Jan 11, 2025
idk why hf just yeeted me to the end aaaaa
caught up now
AIGHT
If I were to describe this in three words, it'd be cozy, but melancholic.
Throughout the story there's this feeling that Lena is constantly trying to fit it, but something's always slightly off, which makes her keep her feelings to herself and feel like an alien. Needless to say, this ending was a perfect way to wrap that up. At risk of sounding cliché, it do be a 'new beginning'.
Like I said, I like Lena as a character. She was cute and good-natured but also reasonably flawed (the i have it worse speech got in my nerves ngl) and imo developed naturally throughout the story. It would've been nicer for the ex thing to have some like... idk... maybe foreshadowing is not the right word. A bit more presence in the story? It kind of seemed to exist purely to give the story a last minute drama twist, idk.
Unfortunately, even with the efforts in later chapters, I still feel like side characters are mostly just kinda there. It's not that they don't have personality, but moreso that they didn't seem to be alive outside of their role in the story, if you know what I mean. Zan was 'friend', Gio was 'plot device so she can trauma dump by accident', Maria is 'cathartic realization', and so on and so forth. I did like the bit at the end with Gio and honestly think that gives him more personality than everyone else aside from Lena combined, but it still kind of felt like he exists just so the story could happen.
Still, it was a cozy read, and I enjoyed it. Were there times where it felt like things were just kind of happening for no rhyme or reason? Sure, but that's honestly one of the charms of slice of life. I don't read them looking for a high stakes plot or much rising action. It was something comfy to chill to, and if it got animated, it's the kind of thing I'd watch after a long day at work. Congrats on finishing, and thank you for writing c:
