I wanted to love this book. I really did. The plot was fantastic, the characters great but there was a lot of telling and not enough trusting the reader to come to their own conclusions. When you tell me that Kiko's heart is beating against her ribcage, I know she's nervous, I don't need another sentence telling me she is. Kiko's characterisation is done well enough that I know she thinks she's ugly and can't function in social settings, I don't need to be told explicit.

This is a common criticism of mine with YA novels. Young adults do not need to have a story laid out clearly before them. They can read between the lines. That's one of the joys of reading, figuring things out through the clues laid out for you in the story.