I didn't go into this book with any expectations, but I still managed to be disappointed.

My first issue is that there are just too many characters all thrown at the reader at one time. I had a difficult time keeping them straight in my head. Part of this is from the sheer quantity. The other part is because not a single one of them is well-developed. This book is told in third person through several POVs, but they were so similar that I would forget whose arc I was following at any given time.
We get tidbits of backstory for a couple of the characters, but it's just not enough. I feel like the narrative would've benefited from less points of view.

The plot wasn't anything that I haven't seen in games, movies, and books. Not only has it been done before, it's been done better.

Some reviews mentioned reveals that threw them for a loop. I know what they're referring to, and there are a couple surprising moments, but honestly, I just didn't care by that point. This was so boring. This book felt like it could've been a hundred pages shorter and covered the same plot points.

There is no romance in this book, so if you are looking for some romance-less YA stories maybe you'll like this. I do like romance in books, but it wouldn't have fit in this book at all, so I'm glad it wasn't forced. I do see potential for one in the sequel, but I probably won't be reading it.

I can see that there will be an audience for this. It just wasn't me, and that's okay.

3.5
I'm having such a difficult time rating this book. Maybe writing this review will help solidify my thoughts.

Maybe I'd hyped this book up too much in my mind. Maybe I let the hype of others raise my expectations. And there were things about this book I loved. But there were other things that were less successful.

What I liked:

1. The setting. 1920s New York City. Sign me up for that all day, every day. I love stories from that time period. Flappers, Vaudeville, music, silent movies and film stars. It's all used in this book to help create the world. The fact that this is a paranormal story taking place during that time is just another plus.

2. The audiobook. I listened to this on audiobook so I could do the million things around my house that needed doing, and I have no regrets. Even when I had time to sit down with the physical copy, I still had the audiobook on as well, because wow. The voice actor did an absolutely phenomenal job. There are about a dozen different dialects and accents that she had to contend with, as well as a demonic entity, and Oh. My. Goodness. She was fantastic. I would say this is probably the best audiobook I've ever listened to that isn't full cast. And to be honest, it gives some of those a run for their money as well.

3. The ghost story. Naughty John is definitely creepy. Especially with the song and especially when we learn about his past and his story. There were a couple times I definitely got chills. This also ties back into the audiobook though. The voice she gave Naughty John was creepy AF.

4. Social commentary. I like that this story didn't exist in a bubble. Yes, there are a lot of crazy things going on in this world, but that doesn't erase everything that is happening in society on a day to day basis. There are discussions about racial and gender equality, eugenics, sexuality, women's autonomy (or lack thereof) over their own bodies, etc.

What I didn't like:

1. Pacing. This book was slow to get started. I went in prepared to be terrified. But the first couple hundred pages were a little boring, if I'm being honest. I love character-driven stories, but this book didn't need to be almost 600 pages. I honestly don't know if I would've finished it if I hadn't been listening to it on audiobook. It's not that the characters weren't interesting. They were. And again, I enjoyed this setting. But there were so many tangential characters and subplots that strayed away from the main action a little too much. And even some of the subplots with the 'main' characters felt extraneous to me.

2. Too many characters. This can also tie into pacing, but man. There are a LOT of characters in this book, and we follow many of their perspectives. I didn't do a formal count, but we had at least 10 separate POVs, and in the beginning I had a difficult time keeping them all straight in my head, even with the phenomenal job the narrator did at differentiating voices and cadences. And I understand that this is the first in a series and they're setting up action for further books, but I'm not sure we needed to have all of these characters introduced in this book.

3. Romance. I just didn't connect with any of the romances. And I say this as someone who is a total sucker for romance in books. Theta and Memphis were kind of cute, I suppose, but there is zero basis for their relationship. It is 100% instalove. The fact that it is an interracial relationship taking place in the 1920s (something I would normally like) doesn't change that fact. I also don't ship Evie with either of the guys she has been thrown together with. I'm not really a fan of Sam's, although I sense that we're supposed to like him. And Jericho could've been so interesting, but his character fell so flat for me that I couldn't root for him either. And Evie? As much as I don't really care about either of these guys, I feel like both of them could do better than Evie. I just didn't understand what they saw in her. Sorry, not sorry.

4. Not scary. Now, I need to clarify this. There are about a hundred pages where I was truly creeped out. Near the end, as the big bad nears his endgame, there are some passages that gave me chills and made me wonder why on Earth I would choose to read this book at night when my husband wasn't at home. HOWEVER, most of the lead up to all of this didn't scare me in the slightest. I kept waiting and waiting for it to become this terrifying thing that everyone claimed it was. And just for the record: I'm a freaking scaredy cat. I chose this book because I was in the mood for something spooky. I think part of my problem was that the horrific moments weren't allowed to really breathe. Something terrible would happen and then we'd jump to the next scene. When Evie and her crew would investigate, it was more technical than emotional. There was only one death that actually affected any of our characters personally, and I didn't know either one of them well enough for it to affect me.

5. The ending was lame. After the climax, there are still around 20-30 pages left of the book. Basically it's setting up what the characters are going to be doing in book 2. I wish it had ended with a little more punch. It also didn't help matters that Evie lost any semblance of growth her character had experienced and she just became a spoiled white girl again.

I do have the second book checked out through Overdrive, but I'm not sure when I'll actually get around to it.

This is the second book I've read from Taylor Jenkins Reid, the first being The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I was actually in the minority a little on that book. Everyone absolutely loved it while I only liked it. I felt like it was way over-hyped. Ever since that came out I've heard more and more about her earlier books and how amazing they are, so I thought I'd give them a try. This one had a very interesting premise, but I ultimately feel a similar way to this as I did to Evelyn Hugo: underwhelmed.

What I liked:

1. The concept. We follow Hannah and see how one seemingly innocuous decision can decide the course for her entire life. If you've seen the movie Sliding Doors (I haven't but I do know of it) I believe it's a little like that. We follow both of the threads of her life.

2. Gabby and Hannah's friendship. There is a lot of talk of soulmates and fate in this book, but I honestly felt like the most solid, fated relationship in this book was the one between these two childhood friends. I loved that they were there for each other, through thick and thin. I was sure there would be some point where they would have a falling out of some sort, and that didn't happen, which was nice.

3. The structure. It was interesting to get different bits of information in one universe and then flip back to the other universe where that information is unknown and our characters are acting in ways they wouldn't if they knew what the reader knows. It makes things very interesting.

What I didn't like:

1. The writing style. This is written in first person present tense. I don't know why, but I'm just not the biggest fan of this particular point of view. It's definitely a personal preference, so if you don't mind stories told in the present tense, this may not bug you at all.
I also feel like the actual writing is simplistic while at the same time awkward. The dialogue in particular is very stilted. People don't actually speak the way these characters speak to each other. I think this was exacerbated for me because I listened to the audiobook. If I'd been just reading the words to myself I don't know that I would've really noticed how inauthentic it sounded, but it was bad. There are so many scenes I could point to as an example, but the first time it really struck me was a scene between Henry and Hannah when he's telling her his life story. It's very expositional. It's what someone would write if they were writing their story down, not something they would say conversationally.

2. The outcomes. I didn't want to stop listening to this story. I needed to know what was going to happen. But then, as the end crept closer and closer, I realized I just wasn't going to be into it. Both of the timelines ended on a very blah note for me.

I didn't like Ethan and Hannah, and I didn't really felt like I got enough of Henry and Hannah to like or dislike them as a couple.

They just weren't compelling or interesting in the slightest.

3. I felt like the author tried too hard to give Hannah a personality that it all came off a little forced. The whole cinnamon roll thing got so old about 30 pages into the book. We get it. She like cinnamon rolls. They're her favorite for realsies. Moving on.

4. Audiobook. I didn't hate the audiobook. But the voice actor is one I don't really care for who seems to book A TON of audiobook gigs. I don't really get it. In this book, she used a lower register for Hannah that was almost raspy and it was distracting, especially in the beginning of the book. I also don't think she does male voices very well. They all pretty much sound the same.

This will not be my last TJR, but I do know that I may have to come to the conclusion that she's just not for me. Hoepfully I'll be proven wrong.

Have you ever read a book you've had on your shelves for a long time only to kick yourself for having not read it sooner? That was my experience with this book.

I totally get that this isn't going to be a book for everyone. And I'm not going to say it was the best book of all time or a new favorite, but I really enjoyed it. It was a quick and interesting read.

I liked the characters quite a bit. This book had kind of a found family aspect to it which I really appreciated. I liked how the main character, Dee, learns to trust the people in her group and open up throughout the course of the book.

I also liked the premise of demons being openly living on Earth, making deals and whatnot. The Daemon was an interesting and quirky character.

As far as the world goes, I would've liked a little more expansion on this other world the voids led into. Also more of the demon's history. Basically, I liked what there was of the story, but I wish there had been more. That being said, I did like that this book takes place in the Pacific Northwest. I live in this area of the U.S. and there were many places I recognized as I was reading.

This book is a standalone, which I appreciate, as standalone fantasy/paranormal/sci-fi books aren't the norm.

Also, I liked the fact that the stakes were high in this book. It's not one of those books that refuses to 'go there' with the characters. We're talking about demons and inter-dimensional monsters. Not everyone is going to make it out alive. I can honestly say that I was surprised by this book in that way.

I would put a trigger warning on this book regarding Dee's home life. She comes from an abusive home with parents who are alcoholics. If this is something that may cause you anxiety, you may want to skip this.

This is the second book I've read by Emily Lloyd-Jones and I am really interested to read her next books as they come out.

3.75 Stars
I was initially very hesitant about this book. I found Frankenstein difficult to get into, and I actually DNF'd And I Darken by Kiersten White earlier this year. I just couldn't get into it. I tried both the physical and the audiobook formats and I was just bored. I could see that she was a talented writer, but absolutely nothing in the story was compelling for me. It got to the point where I was about half way into the book and when I would even think about reading it I would get anxiety. Since reading is a hobby I use to relax and have fun, anxiety isn't exactly the desired reaction.

When I started out with this book, I was afraid that I was going to have the same reaction. Maybe Kiersten White just wasn't the author for me. This book also started out slow, and I spent a good chunk of time wondering when we were going to see any action. Luckily, I ended up enjoying this book a good deal.

What I liked:

1. Elizabeth. She was a very interesting protagonist. She does and enables some truly awful things, but at the same time you can see her motivation. She is a young girl who was abused and neglected and everything she does to stay with the Frankenstein's is borne out of a warped survival instinct.

2. Atmosphere. Kiersten White wrote a story that was unsettling, creepy, and ultimately tragic. The source material definitely helps add to the sense of foreboding. I'm sure anyone reading this is familiar, at least in the broadest sense, with Frankenstein. So there is already some built-in assumptions of what sort of book this is going to be. But Kiersten White exceeded my expectations with the tone she was able to strike.

3. The adaptation itself. I thought the way she adapted the story so that it wasn't just 'Frankenstein from Elizabeth's perspective' was great. She was relatively faithful with many of the overarching plot points and characters, but definitely twisted it in a way I wasn't expecting when I initially picked up the book.

4. The writing. I think Kiersten White is a really talented writer. I know that writing style is very subjective, but I think she is really good.

What I didn't like:

1. Pacing. Even though I think Kiersten White's words are wonderful, I did find that this book tended to drag in certain parts. The beginning is a bit of a slog while we're following Elizabeth and Justine in their search for Victor. That section just went on for too long. Now, I understand that much of that time was spent cementing the characters of Elizabeth and Justine, while also giving us backstory for Elizabeth and Victor. In hindsight, I appreciate it and can see its virtues. But that doesn't take away from the fact that, in the moment, all I wanted was to get on with the story. The ending also drags. After Elizabeth

learns the truth about Victor and his ultimate plan

the story drags until the final climax, which ended up being a little anticlimactic.

2. Elizabeth's arc. Like I said in the beginning, I liked Elizabeth as a protagonist quite a bit. I liked that she'd done questionable, and in some cases terrible, things in the name of self-preservation. Especially in the time period she lived in, a woman in her position had very few options to take care of herself and make her own way. That being said, I kind of wish

she hadn't been given a redemption arc. I mean, the book is called The DARK DESCENT of Elizabeth Frankenstein. To me, that implies almost a villain origin story. Not a story in which the protagonist learns her lesson after seeing someone she protected fall into madness.

I don't know exactly how I would've preferred it to go, but I'm left feeling slightly unsatisfied by her arc.

Other odds and ends:

1. The audiobook for this is mediocre. I would probably give it a 2/5. The narrator doesn't even try to modulate her voice for any of the female characters. They all sound literally the same. The male characters occasionally have a lower voice, but not by much. I do recommend the audiobook for the fact that it helped me get into the story with its slow start, but the acting was nothing to write home about.

2. I'm wondering exactly what happened in the very end, because it seemed to me to be a little vague.

It's just a short moment with Elizabeth 'waking up' and thinking that she is alive. Is this supposed to mean that Mary took Victor's research and used it to reanimate her after she died with Victor, or did she get saved by Mary and Adam before she perished?

I actually really liked the ambiguity with the ending.

I am happy that I enjoyed this book. I feel like it's a book I'm not going to forget soon. And I am interested to see what Kiersten White comes out with next.

Re-read #1 November 2018
Yup. This is definitely one of my favorite books. I am so excited to be getting back into this world. I have Umbertouched coming up next and I couldn't be more thrilled (and nervous) to see how this story wraps up.
And again, THIS BOOK DESERVES MORE PRAISE. I don't think I've heard anyone talking about this series and I just don't get it. It's So. Good.

***UPDATE*** I changed my rating from 4 to 5 stars because I just can’t stop thinking about this book and it really is one of my recent favorites. I understand why it wouldn’t click with some, but my experience with it and the fact that I continue to think about it two weeks and 6 or 7 books later is a testament to my thorough enjoyment of this story.

I really enjoyed this book. I hope more people pick this book up soon, because I don’t think it’s getting the hype it deserves. I think the characters are really well-written and unique and the plot is easy to follow and well-paced. I also thought the world was well-developed, although I hope that the second book expands on the world a bit more.

I’m not sure exactly what genre this book falls into. My first inclination is to call it a fantasy, as it takes place in a world different from our own. However, aside from one character’s ability to affect memory with different potions and another’s ability to command his pet birds, there isn’t a real magical element. But I also feel like this book will probably speak to readers who enjoy fantasy.

What I liked:

1. The main characters. I really enjoyed both Zivah and Dineas. I probably liked Zivah’s chapters more in the beginning, but by the time the main action was taking place I thought both characters were pretty strong. At first I wasn’t sure if each had a strong enough voice to really give them each their own chapters, but the author did a nice job giving them a unique POV. If I had to set the book down and come back in the middle of a chapter, I was never confused by whose POV I was in.

I also really appreciated that one of our main characters is a healer, and uses her knowledge to make her way through this story. I can’t recall another story like this where the main character was a healer.

I feel like some people may be bored by this book because they wanted more action and fighting out of it. But I found myself really interested in the character development. Following Zivah as she tries to help the people in the rosemarked colony and find a cure for the plague was really interesting to me. It never felt info-dumpy or like filler.

2. The pacing was great. I never felt bored by this at all. There are more action-oriented scenes in Dineas’s chapters, which I felt balanced nicely with Zivah’s chapters. That being said, he also had very interesting character development throughout the book. I don’t want to get into specifics because of possible spoilers, but I really enjoyed his arc.

3. The writing. The writing isn’t flowery and overdone. It’s relatively straightforward and it felt almost addictive in its readability. I didn’t want to stop reading once I started.

4. The relationship between Dineas and Zivah. I liked their interactions quite a bit. I liked that there was t even a hint of insta-love here. As they grow as individuals throughout the course of the book they also grow in their regard for one another and it feels natural. I also like that the hint of potential romance wasn’t fully-explored in this book. There are obstacles keeping them from being together in this book, so it’s not like many other books where the characters get together in book one just to be torn apart by some forced circumstances in subsequent books because the author needs to build up romantic tension after getting these characters together too quickly. I appreciate the slow burn.

Things I didn’t like:

1. As much as I enjoyed my reading experience, I don’t remember ever feeling truly surprised. There are a couple of reveals and moments that are supposed to be little twists, but they didn’t really move the needle for me. That’s not to say that I predicted each turn, when it happened I was like, “Yeah, that makes sense that it would happen like that.” Now, this did not detract at all from my experience, but in thinking back on the story itself it’s something that I realized.

In reality, I can’t think of much I didn’t like about this book. I can’t wait for the next to come out, and I want to check out more from Livia Blackburne.

4.5 Stars

This is definitely one of my favorite series. While I can’t say I liked this MORE than Rosemarked, it was still excellent, and a wonderful wrap up.

The action in this book is ramped up from the first book, and our characters are almost always on the move. In that way, it feels much more plot-driven than book one, but that makes sense if you think about these books as one story, which they really are.

I do wish we’d had a few more quiet moments sprinkled in here or there, but at the end of the day, this book is about a war. War is loud and messy.

I love Dineas and Zivah’s romance. Their romantic arc is so angsty, but not in an annoying way. They are kept apart by circumstances that don’t feel contrived. The reasons make sense for their characters and the world in which they live.

I don’t want to spoil anything about the ending, so I’ll just say this: it’s one of the most bittersweet endings I’ve ever seen in a YA fantasy. I went through the entire book expecting it to end a certain way, the easy way. But the author didn’t do that, and as much as I want it to be different, I loved the choices she made.

I said this on my Rosemarked review and I’ll say it again here. THESE BOOKS DESERVE MORE RECOGNITION. It is such a good series with good writing. It’s unique in its heroine. Her strength isn’t measured by her physical prowess. She’s a badass because of her intelligence and compassion, and I love that about Zivah.

Livia Blackburne has become an auto-buy author for me with this series, and I wish more people were reading these books because they are seriously missing out.

4.5 Stars

Have you ever read a book that you know has some issues, some things that could've been stronger, but you just didn't care because the book itself was so engrossing, so enjoyable? For me, that book is Furyborn. I am fully on the Claire Legrand bandwagon and must read everything she's ever published.

I don't know if I can write a coherent review about this book because I loved it so much. I'm pretty sure this is just going to come out as a big gushy, mushy mess of adoration.

I love the characters. They're messy and flawed, while still being interesting. They make you root for them, even when you know the outcome isn't going to be happy.

I was so engrossed by this story, I read the last 350 pages in one sitting. The pacing is great. I thought the author was able to give us a really interesting plot mixed with some wonderful character development.

There are several graphic depictions of violence and death in this book. I thought that it was done really well. This is a book about war, about survival. The stakes are high, as they should be. You don't feel like all your favorites are safe while reading. In fact, we know the outcome for at least two of the characters will be the exact opposite.

The one critique I had was that the two protagonists are so similar in the beginning that there were times I would forget whose perspective I was in, especially if I had to set the book down in the middle of a chapter. But once I got going I was fine.

I didn't really care for the audiobook for this same reason. The voice actor didn't do enough with the two voices for me to differentiate them.

I would give a little bit of a content warning. I know this is marketed as YA, but there are some mature scenes in this book involving sex. It didn't bother me in the slightest, but I could see some parents being wary of giving this book to their younger teens. That being said, I've seen far more salacious content in books targeting the YA community.

I can't wait for the next book in the series. I also have Sawkill Girls on my shelf and I'm excited to dig into it soon.

Trigger Warning: sexual assault, bullying

Long Rant Incoming: (Don't say I didn't warn you.)

I picked up this book a few months ago after reading through the first two in the 'series' and almost immediately set it down. I didn't have a real reason for doing so. I just wasn't really in the mood for the book at the time.

I wish I had just left well enough alone and left this book DNF'd.

My biggest problem with this book was that there were so many technical inaccuracies. I'm not referring to the grammar and punctuation, but rather the complete lack of research the author did before writing this book.

First of all, her characters use words and phrases that no 20-something American's use. At one point, Emerson talks about putting an 'advert' in the newspaper to hire an employee. Then she talks about an employee's 'pay packet', which I'm assuming is a paycheck? In a flashback, her father screams at a reporter to 'bugger the hell off', which again, is not a phrase we use in the U.S.

I went and googled the author and, sure enough, she was born and raised in London. So why did she set her story in Seattle, Washington (technically Bainbridge, but close enough)? Not that she isn't allowed to set her story wherever she wants, but she should use words and terminology that those characters would actually use...just saying.

And to be honest, whoever edited this book should feel ashamed. Those kind of things never should've made it past edits.

That may seem nitpicky to some, but it was totally taking me out of the story. But that wasn't the biggest offender for me.

The male protagonist in this story is a college hockey player with his eye on the NHL. It was obvious in reading this book that the author had absolutely no clue when it came to anything related to the NHL, NCAA, or the rule of law in the U.S.

The male protagonist has endorsement deals, which aren't allowed in the NCAA. Most of the time athletes aren't even allowed to have jobs unless it's approved by the NCAA, and definitely not during the season.

There were points in the book where he said he had a contract with a team, then later said he was a first draft pick, then talked about the draft as if it hadn't happened yet. None of this makes any sense.

Later in the book,

Jake gets in trouble when he fails a drug test for smoking weed one night when he was at a party.

This happened in Massachusetts. So in the book, they have the local chief of police haul him in for questioning about it. This is not how this would work. Not even a little bit. First of all, a local cop wouldn't care about that in the state of Washington. It wouldn't be treated as a criminal offense. Second of all, there is a little thing called jurisdiction, and a cop in Washington would have no jurisdiction on something that happened across the country.

Then there is Jake's second run in with the police, after

he gets into a bar fight.

His lawyer tells him it's a crime that could come with a life in prison sentence. This is simply untrue, which the author would have known if she'd bothered to do two minutes of research into the matter. At the most, it's a ten year sentence, with up to $50,000 in fines.

Also, the characters keep talking about how they go to Washington State University so they can stay close to home...WASHINGTON STATE IS NOT NEAR SEATTLE. It's an almost 250-mile drive. I'm assuming the author meant the University of Washington, but that wasn't ever what she said. And trust me, there's a huge difference.

Other wtf moments:
1. She refers to the NHL as 'the hockey leagues' or just 'the leagues'
2. Jake is playing his first game of the season, but while Emerson is watching the game on television it is referred to as a playoff game...typically those happen at the END of a season, not the beginning...just saying.
3. Jake says that another hockey player swore under his breath in the middle of a game. How on Earth would he know? Hockey games are freaking loud.
4.

When Jake is hurt playing, the game is stopped and postponed because of his injury. This would not happen. Also, afterward there is talk that the person who hurt him in the game could face criminal charges. This is also highly unlikely.

I understand that this may seem like petty nitpicking to some. And perhaps if a reader isn't familiar with this area of the country or the way professional sports or the criminal justice system work it wouldn't bother them at all. But it took me out of the story every time. I honestly don't know how an editor allowed this to be published in its current form.

Aside from all of the gross inaccuracies, I didn't really think the story was engaging. I'm a sucker for the first-loves-reunite trope, but this just felt rushed. Also, pretty much every plot device and trope you can think of is thrown into this mess: contrived misunderstandings as a result of a lack of communication; experienced boy and virginal girl (technically she isn't a virgin, but she's only been with one guy before who had never given her an orgasm, so it's pretty much portrayed as if it didn't count or something. It was obnoxious); every guy in the book is infatuated with the main female protagonist, with the exception of the gay best friend; traumatic past is alluded to but not explained for far longer than it needs to be; true loves cures all wounds, physical and emotional.

The last one is probably the most disturbing. At the center of this book is a story about a girl who suffered a traumatic experience when she was younger that has caused her no end of grief from that point forward. There are moments that indicate that Emerson suffers from PTSD, but it isn't fully explored. Something will trigger her, but it is almost immediately pushed under the rug in order to feed the romantic narrative. She's spent her entire life creating barriers. She talks about sex with her ex-boyfriend as something she would go through the motions with and she would completely shut down during the act. But then she gets with Jake and is immediately able to relax and have a fulfilling sex life and everything between them is fantastic. True love doesn't heal psychological and emotional trauma. That's not how it works.
The author had an opportunity to really explore the story of a young girl being assaulted and having no one believe her. It's powerful, and it's never been more relevant than it is right now. But for me she definitely dropped the ball.

One last gripe. This book is marketed as being the third book in a series. This has absolutely nothing to do with the first two books. It takes place in a completely different part of the country, and there are no characters who crossover from the first two books into this one. There is no connection whatsoever. It felt like this book was linked to the first two simply to ensure people who liked those books would purchase this as well, and that is shady.

I don't see myself reading anything by this author in the future. I thought the first two books were moderately interesting, but the utter lack of research done for this book has really turned me off of picking up anything by her again.