Hi. I'm an idiot. I picked up this book thinking it was a standalone and didn't realize it was actually part of a duology until I was around 50 pages from the end. NOOOOOO! Ugh.

I've decided that Marissa Meyer is totally my jam. Her writing and storytelling reminds me a lot of Charlie N. Holmberg, an author I absolutely adore. Fairytale retelling style with a lot of atmosphere and lyrical language, mythical creatures and fabulously gothic locations...YES.

I was hooked on this from the start and devoured this book like my life depended on it. It was awesome and I had such a great time. The pacing was a little slow in the middle, but otherwise things moved magnificently and the characters were a lot of fun. There was a great construction of light and dark and there was great sacrifice of perfection and the happy ending style. I love my tales dark, so this was great.

The ending. Oh the ending. Such good writing and setup. The ending was solid, but dang it left a good cliffhanger. I need the second book yesterday!!