This is such a difficult book to review. There were so many things in this book that I thought really worked. However, there were quite a few things that weren't as successful.

TW: suicide, self-harm, anxiety, mental instability (I think they specifically referenced schizophrenia, but I'm not 100% sure about that.)

What I liked:

1. Friendships. I loved Louis's relationship with his sister Willa. I also enjoyed the dynamic between Arrow and Frances. The friendship between Louis and Frances was great in the beginning as well.

2. Quirkiness. The story itself is quirky. Frances and Louis have had a tendency since their childhoods to lose things -- or more specifically, to have things leave them. Many of the characters are quirky. Parts of this book have a dream-like or fairy-tale quality to them. As a person who likes a little quirk with her stories, I appreciated that.

3. Road trips. I like books that incorporate road trips. This book had two. I wish more time had been spent on the road trip aspect.

4. Quick read. The book is about 330 pages, and I read it in two short sittings. I wanted to know what was going to happen next, and my curiosity kept me engaged throughout the majority of this story.

What I didn't like:

1. Lack of common sense. So the whole idea behind Frances going on this road trip is ridiculous.

She receives a bunch of letters from her mentally unstable mother. Her mother is obviously not in her right mind in these letters, yet she just takes what her mother says at face value and decides to go across the country to confront a movie star to see if he's her biological father. It makes no sense that this would be the first step that she would take. The man she's believed to be her paternal grandfather is her direct caregiver. How difficult would it have been to do a DNA test to see if there was a familial connection between them? That is a rhetorical question. The answer is: not difficult at all. Then they could've taken that information and gone on from there.

I'm not saying that she wouldn't have gone on the road trip at all, but it felt like there was a pretty major step skipped that should've been addressed.

2. Lack of believability. I'm not referring to the hook of this story, which is that both Frances and Louis tend to 'lose' things in a way that seems almost magical. I don't mind a little magical realism. Actually, I really like it. But there are so many more moments in this book that force the reader to suspend disbelief to a point that I just couldn't anymore.

a. Randomly meeting someone whose father was old friends with the movie star she's looking for who gives her the contact information for said movie star.
b. The movie star being gay and just offering up that information with no hesitance. I'm only saying this isn't believable because it's obvious from the other characters' reactions that this isn't publicly-known information, which would lead me to assume that he isn't publicly out. Why would a well-known celebrity, who isn't out in his public life, tell a random girl who showed up on his doorstep that he is gay? It just doesn't track for me.
c. The movie star just happens to have an identical twin brother who no one knows about. That just doesn't make sense.

3. Last third of the book. After Louis and Frances finally meet, I felt like the book went downhill for me. It was just so rushed. We hardly got to see them actually interact with one another. They meet up, decide to take a walk, then the book jumps to the next day and just kind of touches on what happened the night before. This happens twice. We also don't get to see Louis's tour of the university. And he goes from not being sure that he really wants to go to that school to treating it like a done deal with no actual progression. It's just automatic.
Willa's story is left completely open. I'm not sure if the author wrote a book about her or not, but I didn't like how there was no resolution on her story.
And the very end, where

Frances's birth father finds her was so ridiculous. The dialogue was cheesy, the entire premise was completely unbelievable, and the writing was just not satisfying. It was so rushed that it left me no time whatsoever to have any real emotion about it. I get that there is supposed to be a fate or destiny sort of feeling around this story, but I wasn't buying it.

4. Lack of connection. At the end of the day, I just didn't connect at all with the characters. As I said, I liked the quirkiness of many of the side characters. But I just didn't find Louis and Frances very compelling. They had dealt with some truly terrible things in their lives, but I never once felt a tug at my heartstrings. I never once got choked up. I never found myself grinning or laughing out loud. As readable as this was, I never had any heightened emotion while reading this book. And there are some heavy topics covered in this books. Topics that would usually affect me emotionally. I'm not sure where the disconnect was.

All in all, I can see an audience for this book, but I just didn't connect to it like I would've liked. I would read another book from this author, especially if there is a continuation of Willa's story, because as I said, her story was unresolved and I think that she's probably my favorite character in the book.

Trigger warnings: Rape; mental, emotional, and physical abuse

I purchased this book a couple of years ago. In that time, I had completely forgotten the synopsis for the story. Today I decided to read and randomly plucked this book off of the shelf. I didn't read the synopsis. I just dove right in. I had no expectations for the book whatsoever.

This book surprised me. I can't say I 'liked' the book, because it was really not a happy story. But I think it was well-written and I am glad I read it.

What I liked:

1. The writing style. This is written in a very stark, no nonsense kind of way, which really fits the narrative extremely well. These characters live in a way that is very simple but also hard and potentially brutal. They are pretty much in the middle of nowhere living off the land in a place that can be harsh at the best of times. The austere nature of the writing reflects that very well. There are no flourishes or poetic turns of phrase. It could even be called simple, although I think it was crafted in a very intentional way.

2. Friendships. I had a hard time warming up to Lulu at first. She reminded me of Renee Zellweger's character in Cold Mountain and I found her to be a little cartoonish in the beginning. But as we learn more about her and her life and see the way that she takes Eveline under her wing, I found myself really loving her and their friendship. She sticks by her through thick and thin, even when things happen that she can hardly deal with.
I also liked that Gunther and Hux were so close. They are as different as two people could be, kind of like their mothers, but that doesn't stop them from being there for each other. It makes sense. They both share similar experiences as far as their upbringing, and even though their relationship is a little more antagonistic, I liked their friendship.

3. Multi-generational story. I had no idea that this was going to be a multi-generational story when I first started reading. When we jumped from 1940 to 1954 I will admit that I was slightly skeptical. It's not that I don't like these types of stories, but I felt like I wasn't done with Eveline and Emil's story. I wanted more from them. But I will say, it ended up really working for me, for the most part. It demonstrates how a single action, a single decision can affect the lives of not only the person making it, but also everyone around them as well as generations down the road.

What I didn't like:

1. Lack of connection. I found myself really invested in Eveline's story. I don't know if it's because it was a fish-out-of-water thing with her moving from her comfortable home to the wilderness and having to work her tail off to survive and provide for her son, or maybe just because she was a mother, but I felt emotionally attached to her and her story. When we moved on to the other characters, I just didn't feel that same connection. I feel like part of that could be attributable to the slightly distanced nature of the writing, or the fact that I felt like I didn't really know these people and I was just dropping into the middle of their established lives.

2. Telling, not showing. Now, this was the one downfall of the multi-generational story for me. We would jump from one point in time to another years later. We've had no resolution for the previous time's characters before jumping on. Eventually we would get an anecdote or even a flashback that would fill in the gaps, but it definitely made the impact less than it could have been. I didn't really feel as emotional about it as I wanted to.

3. Plot hole. It's definitely possible that this just wasn't explained properly to the reader, but there is a part where Lulu and Eveline learn that there will be an assessor out to their homes to assess the value of their home so they can be taxed. A man shows up and does the assessment, then later they learn that an ex-convict had stolen a government boat and was posing as a government employee. It seemed like we were supposed to believe that this ex-convict and the assessor who had shown up were one in the same. But how on Earth would a random ex-con know to show up at these specific houses and what to say to get entry? It made no sense to me.

I am so glad I read this book after it sat on my shelf for nearly two years. Even though it was tragic most of the way through, I ended up really appreciating it.

So, the story had a lot of promise, but I found myself not overly excited about this book at the end of the day.

What I liked:

1. The premise. I'm a sucker for a superhero book. This one throws in corrupt governments and organized crime, so I was really intrigued with the beginning of this story.

What I didn't like:

1. Pacing. I ended up really bored in the middle of this book. I'm not sure why it wasn't keeping my attention, but it felt like it dragged for awhile. And to be honest, as I look back on it I realize that nothing much really happens in this book. It was described as X-Men meets Ocean's Eleven, which I get. The main character belongs to a group of people who superpowers who pull off heists. But I was really missing the fun that that comparison evokes.

2. Too many characters. I felt like I didn't know any of the characters that well, perhaps with the exception of Ciere. Even Daniel, whose perspective we also get, ended the book as an unknown for me. Also, there were just too many different characters splitting the focus of this book. Someone would pop up in the beginning and then again later on and I would have to figure out who it was.

3. Insta-love(ish). Now, these two characters don't actually share any words of love or physical intimacy, but Ciere's relationship with

Alan

goes from meeting to her thinking twitterpated thoughts about him in about five minutes. I didn't feel the connection between them and didn't actually feel like I knew either of their characters very well.

4. The end. I felt like the end was really anti-climactic. I just didn't get the feeling I was hoping for in a action-y, superhero heist-y book.

Other odds and ends:

I listened to this on audio. There were two narrators. The female voice actor was fine, except I thought her accents were a bit rough. The male voice actor has a voice that just grates on my nerves. I'm not sure what it is. I've listened to several of his prior books (he narrates the Miss Peregrine's series) and never liked him. This was no exception. He is terrible at accents and all his characters sound pretty much the same. And again, there is something about the tone of his voice that just rubs me the wrong way.

At the end of the day I didn't connect to this story like I wanted to, which is a bummer because it seems like it would be something right up my alley. I don't really have any interest in continuing with the story, which is too bad because absolutely nothing is resolved in this first installment.

4.5 Stars, rounded up because I can.
This is the second book I’ve picked up by this author. I just love her stories and can’t wait to move on to the sequel.

What I liked:

1. The magical realism. I feel like magical realism doesn’t work when it’s not grounded in reality in some way. Books like Wild Beauty seem more like surrealism to me because there is nothing showing that this is actually taking place in our world. Sarah Addison Allen knows how to create a story that feels like it takes place in our world, with just a little magic thrown in. And I loved that the magical element varied with each member of the Waverly family. Claire’s would probably be my favorite. I love the idea that certain foods would create certain situations.

2. The food. I want to eat all the food mentioned in the book. I would legitimately like the recipes for the food. Pretty please.

3. The quirk. I love the quirky and whimsical nature of the town and the characters in this book. Evenelle may have actually been my favorite character. She also has a fantastic ‘ability’ and the way that she navigates it is really fun.

4. Sister connection. This book deals a lot with issues dealing with abandonment and anxiety. I love that over the course of the book Sydney and Claire learn to trust one another and really cultivate a bond that was missing in their youth. I like that it didn’t just happen overnight, but was worked on throughout the book.

5. The writing style. I love the quirky, whimsical style the majority this book is written in. SAA writes in a very lyrical way without becoming overly-flowery.

Other odds and ends:

1. This book does deal with some heavy subject matter. TW for rape and domestic abuse. I do feel like there are some parts of the book that seem slightly out of place with the more whimsical passages, so I could see how that could turn some people off.

2. This book has more sex in it than the other book by her that I’ve read. It’s not overly graphic, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind if you are the kind of person who doesn’t like to read sex scenes.

3. This book does have a case of insta-love, but it is mostly one-sided in the beginning and takes a good portion of the book for their relationship to actually progress. Also, I tend to forgive the insta-love trope in a book like this because there is a sense of fate and destiny running through it that is supported and helped along by the magical elements at work.

4. I wish the ending wasn’t quite so abrupt. There is an event we build up to throughout the book that is supposed to build tension but when it finally happens it’s solved very quickly and feels more than a little anti-climactic.

Even with the few critiques, I still loved this book. If I were to rate it critically it would still get a 4 because I think it’s a well-written and unique story. Adding in my level of enjoyment into my rating kicks it up to a full five stars and I can’t wait for her next book.

I am really in the minority on this one, and that’s okay. That being said, I went into this book with pretty high expectations. It was pretty hyped when it first came out and continues to receive a lot of really positive reviews. Unfortunately it just didn’t work for me.

What I liked:

1. The concept was intriguing. I like the idea of a sci-fi thriller.

2. It has a cinematic quality to it. Especially in the beginning, I could just see it very clearly in my head. I feel like this could be an interesting movie or limited series. Apparently the rights have been purchased to turn the book into a movie, but I haven’t heard anything concrete.
*EDIT: So I learned after I posted this review that this man is actually a screenwriter. This makes complete sense to me. The way this is written, it almost sounds more like a screenplay than a true narrative story.*

What I didn’t like:

1. Vague descriptions of synopsis vs. reality of the narrative.
I didn’t actually read a synopsis of this before I read it, but when people would describe it they’d say something like, “It’s about this man who wakes up one day and he’s living a life that isn’t familiar to him. His wife and kid don’t exist and he has no clue what’s going on.” But that is not really what this is about. We know pretty much immediately what has happened to Jason. It takes him a bit, but he gets there too, eventually. I thought I was going into a sci-fi mystery/thriller, but most of the plot points were fairly predictable.


2. Pacing. I found myself bored during the middle part of this book. How many times do we need to hear about the variety of Jason/Daniellas he found? Apparently, the correct answer to that question is 514. It just got very monotonous at a certain point, I get it. His reality was the only one where they stay together. I didn’t need the middle half of the book to focus solely on that for me to understand.


3. Loose ends/plot contrivances. There are so many story points that are just dropped. When Jason and Amanda escape from the corporation the other Jason works for that whole storyline is just dropped. I was expecting it to come back later and it never does.

Also, Amanda seems pretty pointless to me as a character. She helps Jason escape, which is very convenient, but after that point her character serves little to no purpose, except as a lukewarm wannabe love interest. She disappears about 2/3 through the book and is barely mentioned after that.

4. I also didn’t understand what was so special about Daniella that would make potentially hundreds of Jasons fight for her. Seriously, they were willing to KILL for her. I just don’t get it. Why is the only acceptable universe the one where they stay together? Are we supposed to believe that they had no validity as individuals? That they couldn't possibly be happy without the other? Ehhhh...I'm not buying it.

5. The writing style. The writing style was interesting, but I did find the structure to be a little distant. It is almost told as though he’s writing a report about it instead of me being immersed in the narrative. It was very step-by-step.

Generic example (I listened to the audiobook and I’m writing this on a plane so I can’t directly quote the book):
“I go to the store. I want to buy a bottle of wine, but they don’t have the kind my wife likes. I decide to go home instead. On my way out the door my phone rings. It’s my wife. She asks me to get ice cream. I go back in the store and pick out her favorite flavor. Then I drive home just in time for dinner.” It just has a simplistic quality to it that didn’t connect with me.


6. Lackluster climax. From the rave reviews I was expecting some sort of big twist at the end, but that was nowhere to be found. There was a moment where I thought the book had the option to go very dark, which I would’ve had a lot of respect for. When he calls for all the Jasons to meet and have a lottery for Daniella and Charly, my first thought was that he was leading them into a trap and was going to kill all of them in one fell swoop or something. But no. He was actually going to let a bunch of versions of himself hold a lottery where his wife was the prize. WTF?! Instead, the end ties up relatively neatly when the Jasons let them go with almost no pushback and I was left feeling underwhelmed.

*EDIT: Other Odds and Ends:

1. I listened to the entire book on audio on a plane ride. It wasn't until I finally read some other reviews that I learned of the unique structure of this book. Apparently there are a lot of paragraph breaks and sentence fragments. I'm trying to understand why this would be the stylistic choice. The only thing I can think it that it's supposed to feel like a stream-of-consciousness type feel. Perhaps it was an attempt to inject some tension into the book, because the narrative itself lacked any sense of foreboding. I'm not sure how this would've affected my overall view of the book, but I don't see it making me completely change my mind.*

There are definitely some interesting conversations to be had with this book in regards to the way in which every choice we make affects the quality and circumstances of our lives, but I didn’t find it to be groundbreaking or particularly unique.

There was so much hype surrounding this book about a year ago, and I was very intrigued by the synopsis. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like the execution was there.

2.75 stars

I didn't hate this book. It was fine. I almost gave it three stars. But as I thought more and more about it, I realized that it's not going to be a book I remember anything about in a couple of months. I took a week or so break from this book while I was on vacation and even then couldn't remember some of the points when I came back to it.

I give the author a lot of credit. It was obvious that she was trying to do something unique with the magic system. The problem is, I couldn't explain it to someone if I was telling them about the book. There were so many points that were vague and seemed underdeveloped to me. Although, that could also be a side effect of the book just not being memorable for me.

There is also a case of insta-love that I just couldn't get behind. And to be honest, I'm not sure how long these characters knew each other before the romance part of their relationship began. Again, there may have been a discussion of how much time had passed, but it seemed to be only a week or so. Yet Faris and North find themselves unable to control their passion for each other, even when they know that touching one another

makes their poisoning worse

. And then there is the fact that she just lost the person she saw as the love of her life a couple months before.
There was no foundation for them to begin a relationship. They didn't have any on-page interactions that provided any sort of basis for a romantic relationship.

I also felt like the characters could have been developed a little more. I don't feel like I know much about any of the characters, and none of them, with the exception of Bryn, has much of a personality to speak of. I understand Faris's motivation. She is trying to save her sister. Other than that, however, I don't really know much about her. Like I said, Bryn was the only character who had any sort of discernible personality.

I will say that it's obvious to me that the author has talent. The writing was compelling, even when the story ultimately wasn't for me.

I don't see myself picking up the next book in the series, but I would like to read something else from the author in the future.

This is the fifth book I’ve read this year with a protagonist who has autism. The thing I appreciate the most is that each of these characters are unique. They have their unique struggles and strengths, and I really appreciate that.

Jason is the main character in this book, and the book is told through his eyes. It feels like we’re reading his journal entries. Being in his head is a very interesting experience. There are times when he is relaying events to us where it becomes obvious to us, the reader, that something is happening because of things others around him say, rather than him telling us himself. Most of the time these things are a physical manifestation of his autism, and it isn’t something he realizes is happening or has control over all the time.

As a mom, my heart broke for both him and his mom. He loves his mom. He tells us he loves his mom. There are so many instances where his thoughts show that love. But he has a difficult time verbally expressing that, which inadvertently leads his mother to believe that he doesn’t love her. I imagine there are many people who would be able to relate with this relationship.

I will say that for people who need a book with a clearly defined plot, this may not be your favorite book. This is more of a character-driven story, and it’s a beautiful one at that.

I could see myself reading this book with my own son in the near future.

I am surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. The first book in the series, Come Back To Me, was enjoyable but I had several issues with it. This book had so much of the content I wish I'd seen in the first book, only with different characters.

I appreciated the PTSD rep, as a person who has loved ones who have suffered from it. I liked the fact that the majority of this book chronicles the struggles of several people to cope with the things that happened to them and the guilt they feel. The journey of recovery wasn't something that happened off-page, and I really liked that about this book.

I liked Didi and Walker, although I felt like Didi's character felt different to me than she did in the first book. I get that she is a few years older, but in the first book it felt like she was being written as a party-girl type. Then in this book we find out that she'd actually only had intimate relations with three different men throughout her life.
I like that they take their time in this book. This didn't feel like insta-love at all to me. I think we had to wait until page 200 or so for the first kiss.

The side characters in this book felt much more real to me than they did in the first book. They were interesting and flawed and three-dimensional, which was not the case with the first book.

The one big negative I have with this book is the way makeup and girls who wear makeup are portrayed. This actually goes back to the first book as well.
In Come Back To Me, Kit has an inner dialogue about how Didi is always wearing a bunch of makeup and how he prefers the way Jessa looks with her fresh, clean face. In this book, there is a whole passage where Didi talks about how she wants to limit the makeup she's wearing because guys always catcall at her when she's wearing makeup but when she's fresh-faced they don't. According to her, they also take her more seriously. It's just a weird hang-up that both of these books had. I don't know if the author herself is trying to assert some sort of opinion through her characters, but it does feel a little heavy-handed. Also, why on Earth should a girl feel like she has to change something about herself so a bunch of men won't act like misogynistic assholes? I would've loved a scene where Didi realizes that she likes putting on makeup and feeling pretty and calls out the first jerk to come on to her.

I also didn't feel like the celebrity boyfriend character was necessary in the slightest. He really added nothing to the story whatsoever.

I also thought the dialogue was far less cheesy and stilted. It actually felt like conversations real people in their early twenties might have. The inner dialogue was also a step up from the first book.

To sum up, if you liked the first book I think you would like this one even more. If you didn't like the first book, I felt like many of the issues from that book were not present in this one and if the story sounds intriguing you should give it a shot.

Warning: Incoming Gush Alert

This book has been on my shelves since January, when I received it in a book subscription box. I don't really read Westerns, and there were so many other books on my shelves at the time that it ended up sitting there for the past 8 months.

I decided recently that September would be the month I would read all of the book box books I have taking up space on my shelves, and this was the first book I decided to pick up. I had zero expectations, except that I knew it was in the western genre. I didn't remember the synopsis, if I'd ever read it in the first place.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. It's absolutely one of my favorites of the year. I can't believe it sat so long on my shelves, un-read.

The truth is, this book was so different than I'd anticipated. Yes, it does have 'western' elements to it, but it goes so far beyond that. I was enthralled from beginning to end.

What I liked:

1. Serendipity Jones. I really liked her character. She shows tremendous growth throughout the novel. At the beginning of the story, she lives in a commune controlled by an oppressive post-war government. She really hasn't had much experience outside of the commune, and is at the mercy of her abusive father and brothers. She was taught to shoot by her mother, but has never had need to use her skills on another person. By the end of the book, she still isn't the type of person to shoot first and ask questions later, but she is willing to do what needs to be done in order to protect herself and the people she cares about.
She isn't perfect. There are times her naivete really costs her. But it makes sense. She'd grown up in a very controlled place, and hadn't been exposed to many of the situations she encountered once she got to Cessation. And really, it wouldn't make sense for her to be a seasoned killer right off the bat.
This book is really about her and how she comes into her own. She learns to navigate the world around her while still maintaining her personal values, and in that way, she is a very strong character.

2. Side characters. This book has some amazing side characters. They are interesting and quirky. Some of them may not be as fleshed out as they could be, but I never felt like this book was lacking for personality.

3. THE THEATRE. Once I realized the direction this book was going, I was so excited. I love stories revolving around circuses or theatre troupes. The Theatre Vespertine feels like a collection of Wild West side shows, and I found it really fascinating.

4. The fusion of genres. This book has definite western leanings. The main character is a gunslinger who lives in a brothel/gaming hall. However, there is also a futuristic and dystopian element to this book. It takes place in the future, after a Second Civil War. Many parts of the country were left decimated from the war and also natural disasters attributable to global warming and polluting the Earth. The author is able to weave these genres together into a narrative that not only makes sense, but is also very compelling and utterly readable.

5. Found Family. I guess this could've gone right after talking about the characters, but oh well. I love books that deal with found family, and this book does it so well. I cared about all of these characters not only as individuals, but also as a group. It was so rewarding to read about Serendipity becoming integrated into the group, especially when her first impression of them was so overwhelming.

What I didn't like:

Just because I loved this book and rated it 5 stars doesn't mean that I can't recognize that it wasn't perfect and that there are things that other people won't like.

1. The ending. I like the fact that this was a standalone, but it feels like there should be more to the story. We get a promise, a hint of things to come, but as far as I know this isn't the first in a series. That being the case, the ending felt a little rushed. I guess if my biggest critique about this book is that I wanted more of it, that's pretty good.

One last thing I want to mention. Many people seem to be labeling this book as YA. I went into it thinking the same thing. However, I would say that if it's YA it's for a more mature YA audience. There are several sexual relationships and references to them. Most of the side characters, women and men, are prostitutes. Nothing is overly graphic, but the subject matter itself is probably a little too mature for anyone under 15 or 16. I actually think this would be a decent transition book for someone who wants to stick their toes into more mature content.

As for me, I really enjoyed this book. I was surprised to learn it was a debut novel. I eagerly anticipate any future works by this author.

I went into this book not expecting much. The synopsis didn't really grab me. It sounded like a hundred other YA fantasies and I just didn't have much hope that it was going to be enjoyable. And for the first quarter of the book, I was right. I was bored out of my mind. But the second half of the book definitely picks up, and by the end I was truly invested in these characters and what was going to happen to them.

I liked that there were so many women showing different kinds of strength. This book is all about strong women rising up against an oppressive patriarchy. I like the fact that we see women demonstrate strength in a multitude of ways. Some are physically strong, others mentally and emotionally. And whereas Nomi has always had a rebellious heart, Serina learns throughout the book to be strong and stand up for herself and the women around her. Her arc is definitely the more compelling of the two sisters, in my opinion.

There were definitely tropes throughout this book that reminded me of other YA books, but with the addition of Serina's storyline the book was able to add a unique element that I appreciated. If this story had just been about Nomi being thrust into palace politics while competing for the attentions and affections of the heir to the crown in a fish-out-of-water story I would've been bored out of my mind. I mean really. How many times have I read that book (*cough*, The Selection, Red Queen, The Diabolic, etc. *cough*)

On that same note, there is a reveal that happens at the very end of the book that was pretty obvious as the groundwork was being laid. I think I realized where the book was going to go about a third of the way through. It is almost identical to the reveal in another well-known YA series, and I wish the author had figured out a different way to get the characters from Point A to Point B.

Also, I feel like the messaging was a little heavy-handed. There was very little subtlety and nuance to this book as far as its feminist views go. And I liked that this book is about ladies rising up and demanding equality. All women should demand equality. But it just felt a little ham-fisted in the narrative.

That being said, it's an interesting premise. Women have been oppressed for generations. Knowing how to read and write is forbidden, as are other vocations that have been deemed 'dangerous' for women to know. Those who are caught breaking the oppressive laws can be sent to penal colonies where corrupt guards force the women to fight for their food, pitting groups of women against one another. I thought the concept had a lot of potential.

As I said, I enjoyed Serina's storyline far more than Nomi's. I could see some people comparing it to the Hunger Games, but it really has no more than just a passing similarity to that series.

One more thing: I'm sure this is being marketed as a YA fantasy, because any book that doesn't take place in a place/time we know of is called a 'fantasy', especially when it has a vaguely European setting. This book is not a fantasy. There is no magical element whatsoever in this book. Just wanted to put that out into the universe.

All in all, even though I have a lot of critiques, I enjoyed my reading experience. I am curious to see what happens to these characters in the next book.