This book filled my entire heart.

*2018: I reread it via audiobook, so just imagine me blubbering in my car while driving to work. The narrators are excellent. I can't help but wonder about these kids and what they'd be doing now ❤️

Absolutely LOVED this book. The relationship between the MC and her bestie feels SO real. They've been friends since childhood, and when you've been friends that long you let SO much more slide than you would with a newer friend. I appreciated the honesty of it and how it didn't demonize either woman while also being really honest about their dysfunctional patterns.

Also? It's HELLA fun. And sexy. VERY SEXY. I think you'd have to have a cold, cold heart not to thoroughly enjoy this book. On to the sequel!

Getting to read about a place and time that I've never read about before is SUCH a treat. The early 15th century Ottoman Empire was completely new to me, and tying in the legend of Vlad the Impaler with a gender-bent twist was pretty irresistible.

Lada and Radu are the children of Vlad Dragwlya, a contender for Worst Father Ever. He gives his children to the Sultan in exchange for securing his homeland's borders, and so the kids grow up under the fragile protection of their one friend, Mehmed, the sultan's third son.

While Lada is Arya Stark in season five of Game of Thrones, Radu is the softer-hearted sibling. Still, it's not a case of Lada = bad and Radu = good; they both make terrible choices. You are cheering them on one minute and facepalm'ing the next. Radu has converted to Islam and made the palace his home while Lada dreams of returning to Wallachia. Both of them are devoted to Mehmed, but at a cost.

This world is entirely fascinating, one of ever-expanding empire and political intrigue. It's a world where women have to learn how to survive, even if it means sacrificing their freedom or desires; the politics of the harem were fascinating!

I can't wait until next June when the sequel comes out. Just how dark will Lada become in her evolution into Vlad the Impaler?

Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson share some very famous ancestors but it's not until Jamie transfers to a Connecticut boarding school that this Watson meets that Holmes. Someone is determined to make it look like Charlotte is responsible for the attacks on campus, using her famous g-g-g-grandpa's cases as clues, as if she would ever be that obvious.

There are a TON of Holmes'ian inspired books out there right now. I've read a fair few of them, enjoying some more than others (JACKABY, LOCKE AND KEY), but Cavallaro's writing is what kept me glued to the pages, and I'm super excited for the sequel. I hope that we get some chapters from Charlotte's POV as well as Jamie's this time around.

I hope we'll see more stories with Creeper and her world! I absolutely loved this novella.