{"id":791,"date":"2021-04-19T22:21:27","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T20:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/?p=791"},"modified":"2021-04-19T22:21:28","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T20:21:28","slug":"spin-the-dawn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/?p=791","title":{"rendered":"Spin the Dawn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Elizabeth Lim<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick summary is that this book follows Maia who has to disguise herself as her brother to partake in a trial\/competition to become the emperor\u2019s new tailor. It\u2019s said to Mulan crossed with Project Runway, which sort of is true but also not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like the writing a lot here, and it\u2019s an easy read that never really makes me stop and wonder what\u2019s going on. It\u2019s a straight line, easy to follow, good worldbuilding, nice characters and overall an okay read. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This book, however, doesn\u2019t stand out to me. It\u2019s kind of generic in a way, which is a shame because the premise is really good and the world could have been wonderful. There was so much potential here that perhaps I was just disappointed that my own expectations weren\u2019t met. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main characters is likeable, which is great, and I feel for her and I want her to succeed. I can\u2019t really see the likeness to Mulan here though, apart from the \u201chas to dress up as a boy\u201d part of the story. But it feels like that part isn\u2019t even developed well enough to matter. It\u2019s never a problem for her posing as her own brother, and often times I forget that she\u2019s pretending to be a man. It\u2019s just something that\u2019s written out and not really used in the plot enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then we have the love interest, Eden. On one hand, he\u2019s my favorite character in the book. He\u2019s sort of broody, but at the same time a little fun and sarcastic. There\u2019s a good chemistry between the characters. And he also has a really interesting backstory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, and this is a big problem for me in this book, the guy is over 500 years old and she\u2019s what? 16-18 somewhere? I think she\u2019s 18, but I honestly can\u2019t remember. It still doesn\u2019t really matter though because she\u2019s romantically involved with a guy who\u2019s over 500. And this is like the fourth YA book I\u2019ve read in a very short timespan that features a romance between a girl 16-19 and a guy who\u2019s like over 100 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, age is just a number, but come on? Had this guy been 87 (and looked 87) and there was a novel where he\u2019s hitting on a girl who\u2019s 18, well, reader\u2019s wouldn\u2019t exactly be swooning over that romance. So just because he looks the same age as her, does that make it okay? Does that make it okay for a guy who\u2019s 67 to hit on a girl who\u2019s 16 just because he looks young?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I know this is fiction, and the romance between them was cute, but it’s still creepy, and I can\u2019t look past the fact that why on earth would a 500+ year old man act and talk like he\u2019s still 18-23? Why would he be interested in someone who\u2019s just 18? I get that she finds him intriguing, I get that she finds him hot etc, but him? He\u2019s lived for more than 500 years and he still as immature as a young adult? It doesn\u2019t make sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the plot, I liked it. It was a good read and a well plotted story where things happened all the time and new revelations was made. It did, however, feel more like two books in one rather than one whole. This becomes especially clear when looking on how it was pitched as Mulan meets Project Runway, because both of those two parts have already played out before the halfway mark of the book. Meaning the book\u2019s really about something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s, like I said, a good read, and I understand why many people have liked this book. It\u2019s a little too generic in all aspects for my taste, and there was nothing that really surprised me or wowed me. So, I\u2019m giving this book a solid 3 stars and I\u2019ll dig into the second book in the series to see where that one takes me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Elizabeth Lim Quick summary is that this book follows Maia who has to disguise herself as her brother to partake in a trial\/competition to become the emperor\u2019s new tailor. It\u2019s said to Mulan crossed with Project Runway, which sort of is true but also not.  I like the writing a lot here, and it\u2019s an easy read that never really makes me stop and wonder what\u2019s going on. It\u2019s a straight line, easy to follow, good worldbuilding, nice characters and overall an okay read.  This book, however, doesn\u2019t stand out to me. It\u2019s kind of generic in a way, which is a shame because the premise is really good and the world could have been wonderful. There was so much potential here that perhaps I was just disappointed that my own expectations weren\u2019t met.  The main characters is likeable, which is great, and I feel for her and I want her to succeed. I can\u2019t really see the likeness to Mulan here though, apart from the \u201chas to dress up as a boy\u201d part of the story. But it feels like that part isn\u2019t even developed well enough to matter. It\u2019s never a problem for her posing as her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[4],"wppr_data":{"cwp_meta_box_check":"Yes","cwp_rev_product_name":"Spin the Dawn","_wppr_review_template":"default","cwp_rev_product_image":"http:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/spinthedawn.jpg","cwp_image_link":"image","wppr_links":[],"cwp_rev_price":"","wppr_pros":["Lovely cover","Nice plot","Great pacing"],"wppr_cons":["Creepy romance","A bit generic","Not enough world building"],"wppr_rating":"60.00","wppr_options":{"1":{"name":"Overall","value":"60"},"2":{"name":"Plot","value":"65"},"3":{"name":"Characters","value":"60"},"4":{"name":"Writing","value":"60"},"5":{"name":"Ending","value":"55"}},"wppr_review_type":"Product","wppr_review_custom_fields":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":793,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions\/793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikawinterlia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}