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

Stars (Out of 10): 7/10 Stars

Favorite Character: It kept bouncing between Zach and Cal!

Spoiler Free: When I picked up this book, I didn’t know what to expect! While it has all-around decent reviews, it also did not have the largest readership yet (although I hope to change this!), so it really could’ve gone either way.

While I’d consider the beginning fairly rocky, as we were introduced to our MC and her life (and extreme prejudice she faces due to her gift), it quickly got better as we were introduced to the partners in crime. I “hit it off” with Zach and Cal almost immediately, but it did take me a few chapters to connect with Lire and her sometimes brash personality.

Additionally, while I usually find myself lost in a book without a clear cut plot, I found myself just enjoying the day to day antics this trio got up to (all enhanced by Cal and Zach’s witty banter/comments!).

My main issue with the novel was revealed in the chaotic ending, and my inability to keep track of what was even going on at points. This part of the book revealed that the world is explained as things relevant are occurring, which often led you to being overwhelmed with important information exactly as action was also taking place. It also led to important parts of the world being concealed until later in the novel, even if they seemed like things that should have definitely been mentioned earlier on. (Lastly, as soon an important world point was shown to the reader, it seemed to appear quite frequently in Lire’s inner thoughts, contributing to the oddness of certain facts not being mentioned sooner.)

All in all, this was definitely a great read, and I hope the series continues! I miss these characters already!

Careful! Spoilers beyond this point!

Spoilers: Lemme just talk about that ending for a bit. What even happened in that last 20%?? We got thrown into so much new stuff, from world building to character reveals. And then it all gets taken away from Lire too, so it feels like it didn’t even happen in the epilogue. Additionally, why are we just now heading about sidhe queens and kings in the last bit of the book when they are obviously important to the overarching series plot?

I dunno, just feels like the world information could definitely have been plotted out better.

But still! The characters more than made up for it, and I still can’t decide if I like Lire better with Zach or Cal (even though my overall favorite is definitely Zach.)

Which, now that I’m on characters, made me really dislike the epilogue. It felt almost unnecessary, and made the last chapter feel cheap almost. Lire is shown 3 months later, with a new friend, having gone to the homecoming dance with Ted (as friends, is claimed), and shows the quickly deteriorating communication between her and Zach/Cal. If anything, this would have been a much better start to a second book, with our trio coming back together again shortly after (maybe with the addition of Lire’s new roommate.) Overall, that extra epilogue added nothing but sadness to my perception of the book, and made the relationship/adventure Lire had with Zach/Cal cheaper in a sense.