Most people have no idea goblins live in the woods around the small town of Bellwater, Washington. But some are about to find out. Skye falls victim to a goblin curse in the forest one winter night, rendering her depressed and silenced, unable to speak of what happened. Her older sister, Livy, is at wit’s end trying to understand what’s wrong with her. Kit would know, but he doesn’t talk of such things: he’s the human liaison for the goblin tribe, thrust on him by an ancient family contract. Unaware of what’s happened to Skye, Kit starts dating Livy, trying to keep it casual to protect her from the attention of the goblins. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kit, Skye draws his cousin Grady into the spell through an enchanted kiss in the woods, dooming Grady and Skye both to become goblins and disappear from humankind forever. It’s a midwinter night’s enchantment as Livy, the only one untainted by a spell, sets out to save them on a dangerous magical path of her own.
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The Goblins of Bellwater
Molly Ringle
For a title including ‘Goblins’ this book did not have enough goblins in it. I was fully ready for a goblin filled adventure and I was completely let down when I realised this was basically a contemporary romance with a sub plot about goblins. This is another one of those books that were in the fantasy genre on Netgalley, and I really should start double checking on Goodreads before requesting.
The romance itself was extremely toxic. Skye and Grady’s romance is all because of the goblin curse. She first kisses him which 1. traps him as her chosen mate for the curse, and 2. is not consensual at all. This non-consent just continues throughout the book, including when they have sex in front of all the goblins in the woods. It wasn’t cute, I wasn’t routing for them and it was just an awful trash romance to read.
The forest itself is extremely creepy and eerie and feels magical. But… we rarely spend any time in the magical part. We’re there as Skye gets cursed, as Kit liaisons with the goblins and then for the big finale. That is basically it, I came for a magical wood full of goblins, all I got was annoying characters who just want to bone all the time.
Goblins of Bellwater nearly redeemed itself when Livy has to fight her way through different magical tasks to get to her sister to save her. But then I realised, the entire book could have been written this way. The author clearly has the skill to write a fast paced, magical filled adventure. Unfortunately, that is not what she gave us. This book was so slow to read, and I really should have DNF’d because it never lived up to it’s expectations.
Overall, I really disliked this book. I would’ve been a bit more lenient about the romance if it was just me being dumb when requesting it. But the ‘romance’ was just so bad that I really don’t think anyone would enjoy reading it. It was also way too slow pacing in the non fantasy parts, and the fantasy areas lacked completely.
POSITIVES
+ Forest feels creepy and magical
+ Livy’s journey for her sister
NEGATIVES
– Romance is toxic
– Not really a fantasy
– Poor pacing
I received Gobins of Bellwater by Molly Ringle from the publisher via Netgalley. This is an unbiased and honest review.
