It’s undeniable that Romantasy has taken over social media. Part YA (as many of the books feature early adult characters and cater to YA/NA readers) and part Urban Fantasy, the field brushes again more established genres, gleefully twisting their trope for their own. Meta writing (reading?) is part of the game these days to readers. Titles like Sarah J. Maas’ ACOTAR and Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing are the known titans. But Booktube readers are voracious–which we love!
A thick slice of Romantasy shamelessly dives into darker depths, typically populated by horror fans (*coughcoughHauntingAdeline*) which is where I found this particular morsel.
How Does it Feel? by Jeneane O’ Riley is clearly inspired by ACOTAR style story lines, pitting a human woman against the dark whims of fae royalty. Set older, Callie is in her mid twenties, not a teen, but like ACOTAR lead Feyre, Callie has a troubled past she’d trying to deny. Most of that plotline is revealed in the second book, so when we readers meet her we only see her as a passionate field scientist working in conservation at a state park in Michigan. Awkward and passionate about animals, Callie is hunting down luna moths, trying to save them from a parasite that threatens to kill them off.
People aren’t quite sure how to react to Callie, but unlike more contrived storylines where everyone is cruel, O’ Riley’s characterizations are generally supportive and positive. Mostly these small town people try to like Callie, even if she doesn’t make much sense to them.
O’ Riley uses real life things (luna moths and destroying angel mushrooms) as cameos, fudging the science, just a bit, for the sake of story. (Destroying angel mushrooms aren’t rare, sorry.) I was able to give it some leeway because it’s a fantasy books, and the writing, and Callie, are wonderfully enthusiastic. Callie’s science brain and idiot brain are actually on brand for some the smartest science people I know. Other reviewers have complained about some of Callie’s choices (going into the woods at night in heels and a sheath dress is a thing Callie chooses to do), but people rarely are brilliant in all aspects of their lives. In real life I have personally dug through dog vomit to count the number of prescription pills for far less an hour than Callie’s microscope cost her. Science takes you weird places.
Anyway, Callie finds her luna moths and follows them through a ring of destroying angels, ending up literally falling onto the Unseelie Prince, Mendax.
Mendax is no cinnamon roll hero. He’s a literal psycho, feared, powerful (with a tragic past, of course) who only feels things when he kills. This is where the horror themes really come out, exposing this book as more than a stranger in a strange fairytale land tale.
Mendax tries to kill Callie multiple time, in contrived ways with the weak excuse that she is below him using his own purebred hands. Convenient and annoyingly convoluted, reading other reviews prove a lot of people stop there. But not me. Not because I’m a glutton for punishment. There are enough clever lines, and I was intrigued enough with Callie’s character that despite this and awkward editing and scene shifts I kept reading.
Here’s the rub. This book is known on BookTok for it’s big twist, a twist that blatantly depends on the narrator lying to the reader through the whole coarse of the book. I despise that kind of storytelling trope, unless it is clear from the beginning that the narrator is unreliable. The hero is an unabashed psycho who loves killing people. And yet, somehow I liked the book?
I don’t know. How Does It Feel? isn’t the best book I’ve ever read, but it’s not trying to be either. It’s an interesting world, and engaging clash of science and magic that makes the science brain go purr, with a few spicy scenes and a fairy tale spirit.
It isn’t the book that I thought it was, throwing me the reader from tropes I like (Fated Mate, Enemies to Lovers, Science vs Magic) into ones I’m much more skeptical of (Unredeemable Villain, Dark Romance, Big Twist). The things I would normally dislike were papered over with chunks of good writing and relatable feelings. I grabbed the second book as soon as I finished this one, and while I’m not sure I can recommend this book, I did enjoy the hell out of it.