This one was rough and not just emotionally, but structurally too. The constant time jumps made it really hard for me to settle into the story, and honestly, I just kept getting frustrated with the characters. Especially Ada. Her relationship with Simon (her adopted brother, by the way) made my skin crawl. It’s sad because I know she’s a victim and none of it was really her fault, but the way she clung to the idea that she could save him, even as he kept hurting her… it was just truly so devastating to watch it all unfold.

Simon always acted like a full-blown psychopath, and yet Ada kept going back. Even when she knew better. I just wanted to hold on to her but I also really just wanted to shake her.  That’s the thing about abuse, right? Even when she left, she still somehow found herself pulled back in. He never intended to let her go. And I’m a bit angry because even I somehow believed he would.

And then there’s Bess, who felt more like a shadow than an actual presence. I really liked her and was always looking forward to her POVs, so it kind of sucked that her role felt so underused. I wish we got less of Simon and Ada and more of her, because she had her own issues she was wading through. And I would have loved to see more of who she was before them. But I guess the author had other plans

And I get that the book was trying to explore more of the trauma and how it messes with people’s choices and relationships, but it kind of leaned so far into the darkness that it stopped feeling like a story and started to feel more like a series of emotional hits. So unfortunately for me, I finished it feeling more disturbed than moved. But…I can’t lie. If there’s a sequel, I’d probably still read it.