Firstly, this book was stunningly--I MEAN STUNNINGLY--designed. The cover/dust jacket is fantastic and I gasped and nearly fainted when I removed the dust jacket. The images inside and the black end pages are just absolutely amazing.

I wanna yell a "HALLELUJAH!" because this is a YA fantasy historical fiction with basically zero romance. I DIDNT KNOW THAT A BOOK LIKE THIS HAD EVER BEEN PUBLISHED.

I absolutely adored this book. The focus is family and sisters. Life just keeps hitting Odette and Tru's family with one struggle after another and those struggles shape them and I loved getting to see the end results of these people.

I enjoyed every character and the way the book was told switching between past and present tense made the flow much better than I think it would've been if it was all told chronologically.

My heart broke for Odd & Tru's mom when I got to the end. She always had the best intensions but ended up with so much weight on her shoulders. I loved the complete opposite personalities of the sisters but know what I loved even more? The sister relationship. they put each other before any romance or financial benefit. All this is done but didn't come off as cheesy which I am very thankful for.

I definitely want to read this book every year around Halloween time. As soon as I finished it, I realized that something that was mentioned very passingly was a way of hinting or wrapping things up. (I squealed when I noticed Tru's last name in the epilogue.

I really appreciated how the relationship between Odette and Cy's happened and ended. I don't want a million happily ever afters. I want growth and lessons and some failures and strong women when it comes to relationships that are wrong. Thank you for making Odette strong and fearless and loving and smart...and responsible. She isn't perfect but she knows what is good and what is bad. Her romantic independence/bond with her sister was and should have been the focus

Finally, this is the only book I can remember in recent years having a character with a physical disability. I do wish there was more of that in YA or books in general. Tru's leftover effects of polio slowed her down a little but she was never left behind and grew so much and developed such a default personality of being brave and proud. I want more of that! Her disability doesn't stop her from being a part of an adventure and in the end...the adventure would've gone deadly without her. ❤️