I was provided with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

3.75☆

Characters-
The complex and emotional characters are always my favorite part of Nina Lacour's novels, but Watch Over Me didn't shine in that aspect. Although many of the characters had extremely tragic backstories, the way they began their healing (which I wont spoil) felt like an easy way out that almost neglected to truly show the difficulties of overcoming difficult and even abusive situations. I get that the author was trying to create some symbolism, but it didn't sit right with me. I also thought that the author struggled with forming the characters' relationships with each other in this book. The main character, Mila's bond with a young boy named Lee was the only relationship that didn't give me a sense of the author pushing harmony among the various characters in Watch Over Me.

Plot-
My biggest issue with the plot of this novel was the way it was paced. The flashbacks were oddly placed and the majority of the "action" or "excitement" seemed to happen in the last 50 pages of the book. Therefore, everything built up very slowly and when things were revealed, the explanation for them was rushed. I also wished that the book would have gone in a different direction with the mysterious elements, but I'm not overtly upset with how things went either.

Writing- 
The author's writing and style really saved this book for me and kept it from totally tanking. The symbolism and just purely beautiful writing is such a staple for Nina Lacour that I will always love and appreciate.

Unfortunately, I did not love Watch Over Me nearly as much as I did the author's other books, but it was in not in any way a bad read, as I still enjoyed myself while reading. I will continue to read from Lacour in the future as I think she has an impeccable talent for writing and a lot of potential in more mysterious type stories such as this one.