👩🏻 3.5 Stars (rounded up) for this story of strength, bravery and truth 🏇

The opening scene of the book is powerful. Seelie is brutally attacked by Shane Mayfield, the son of a well respected and connected local judge. In the throes of defending herself against Shane's vicious attack she ends up killing him in self-defense.

"I knew he would kill me if he got back up so I made sure he couldn't... Don't you understand? I had to save myself. I had to."

Yet, due to various connections within the legal/justice system and pressure from Shane's well-respected father Seelie is arrested for murder. The story chronicles her experiences during the trial and the aftermath of her attack. While the story was interesting and dealt well with Seelie's feelings after the attack there were certain things that kept this from being a stronger read for me. I felt like there was a lot thrown into this book but much of it was only explored on a very surface level. One of the biggest unexplored aspects for me was Seelie's strained relationship with her mother. There was so much animosity and resentment between them but no real explanation was given for it.

I did enjoy the Faction which is the name Seelie and her group of close friends had given themselves. The friendship amongst them was strong, accepting, forgiving and a true lifeline for Seelie during her horrible ordeal. I also found it relevant that Seelie basically shut down after her assault. That is a very real response from survivors of assault. I enjoyed watching her come to terms with what happened to her and finding ways to slowly speak out and share all the details of her attack.

Overall, this was a well done YA novel. It started off strong and kept me turning the pages. I just personally would have enjoyed a bit more fleshing out of the back story and Seelie's life.

Thank you to Misha Thrace, North Star Editions and NetGalley for the advance copy.