Non-toxic enemies to lovers in Carry On?!?!?!

 

    Fan of Harry Potter? Carry On would be a great read for you! Set in a quirky world of mages, vampires, and numpties, the universe is like a modern spin of Harry Potter. The novel follows accident-prone Simon Snow and his Chosen One misendeavours. With his bestie Penelope, ex-girlfriend Agatha, and nemesis-turned-lover Baz, Simon saves the world! Woohoo! This book is packed full of mystery, some epic plot twists, romance, friendship, and magic. The characters are really endearing, and I enjoyed the chemistry between friends and lovers.

Baz and Simon start off as arch-enemies. And they also happen to be roommates. Simply a recipe for happiness. Before their eighth year at Watford, the school for magic, they have a Tom and Jerry, Draco and Harry style relationship. Occasional fights, typical mild torturing of enemies (such as trying to feed Simon to a chimera), and an unspoken avoidance when they’re in their dorm together. Normally, this would be a bit of a red flag for me. Borderline mutual bullies to lovers? Not really my thing. Baz actually secretly being in love with Simon the whole time? Also not really my thing. But he actually has pretty valid reasons, and I love his character so much (a bit dark but not overly broody or actually mean). Despite some of my questioning, their relationship managed to develop in a pretty healthy way!

The book begins at the start of Simon’s eighth year of Watford, and Baz is nowhere to be found. With rumors of Baz being a vampire and the current political tensions between the Old Families and the Mage as well as the Insidious Humdrum (the big bad villain) leading dark creatures against the World of Mages, Simon assumes Baz is off plotting against him and hiding. However, when Baz suddenly reappears, the pair truce after the Veil lifts and ghosts like Baz’s mom visit the living to tell secrets. With a new murder mystery on their hands and a common goal, the two grow closer.

Simon reciprocating Baz’s feelings felt a bit sudden for me, but I liked it nonetheless. The process of the two falling in love isn’t written in very much detail, but I liked the characters and liked the characters together enough for me to not really care about that fact. I usually really like super slow burn detailed romance, but I appreciated how Simon and Baz didn't have a long push and pull period with misunderstandings and whatnot. Despite hating each other previously, after calling a truce they grew closer very naturally and bounced off each other well, both benefiting from each other. Their individual characters really shine through when they’re together, and they have lively and fun bantering.

I wouldn’t say the romance was the complete highlight of the novel for me (I liked the characters individually more and the worldbuilding), but the relationship was well-written and naturally developed. I haven’t read a good enemies (and here they never really actually hated each other) to lovers in a while, so I enjoyed Carry On a lot. Definitely highly recommend this book to Harry Potter fans (especially you Drarry shippers), but also to anyone who likes a fun and magical read.

- Sabrina