before i begin the review, make sure to go follow and check out this story for yourself!

alright, let's get started with the ratings.

- cover & blurb: 9/10

- plot & character development: 9/10

- dialogue & description: 10/10

- grammar: 10/10

- creativity: 10/10

let me begin by saying this book is absolutely stunning. the language, the imagery, the organic personalities of the characters—all of it is essentially perfect. the prologue was one of the best chapters of a story i have ever read and TSAWW deserves so many more reads!

with that being said, let me explain why this fantastic book wasn't a 50/50 for me.

in terms of the blurb, it's truly amazing. it really fits the style you're going for and i especially love the "they painted her a villain" and "he's learning art is open to interpretation" quotes. i thought they were so clever and so magnificently crafted, which is why i gave the blurb a 5/5 when breaking up the scores of the cover and the blurb.

the cover, despite being a 4/5 instead of a 5/5, is beautiful. it's exactly how intense i imagine the Weeping Widow painting to be from the book. the only thing that decreased the score a little bit was the fact that looking at your cover gave me more of a horror tone rather than romance. that does not diminish the quality of your book or the beauty of the cover itself, though—i recognize the intention was most likely leaning toward mystery/thriller romance than horror.

which leads me to my next point: plot and character development. some notes i wrote while reading your book were mainly about pacing, to which i mentioned how perfectly your story was paced for the genre—unfortunately, it was just a little too slow for me.

but before i start about that, i do want to apologize because i had to stop reading at the start of chapter three due to timing and scheduling conflicts. BUT, i'd already seen what i needed to see and i was insanely impressed by your writing. i can definitely see TSAWW as a fully published novel in every bookstore—that was how entranced i was by your writing. i always talk about how figurative language can make books so much better, and your use of personification and metaphors were absolutely to me. i couldn't stop myself from verbally gasping and "wow"ing at how stunning your writing was—hence the 10/10 for description.

because of that, and the slower pace of your writing, i found this book to be perfect if i were searching for something that would really move me and intrigue me. that means i would love to continue reading for the beauty & structure of your writing, but it would not be a quick, easy read for me (which is not a bad thing at all).

i'm sorry this is so long, but i really want you to know that i truly love this book. and i am very sorry i had to stop reading earlier than what was promised, which is why i gave some leniency on the plot/character development unit. i honestly couldn't see a romantic relationship between any of the characters that i'd met thus far, but i acknowledge that it's completely my fault so i'm not docking you points for that. the one decrease in points is simply for the slower pacing, but honestly, you shouldn't let that affect you at all.

overall, i really enjoyed your writing and the creativity of TSAWW. please let me know if it's ever professionally published one day; your potential is insane!