First off, I would like to thank the publisher and author for providing me this ARC to review. Please note that the version I read was an advanced copy, and certain events/language may be changed in the published edition.

“That night I think we were trying to fight against death, against boredom and banality, against everything that made us cry and stare at our futures full in the face with dread.”

Stars (Out of 10): 3.5/10 Stars

Overall Thoughts: I really wanted to love this book, because I absolutely fell in love with the amazing covers. However, it seems it didn’t really do it for me. I felt like a floated along through the entire book, reading and enjoying the story, but not feeling connected, never feeling worried or scared when bad things happened, and never feeling happy or overjoyed during the happy moments. Additionally, even though the plot idea was pretty intriguing, I felt the main ‘twist’ was way too obvious way too early, so by the end I kinda already knew what to expect, and the secrets that everyone was keeping.

The Good: I really liked the dark atmosphere the book kinda seemed to have, and what the ending could mean for book two (even if parts of the ending felt vague). I also did enjoy reading this, just less so than a lot others for reasons below.

The Bad: I did not find myself really caring about any of the side characters, and the MC even less so. I also am not the biggest fan of books with little plot in the beginning, and it felt like this one floated as things were beginning to build up. And while later that become important later, while reading it just wasn’t that enjoyable. Additionally, the most important part of the plot was pretty predictable.

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE

The Characters: If I’m being 100% honest, I don’t think anything appealed to me about any of the characters. In the beginning, it seemed like the Graces we were supposed to be intrigued about were just so full of themselves, and in the end, they weren’t as special as they were made out to be. Additionally, I did not care for River at all throughout the entire book, and it made the entire book weaker in my opinion. I never cried when she was dumped by the Graces or was never pitying her when she felt like she would never belong. And with a book that felt as emotion based as this one, it left me hanging that I wasn’t able to connect with the characters and be influenced as they were.

The Plot: While this is what kept me reading, and wanting to see if I was right or not, it was way too predictable to actually keep me on my toes. There were way too many obvious hints too early on, and by the time we heard a bit more about the father from River’s mother, the truth about River clicked so easily. However, if the author takes this series the way I think she might be, and gives Summer/one of the Graces POV in book 2, book 1 could very well be an amazing villain origin story.

My one other main issue will have to be the vague, flip floppy feeling ending. I almost upped the rating of the book after reading most of the ending, because I loved how the book seemed to suddenly make more sense. At one point, it almost seemed to click that, of course!, this was a villain origin story! And I loved that. But then in the last 5% or so, suddenly River was fixing everything? But then it seemed like she was plotting with Marcus? And it felt like River’s true thoughts and meaning seemed far too vague and hidden for it to be as hard hitting and solid as it needed to be.

This review can also be found on my blog: https://paragraphsandpages.wordpress.com/