Review - "The Goblins of Bellwater"

The Goblins of Bellwater
by Molly Ringle
rating: ☆
published: 1st October 2017
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

Not gonna lie, I was probably turned off this book from about 20 pages in, when I had to read the line She fell and never hit the ground. The goblins carried her crowd-surf style. because no one deserves to have to read a line that bad.

But I continued. And discovered just how much of a mess this book was. Firstly, for all that it was a fantasy book, there was actually not that much world-building in terms of the goblins. Later on, you found out how they got to be there, and the deal they had with Kit's family, but felt a little light. Come to think of it, most aspects of the book felt like that. There didn't feel to be too much in the way of characterisation or plot, and I was actually pretty bored for the most part.

Then I got to the mess that was Grady and Skye's relationship. First of all, Skye chooses Grady as her mate, so she doesn't have to choose a goblin. Does Grady get a say in this? No. Does Grady even know Skye before she comes up to him in the woods and snogs him? No. Does all this seem a dubiously consensual premise for a relationship? Absolutely.

Basically now, throughout their relationship, Grady is being influenced by the goblin's magic. Which means, what he might think he feels for Skye is actually a product of the magic. And Skye knows this. But does she try stay away from him, limit the damage, maybe stop him being involved? Nope. She instead takes him to a place where the magic is stronger, and has sex with him. In a situation in which he cannot give his consent because the magic is making him want to do it. Hence why I did not like their relationship. Kit and Livy's was somewhat better, although it did seem rushed, and to be quite frank, absolutely pointless. Do all the characters need to be paired up in relationships? Apparently yes.

What was good about the book was that it did have Grady and Skye have a discussion about all they'd done while under the goblins' spell. But I'd appreciate the attempt more if it had actually felt a serious one. They ended up deciding that they did genuinely have feelings for each other, although how they could have known that when they'd only known each other while under the spell defeats me. Maybe they should have tried to get to know each other anew, because that to me would make more sense. Either way, that relationship was the main reason I didn't like this book, despite the promise of the initial premise.