Breaking my teeth on the sweetness

This book is one in a series, however it can be read as a standalone as this particular series isn’t a set of books that contains one single plot line but rather a set of books containing stories about a group of interconnected people. Unfortunately, while I really enjoyed the previous books in the series this one fell a little flat for me. Sharon Shin writes very comforting novels, they’re nice to fall into when life gets a little too stressful. This one was just a little too easy, if that makes sense, it was lacking a sense of tension and suspense to keep me turning the page.

Kellen’s mother gave birth to a baby boy, so when she woke up from her post birth trauma and finds that her husband and the mid-wife (neither of whom were present at the birth, she gave birth alone) insist that she has a healthy daughter she goes just a little bit mad and treats Kellen as though she were a boy. Kellen’s father does his best to mitigate this delusion, however he eventually cannot deal with it and so he abandons Kellen and her mother when Kellen is 10. Despite the strange upbringing, Kellen manages to survive in her small town, and befriends a boy, Griffon. What follows is their growing-up years and eventual adulthood when Griffon becomes the Dream-Maker. I like the world building, and the comfortable storytelling, but something was missing from this book.

I definitely recommend the previous books in this series, they’re sweet and comforting, this one was just too sweet.