I honestly like the Wattpad version better. There were little things that were taken out for the published version that I thought were really great subtle ways to show off character development and history that made me connect with them all more. Which is weird to me, because why would Wattpad publishing encourage so much change in a book that is so well loved on their platform rather than just cleaning it up a bit in editing? Why change things or remove things that give us character? And it is not even consistent. The Mercedes is black on page 1 and silver on page 6. Why did nobody catch that???? 

I liked how long the Wattpad version is and how repetitive it was because it gave us an idea of what it was like for Charlotte to have to work so hard to prepare herself. This also gave us more time to develop the friendships and found family bonds, which I feel is lacking in this version. Maybe it will get better as the series progresses, but their bonds are so strong by the end without us being able to see why because things were taken out. 

Also, the whole “it has to be short so people will buy it” doesn’t work for me with fantasy/paranormal novels, especially when you have lore and magic systems you have to explain. The longer the better. Obviously these needed to be split up, but cutting out so much while doing so didn’t work in their favor. 

I will be following along as more books come out because I do want to support ZW Taylor for how much I have loved and reread the original version (honestly some of my favorite things I have read), but I can’t help but feel somewhat disappointed by the lack of well-done exposition we get in the originals. 🤷🏼‍♀️