficulties of dating while ace, and I had a lot of fun reading this!
Well this was adorable. It's essentially a forced proximity roadtrip story with a little bit of magic thrown in for good measure. It's barely 100 pages and I would have liked to have more in the story than car chases and avoiding bad guys. But the characters are delightful and I laughed out loud multiple times while reading it.
Add in some solid asexual rep and some fantastic discussions about the potential difficulties of dating while ace, and I had a lot of fun reading this!
February 23, 2020
#1 (Worst Book - 2018)
This book was really bad. Its title and cover made it seem like a fun story. But it turned out to be a freaking roadtrip for 90% of the book. It introduces a magic system that is never well explained. Conspiracies, witches and territories that added nothing to the story. The love storyline wasn't present at all, it just showed up out of the blue at the end.
This book was really bad. Its title and cover made it seem like a fun story. But it turned out to be a freaking roadtrip for 90% of the book. It introduces a magic system that is never well explained. Conspiracies, witches and territories that added nothing to the story. The love storyline wasn't present at all, it just showed up out of the blue at the end.
November 2, 2016
I'd first like to commend the author for writing an asexual character
October 18, 2021
Sadly a really boring read.
Outside of summoning someone across country nothing really happens. I kept waiting for a confrontation with the "bad guys" (why are they bad exactly?) or a big reveal about Digs or his bosses hidden motives or whatever. Or some revealing conversation with the sister. Or maybe even just some romantic plotline but everything that got hinted at just sort of fizzled out with the most uninteresting solution possible.
Aside from being very briefly surprised about summoning a person the main character does not really react to anything, not the magic, not their creepy stalkers, not the revelation that his sister lied to him. He doesn't even experiment with his newfound magic or look at the book again. The summoning is literally the only magic he does.
The arc of suspense has a short bump in the beginning with the summoning and another short bump with the car chase but then it just flatlines as they find an immediately effective strategy for solving the car chase and we get a description of every car they pace and then an endless account of police stations, gas refills, shopping trips and discussions of who's driving where on which road. In the end all their "plans" just work out on their first try and there is no challenge for them to overcome.
The asexual romance aspect is also kind of infodumped on top of the rest. The main character has occasional doubts but there is no on-page romantic development with Digs. No feelings are described and the resolution also just kind of happens (again without the main character really reacting to it). It's also a kind of depressing premise for ace readers if one thinks about the millions of people living in the US and the spell needing to pull the "closest compatible person" (not even *the* true love) from the other side of the continent.
The main character does not have to make any decisions after he decided to trust Digs. And why exactly did he do that? He briefly debates that he doesn't know he can trust him but then just does so anyway- with everything. If Digs had been the bad guy he'd have had access to his money and identity within the first five minutes. His phone (and only means of communication with his sister) in the second scene. And Cy even asks him if he should lie to the police for him.
So he decides to trust Digs for unknown reasons and from then on his hardest decision is whether to put his phone in silent mode (no kidding).
All in all I was disappointed because the premise sounded really interesting but then nothing really happened.
Outside of summoning someone across country nothing really happens. I kept waiting for a confrontation with the "bad guys" (why are they bad exactly?) or a big reveal about Digs or his bosses hidden motives or whatever. Or some revealing conversation with the sister. Or maybe even just some romantic plotline but everything that got hinted at just sort of fizzled out with the most uninteresting solution possible.
Aside from being very briefly surprised about summoning a person the main character does not really react to anything, not the magic, not their creepy stalkers, not the revelation that his sister lied to him. He doesn't even experiment with his newfound magic or look at the book again. The summoning is literally the only magic he does.
The arc of suspense has a short bump in the beginning with the summoning and another short bump with the car chase but then it just flatlines as they find an immediately effective strategy for solving the car chase and we get a description of every car they pace and then an endless account of police stations, gas refills, shopping trips and discussions of who's driving where on which road. In the end all their "plans" just work out on their first try and there is no challenge for them to overcome.
The asexual romance aspect is also kind of infodumped on top of the rest. The main character has occasional doubts but there is no on-page romantic development with Digs. No feelings are described and the resolution also just kind of happens (again without the main character really reacting to it). It's also a kind of depressing premise for ace readers if one thinks about the millions of people living in the US and the spell needing to pull the "closest compatible person" (not even *the* true love) from the other side of the continent.
The main character does not have to make any decisions after he decided to trust Digs. And why exactly did he do that? He briefly debates that he doesn't know he can trust him but then just does so anyway- with everything. If Digs had been the bad guy he'd have had access to his money and identity within the first five minutes. His phone (and only means of communication with his sister) in the second scene. And Cy even asks him if he should lie to the police for him.
So he decides to trust Digs for unknown reasons and from then on his hardest decision is whether to put his phone in silent mode (no kidding).
All in all I was disappointed because the premise sounded really interesting but then nothing really happened.
September 4, 2020
This was a nice and endearing read ! The plot was fun and the idea behind it is really interesting.
I felt that the 2 characters lacked chemistry. Now, I know what this sounds like, since a lot of allosexual people consider a couple "lacks chemistry" because they don't have sex, but I'm ace myself and it's not what I mean. It's just that the dialogues are mostly just pragmatic, like "who drives the car", and even when they talk about their lives, there's no real interaction, it's mostly one person presenting his life and the other listening.
Regarding the ace rep, it was nice having an ace mc and I could identify with him on that point. The surprise at the end is nice too. My only drawback is that it seems framed as "if it's a medical condition, you're not asexual", and this doesn't sit well with me. It doesn't matter *why* someone is ace, if they are ace, then they are. Who cares if it comes from a medical condition ?
But maybe I'm reading too much into this, and the author just wanted to do a spin on misconceptions.
I felt that the 2 characters lacked chemistry. Now, I know what this sounds like, since a lot of allosexual people consider a couple "lacks chemistry" because they don't have sex, but I'm ace myself and it's not what I mean. It's just that the dialogues are mostly just pragmatic, like "who drives the car", and even when they talk about their lives, there's no real interaction, it's mostly one person presenting his life and the other listening.
Regarding the ace rep, it was nice having an ace mc and I could identify with him on that point. The surprise at the end is nice too. My only drawback is that it seems framed as "if it's a medical condition, you're not asexual", and this doesn't sit well with me. It doesn't matter *why* someone is ace, if they are ace, then they are. Who cares if it comes from a medical condition ?
But maybe I'm reading too much into this, and the author just wanted to do a spin on misconceptions.
June 4, 2019
Very slow! Half the book is literally just them pulling over for gas. It's a quick read, so it'll only take you a couple hours, but be prepared for... not much. All of the moments that would have been good to see--like the main characters bonding in their car trip--are kind of glossed over. You never really get to see them grow closer. You just kind of get told they're closer now as they pull over for... more gas.
The only plus is that this is the first time I've ever seen a couple in YA fantasy where both characters turn out to be asexual. Which doesn't mean it's the only one--just the only one I've read so far.
The only plus is that this is the first time I've ever seen a couple in YA fantasy where both characters turn out to be asexual. Which doesn't mean it's the only one--just the only one I've read so far.
December 12, 2021
3.5 stars - A sweet story with a slow pace. What I didn't like was that the paranormal society wasn't well explained, neither was the motivation of the sketchy characters other than 'they need strong witches'. Other than that I liked it, the whole story is a cross-country trip while being pursued by certain people and there was no sexual tension, which was actually refreshing. A little bit more subtle flirting would have been nice, though.
I must admit because of certaint tidbits I really thought Dig was a paranormal and I was rather surprised that he was just human.
I must admit because of certaint tidbits I really thought Dig was a paranormal and I was rather surprised that he was just human.
May 4, 2020
This is very short. Maybe a novella rather than a novel. I read it in one evening. It centers on a road trip, and as with all road trip books, it is not very good. This book seems to be mostly padding and very little story or action. It reads like a very short short story stretched out to book length. I found the character likable and I didn't mind reading it, especially since it was so short, but there really isn't enough material for a book here.
Not recommended.
Not recommended.
August 20, 2020
This book didn't changed my life or anything, but is entertaining.
I wish there was more about CY to feel more attached to him but sincerely we cannot expect more given the amount of pages.
Best point about this book: this is my first time reading an asexual, romantic character who is also attracted by the same sex. Loved it! We need way more of this kind of representation.
I wish there was more about CY to feel more attached to him but sincerely we cannot expect more given the amount of pages.
Best point about this book: this is my first time reading an asexual, romantic character who is also attracted by the same sex. Loved it! We need way more of this kind of representation.
November 30, 2020
More a novella than a novel, and enjoyable in a rather bland way. I was attracted by the idea of an asexual romance (cover notwithstanding), but as a story it’s quite lacking. Too much suspension of disbelief, the tension is underbaked, and the romance kind of will most likely happen after the end of the book. Lots of great ingredients, but no editor to push this to what it could’ve been.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews