Be careful with this book; once you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down! I was hooked very, very early on and ended up reading all day and into the night until I finished it.

I thought the storyline was very interesting! I mean, just think about the fact that in this book, violent acts committed by humans actually breed one of three real-life monsters. The first are the Corsai, which are described as shadows with teeth that feed on flesh and bone. The second are the Malchai, which are corpses that feed on blood. And the third, the Sunai, can pass for human and feeds on souls.

There was a bit of a Romeo and Juliet vibe, but without the gushy romance factor. I thought that this book could definitely have over done it on the romance side of things if the author wanted to. But it was very refreshing that she did not! However, if a romance were to come about in book 2, I can't say I would be upset. :)

I thought the whole book was paced so well, but there were plenty of twists and turns that I did not see coming! The world building was awesome because the author gave us just enough information without over doing it so as a reader you got to fill in some of the blanks yourself. Victoria Schwab just seems to effortlessly create the most wonderful atmospheres.

The two main characters, August Flynn and Kate Harker, were so wonderfully developed. As the story developed, we got to learn more and more about each character and their families, which is a feature of books that I love. And I adored the way that August and Kate interacted with each other. I cannot wait to see where they end up in book two.

And I mean...the fact that Victoria Schwab said that this book was inspired by one of my favorite lines from VICIOUS: "Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human." SO GOOD!

I absolutely LOVED every second of this book. I would highly recommend it! I cannot wait to get my hands on book 2!

My favorite passages:
"Every weakness exposes flesh," he'd said, "and flesh invites a knife."

They were nightmare creatures, the stuff of bedtime stories gone wrong, the things that lurked under the mattress and in the closet, given life and teeth and claws.

It was a cruel trick of the universe, thought August, that he felt human only after doing something monstrous.