Absolutely LOVED this book! I had really high expectations of this book and at times I almost worried it wouldn't meet them but about halfway through this book seriously picked up and I was on a rollercoaster of emotion right until the last page!

The beginning part of this book did confuse me a little. It took me a while to get to know the different types of monster and what each did and how dangerous they were. This did not effect my overall enjoyment of this book AT ALL. Once I wrapped my head around the two different families waging war against each other and the different types of monsters this book was nothing less than incredible.

I seriously loved the characters in this book. I mean, all the characters - even the ones I didn't like. I was terrified of Kate's father and Sloane but I loved Kate herself. I thought she was a sassy little fire cracker who was sassy, fiery and passionate. The things she forced herself to do just to impress her father were incredible and I really loved her development throughout the book. August is an adorable, violin playing MONSTER. He was definitely my favourite character in the book. His development went so much further than I expected it to and I am really excited to see how he is going to develop further in the sequel. I also really liked the fact there was no romantic relationship between Kate and August in this book. This was a book forged on the basis of two lost souls finding one another and building a special friendship where they loved and protected one another.

Schwab's writing style never ceases to amaze me. I love the way she writes. Her descriptions are real and I could easily visualise the scenes in this book. The short chapters kept me hooked - especially with those mini cliff hangers scattered throughout. There was plenty of action in this book and on several occasions I had flipped through 70-100 pages without even realising it. Although there didn't feel like a lot happened for almost half of this book, I loved everything about it.