Review also found on my blog.


UnsolvedAThon: read a book about a mythical creature or a monster


content warnings: mentions of past rape and molestation, forced kissing, incest, violence, gore, murder, loss of a parent, grief, gaslighting, manipulation, child abuse
representation: sapphic main character, pansexual chubby main character, sapphic main character of colour, f/f interracial main relationship


“‘What you wanted doesn’t matter,’ I tell him. My voice comes out with a softness, a stillness, which holds back the tumult inside me. ‘All that counts is what you choose to do, here and now.’”


This is a dark, twisted, at times horrifying book about morally grey characters and I loved it! I do understand a lot of the criticisms of this book (there are also some that I really don't, namely "it's not the cruel prince so it sucks") but there's just something about it that I fell in love with.

The plot is kind of hard to explain, and honestly I think it's best to go in knowing as little as possible. What you need to know is that it follows Ksenia and Josh, codependent foster siblings, and what happens when their lives become entwined with faeries.

These are not the faeries you see in most YA. They're not the beautiful, seemingly cruel and detached but actually just end up acting like humans faeries; they're just straight-up cruel. There isn't the hot one that one of the main characters falls in love with and discovers their humanity, there isn't one that shows them kindness and they realise that they're not all bad. The faeries in this book are what so many other YA books pretend they are; they're cruel, they're heartless, they see humans as playthings. Making a deal with one is akin to making a deal with the devil.

But going into this book, you need to not dwell on the faeries because while they're definitely the villains of this book, it's not about them. It's about Ksenia and Josh's fucked up relationship. This book once approves of their relationship; as a matter of fact, it actively condemns it through the dialogue and thoughts that the third main character, Lexi, has. Ksenia and Josh were both in the foster system and had been loved the way that most people had, so as a result they have a really fucked up view of what love is. Josh thinks that love is this all-consuming, obsessive thing he feels for Ksenia; Ksenia thinks love is whatever Josh feels for her.

What I love about this book so much is that it's about these characters learning that they deserve better. Ksenia's arc is about her coming to terms with the fact that she deserves love, that she is more than her abusive past, that she and Josh don't love each other, not in a healthy way at least. To a lesser extent, the same can be said for both Josh and Lexi. This is a book that lets its characters be flawed, screwed-up, absolutely terrible people, and it lets them grow from that if they deserve it. I also love that this is a book that lets queer characters be messy. All three of the main characters aren't straight (Ksenia also might fall somewhere on the non-binary spectrum, though nothing is conclusively said) and they're incredibly imperfect and that's okay.

Some things you need to keep in mind before reading this book: 1) It's not The Cruel Prince, 2) It has some of the most flawed main characters I've ever seen, 3) It's uncomfortable, and it's doing that on purpose, 4) Those trigger warnings should all be taken seriously because this isn't an easy read. But if you think this is a book you could enjoy, then I would recommend wholeheartedly. There's something I can't put my finger on that's stopping it from being a 5-star, but it's still easily my favourite thing I've read all month.


I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.