I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

Something about the title and synopsis have had me hyped for this book since I first heard about it, and I was so happy when I was approved for the audio ARC of this one! It ended up largely living up to those expectations, though I did feel like it was missing something. This feeling seemed to grow as the story went on, and I was left a little underwhelmed, even if I ended up still enjoying the story a lot.

First, I really liked the narrator and what she brought to this story. She brought life to the main character, and I just really enjoyed the way the narrator’s voice paired with both the character and the world. I was also just gripped by the story right from the beginning, and I felt like the narrator was able to deliver a lot of those early hooks extremely well!

After the strong beginning, however, I did feel as if the story fizzled a bit for me. My interest waned a bit, even as I was still intrigued by where the story was going. I think I just wanted more from the relationships in the story, especially the one between Helen and her brother. It felt like there was a lot more to explore there, but not enough time was spent setting it before the harrowing ending. I think the same can be said for Helen and Edith, in a way, though that one definitely felt a lot stronger for me. There were a few choices in the middle of the book that I felt like could’ve been slightly different to give more space for us to really bond with the characters and explore their relationships. There was also just a lot of plot to get through as well, of course, and not many pages to manage it all in!

I think this is the first book I’ve read by Polk, and honestly, it has left me excited to read much more by them! One of my favorite things about this book had to be the writing style. While I was listening, various phrases and lines kept sticking out to me as exceedingly clever or slyly funny, and I can’t wait to see what Polk does with a whole novel.

Overall, I think this is a great read for many, especially those that need a quick read in between larger books or series. While it’s an intense read, there’s this constancy of queer joy and hope that keeps you going throughout the story, and it overall was just a wonderful novella!