3.5 stars
I was really looking forward to this book. I read Letters to the Lost for the first time about a year and a half ago, and really loved it. It's completely different from this book--a hard-hitting contemporary rather than a fairy tale re-telling--but it still seemed like it would be a slam dunk for me.

I did like this book, and I will absolutely continue on with the duology, but I have to admit, I find that I'm a little mixed on my feelings.

First, as far as a re-telling goes, I love that the author stayed true to the beats of the BATB story while still creating a story that feels very different and unique. I love that Harper is from our world because it gives her a completely different background and set of values to pull from. It makes her tenacity and determination make a lot of sense. I also like the fact that this book has a protagonist with cerebral palsy, but that it isn't something that defines her. It's just a fact of her life, and isn't something that is focused on over other things.

Where this book lost me a bit was with the romantic element. I was looking forward to this story as a BATB re-telling, but honestly, the first half of the book was more about Harper and Grey than it was about Harper and Rhen. I'm not sure if the author intended these two characters to have as much chemistry as they did, but it was difficult to invest in a potential romance between Rhen and Harper when they hardly had any scenes between the two of them that weren't rife with misunderstandings and broody hurt feelings. That is especially true when an angsty scene with them would be followed up with a really cute scene between Harper and Grey that actually PROGRESSED their relationship, something early scenes between Rhen and Harper did not accomplish. That being said, the second half of this book picks up steam with their relationship, but I felt like it took to long to make a connection between them and by that point I was finding it difficult to connect with and ship them. I did end up getting there in the end, and love how their arc wrapped up,

without a full-on HEA, but with the promise of hopeful things to come. It would've been easy to have them fall into each other's arms and profess their undying love, so I liked that the author left it a little ambiguous.

but I wish we could've had a little more with the two of them getting to know each other.

I feel like I will like this book better on re-read, which is something I plan to do when the next book comes out next January. I really enjoyed Grey as a character and want to see where this story goes from there.