✨ 🦋 Dolce Reads, Gumnaam Feels 🦋✨ Book Besties Challenge 📚 - Page 2

Originally posted by: Ragazza_dolce

Maine chitthi banaayi...

Fir usko udaaya...

Aur usmein se ek chitthi uthaayi to find...

Four Winds as our first Buddy read!

Koi dikkat nahi na iss chitthi se?

Four winds 🤔

Let me think …

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Originally posted by: Ragazza_dolce

Humein thoda time dijiye humaare rec ke liye, tab tak we can start reading 4 hava agar aapko dikkat nahi toh🙂‍↔️

Koi dikkat nahi hai , let’s start with uttare hava then 🙂‍↔️

I’ll make posts after every 5-6 chapters or whenever I find something gush/rant worthy 😌

I’ll mention the chapter in the beginning so that you can avoid spoilers

Chapters 1–9 Review of Uttare Hava

(I lost my initial draft and wrote down whatever I could remember from it 😪)

The book begins on a somber, bleak note. The author paints a vivid image of the cold and harsh world the FMC, Wren, dwells in, At first, it felt a little slow to me but once other characters start to appear Ch 2 onwards, the plot finds its rhythm and pages flew by effortlessly.

We get a glimpse of Wren’s life early on — she’s orphaned young and lives in survival mode 24/7, surrounded by hunger , loneliness and worry for her sister 🤧. It’s not needlessly graphic, but it still leaves a significant emotional impact.

By Chapter 2, it becomes clear how much of Wren’s existence revolves around her twin sister, Elora ( 99% I would say , the rest 10% belongs to alcohol 😪) . I find their dynamic to be really unhealthy, and I think it would do Wren some good to be away from her sister for a while. In fact, in later chapters, Wren herself admits she made Elora the center of her universe as a way to survive ,to give herself purpose and fill the void left by their parents’ death.

That said, I don’t think Elora is a typical “white lotus B 🤬 “ sibling. While Wren has clearly sacrificed and suffered more to protect her sister’s innocence, Elora doesn’t come across as ungrateful or manipulative. Despite their vastly different experiences, the love between them feels mutual.

We haven’t seen much of Elora yet, but I hope this life-changing experience strengthens their bond and that there’s no betrayal from Elora’s side later in the story.

Also, Wren is just so precious 🥹 . One thing that really stood out to me was how, even in their dire circumstances, she remembered Elora wanted a scarf and picked one up for her 🤧along with a romance book for herself (🥰) , it was cute but also lil sad to know that this cold, tsundere-ish girl secretly devours love stories while believing she’ll never have that kind of love? She’s so love-starved and guarded that it hurts .

The Frost King enters around Chapters 3 or 4, and what an entrance . Cold, ruthless, terrifying — exactly how you’d imagine a winter Greek god to be . The dinner scene was really intense I can totally picture the village gossip about his ruthlessness and temper , with Elora and the rest thinking Wren walked straight into a cruel death sentence , little do they know she’s giving Frost King a run for his money with her antics and sharp tongue .

So far, the story remains in Wren’s POV, and that’s working really well for me .

We get to explore this strange, icy kingdom right alongside her afterall she’s just as clueless and new to it as we are .

Coming to romance , it hasn’t really started yet , but the slow burn is delicious. 😌

Thank the gods there’s no “insta-attraction but I am supposed to hate her/him” or cringe-worthy hate declarations every other paragraph in this book. Instead, their chemistry simmers beneath layers of mutual irritation, dry banter, and power play.

Their dynamic already feels like that of a grumpy old married couple who bicker over breathing too loudly (Even Wren agrees with this sentiment in one of the chapters ) They aren’t in love zone yet but way they casually drop “husband” and “wife”? Chef’s kiss 😩🤌

We also meet the West Wind —bringer of spring, charming, and the total opposite of the Frost King. He’s definitely suspicious. I know he’s the main character of the second book, so he probably won’t be an outright villain, but I’m very curious to know what exactly happened between the two brothers. 👀

Will the FMC help resolve the family drama like a good Gopi Bahu 👀 😝 ? Let’s see

Overall, I’m really enjoying the story so far. 🙂‍↔️ The writing is clean, the pacing is nice, and the character dynamics are compelling. Wren is a standout FMC and I’m already obsessed with watching her melt the ice around the Frost King’s heart not with brightness of her heart like an angel 👼 but flames of her tongue

Just finished the book a few days ago but couldn’t log in until now 🥲

(Because I was busy reading 1-2 other books in between 🤣)

Here are my thoughts and highlights

(all over the place and in no particular order)

‼️ (spoilers ahead, so tread carefully!) ‼️

• I LOVED the Midwinter Festival Eve celebration arc! Such a wholesome way to thaw their relationship.(It low-key gave ITV Jungle Main Mangal vibes 🤣)

  Also loved Frost King x Wren Deadlands exploration bits

  
  Also Wren joining him on Judgement day man didn’t dislike it , infact IMO he loved it 😏 (There can’t be a spare seat beside him ainvayi it was meant for her-The queen , so she did good by joining him ) (They can make a good Lucifer kind of series on this couple )
  
  
  Thank god Wren went to Edgewood to see Elora herself. She was beginning to explore her identity and freedom in Citadel now that she was no longer in survival mode, but Elora was still in the back of her mind. That visit felt necessary to get closure and truly focus on her own life and choices.
  

• (Mild spoiler) I fully expected Elora to be married and to behave exactly how she did with the FL, so honestly, I wasn’t surprised.

• (Major spoiler) I did not expect that room to be FK’s late son’s. I thought his coldness stemmed from something with his brothers or maybe a lost wife, but finding out he lost a son so young ?That was genuinely sad 😔.

  We don’t get much detail about his past — just a few moments where he remembers one or two of his previous wives & Wren feels a little jealous in those moments, but it's never explored deeply. I kind of wish we got more insight into how he emotionally handles falling in love with mortals over and over again, knowing he'll lose them every few decades.

  There’s a brief convo about all this — right in the middle of *ahem* *ahem* activity where Wren thinks about talking about all this later,and then boom, we’re in the epilogue with two kids. So I guess we’re to assume the deeper conversations about his past (his son, his wives, etc.) happened off-page during the 3-year time skip.
  
  

  I think we got to see really less of ML’s past , just a gist not full depth but honestly, with a character who’s lived for 5 millennia, going into depth might’ve over-complicated the already long slow burn book, so I get it.

• I loved Wren stepping into the battlefield becoming the warrior and natural queen she was always meant to be.

• The Elora–Wren dynamic was resolved nicely. Both of them got called out for their own selfishness and didn’t get resolved in quick fix , it’s a WIP ⚠️.

• North Wind and West Wind’s sibling relationship on the other hand …🙃 . I knew he’d be trouble, but I didn’t expect a full-blown war with Darkwalkers and using Wren as a pawn. I was absolutely abhorred. And whatever he did with NW’s late wife?? Wild. The fact that NW even allowed him back and introduced him to Wren, only for WW to weaponize his wife against him again — such a low move.

  NW did punish him, but we don’t really get the details of their last encounter Considering WW is the lead in the next book, I assume we’re going to see his redeeming arc, but right now… I’m not sure I’m excited. He went from “suspicious but intriguing” to “full villain energy” real fast. Torturing the leads at the end, wiping that poor maid’s memory, attacking the innocent residents without any second thought etc doesn’t really scream Main protagonist energy to me . Not fascinated by him atm.

• That said, he did unknowingly solve the immortal/mortal issue and gave NW the happily ever after he always wanted… so okay, I guess?

• The post-conflict tension and confession between Wren and FK were great. I loved how it all came together.

• The epilogue was cute! FK baking her a cake was so full circle , they had so many lil moments involving cake , especially the first time she said “I love you,” was when he got her to say it by bribing her with slice of cake 😂. The girl really loves her cakes

  That said, it felt a little different. I’ve gotten so used to their chaotic “I’ll stab you” “you’re a devil” mid-kiss energy that seeing them all soft and giggly with a babbling baby and a baby bump was a shift. But it makes sense they’re a settled couple now, celebrating their third anniversary. FK’s clearly relaxed and enjoying his mortal married life.

• I really wanted one final scene where he accidentally calls himself “god” and Wren corrects him like, “You mean man?” Because the way he kept correcting her throughout the book... I needed that reversed moment . But it’s fine — I’ll pretend it happened off-page. 😌

Overall: A solid, satisfying read! They can make a Disney animated like movie /Lucifer like series on this book , I would really like it . It has THAT potential.

I’m not sure what to expect from West Wind’s book right now (considering how much I currently dislike him), but I’ll probably pick it up soon just to stay in the flow of the series.

Let me know if you’ve finished this one and if you liked it 👀

I'll be done by tomorrow kyunki mein beech mein kuch dekhne mein busy ho gayi thi

I'll reply to your post tabhi hi taaki mein spoilers se relate kar paau par I'll agree to this being really a slowwww burn

Originally posted by: Ragazza_dolce

I'll be done by tomorrow kyunki mein beech mein kuch dekhne mein busy ho gayi thi

I'll reply to your post tabhi hi taaki mein spoilers se relate kar paau par I'll agree to this being really a slowwww burn

Btw, I didn’t get Beauty & the Beast or Hades x Persephone vibes from North Wind 😅, even though the author claims it’s inspired by them (and that’s what initially attracted us to it 👀).

While it does feature elements like forced proximity, arranged marriage, abduction, the FMC’s confinement in the MMC’s world, mortal x misunderstood god, the dynamic between the leads doesn’t align with those classic ships.

Especially because Wren isn’t the ‘sunshine’ FMC — she’s just as morally grey, emotionally guarded and prickly as the ML. (Sometimes even more than him, tbh that guy showed realization and acceptance of his feelings more easily than Wren, IMO). Because of this, the emotional contrast that usually defines H x P and B&TB was missing for me. It’s not so much a Hades x Persephone or Beauty & the Beast retelling, but rather an enemies-to-lovers romantasy with a few elements taken from each.

Originally posted by: GumnaamHaiKoii

Take your time Haa it’s a sloooooowww burn isilye maine bhi beech beech main khafi breaks liye the

Mujhe isliye itna time lag gaya, maine 3 chapters ke baad waapas genre tags dekhne gayi thi

Originally posted by: GumnaamHaiKoii

Btw, I didn’t get Beauty & the Beast or Hades x Persephone vibes from North Wind 😅, even though the author claims it’s inspired by them (and that’s what initially attracted us to it 👀).

While it does feature elements like forced proximity, arranged marriage, abduction, the FMC’s confinement in the MMC’s world, mortal x misunderstood god, the dynamic between the leads doesn’t align with those classic ships.

Especially because Wren isn’t the ‘sunshine’ FMC — she’s just as morally grey, emotionally guarded and prickly as the ML. (Sometimes even more than him, tbh that guy showed realization and acceptance of his feelings more easily than Wren, IMO). Because of this, the emotional contrast that usually defines H x P and B&TB was missing for me. It’s not so much a Hades x Persephone or Beauty & the Beast retelling, but rather an enemies-to-lovers romantasy with a few elements taken from each.

Pehle toh maine notes mein likha tha ki why not go with Hades and Persephone agar retelling hai, zyaada feel aata par jaise jaise I went ahead it felt wrong to call this a retelling of them