damn i had been looking forward to this for eons! but like always my enjoyment of a YA book hits a peak because sometimes a YA book YA’s too much. this was one of those books. but literally other than that i think this book was fun! but this was not a masterpiece. it was a book i read and i enjoyed.

carolina was um…. conflicting. i kinda didn’t buy her character development, idk it didn’t feel authentic for me. her personality throughout the entire book was not really my cup of tea, idk something felt Off with her. lalo was fun but felt Off as well. it felt like he was purposefully devoid of any character flaws and was written to be a perfect character which is…. no thanks. where are his negative traits. why is he only a good person my GODDDDD. and because technically both of them have noble motivations instead of creating tension whilst the romance built i was not interested in their relationship because they were both mostly flawless. obv carolina can be hardheaded but idk even then that trait is painted as a positive so i was kinda bored reading about two perfect people. yes they make mistakes throughout the story but everything always worked out super well for them so i was like… shrug!

this book felt like it had so much fucking filler. like seriously half of this book was just fucking around so lalo and carolina can become closer. a lot of things that could’ve realistically padded out the story while they bonded happened “off-screen” which is so infuriating to me because likeeeee WHY NOT DO IT IN THE TEXT!!!! like lalo’s research, most of his travelling, him being turned, etc. all happened outside of the story!!!! HUHHHHHH?? and even then the filler wouldn’t have been so bad if the book didn’t take MORE THAN HALF OF THE BOOK TO HAVE THE ROMANCE HAPPEN. and it’s not just a little over half NAWWWW it’s quite a bit. and seriously it happens for like three seconds and then the book ends. well at least that’s what it felt like. how are you gonna tag ur book romance and then more than half the book doesn’t even have romance. are you serious. it felt like there was a lot of padding that seriously needed to be trimmed. and it’s an issue that honestly plagues this book in every aspect. 

i will say though i have to praise this book for its unique contributions to the vampire mythic. like the thing about trees and shit???? and obsidian??? i really liked it and found it super creative, and a lot more intriguing than the basic stake through the heart bs. plus the whole thing surrounding what happens to a human when you drink their blood also helped me not just going “ok why doesn’t lalo just drink from someone willing or sm”. still don’t understand why he couldn’t go to a blood bank but 🤷 

YA is really a hit or miss for me because some parts of it i do really love, but a lot of other parts exhaust me. and i fear this was a book that more often than not exhausted me 😵‍💫