When Neve wakes up in the Blackbriar Institute without her memory I suspected that there would be an evil doctor holding her against her will – and there was – but it was done a lot differently than other stories with similar tropes and themes. Neve will need to tread carefully to figure out who she can trust as a friend, and who is trying to hurt her.

While Neve was the main character, and I enjoyed her story, I found some of the side characters to be more intriguing and enjoyed their time on the pages a lot. Lily was one of my favorites, and the mysterious Tala is still a character I wonder about. Torbin, the strong silent one, had a somewhat predictable part of the story, but he was still fun.

The rest of the characters, including the bad guy and his friends, sort of blended into the background. I never got a real feeling for why they were the bad guys. I like my villains to have depth and backstory as well.

I like that while this featured some familiar characters from Snow White and Rose Red, it wasn’t an actual re-telling of their story (although I’m not super familiar with the original). There were a few spots that were a little repetitive or drawn out a little too much that I found myself skimming through.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**