DNF at 25% it wasn't bad, it just wasn't engaging and I got bored. I might come back to it. I really wanted to like it

I'm DNFing at 25% finished. I feel bad, it's not that the book isn't good, it is, it's just not engaging me enough and I don't have any strong desire to come back to it. And it's SO LONG. I have this as an ebook from my library and it's waitlisted so I'm not even gonna be able to renew it right away anyways. I may come back to it one day but for now I need a break.

Lots of spoilers don't read this if you want the book to be a surprise

2.5 stars. Too much sex which is a personal preference not the authors fault lmao but WAY too much cringe I literally laughed so much at so many of the romantic lines they were so bad and the whole opening of the story was just bizarre and also why did they make it seem like this Merlin guy was an old man when he was actually like mid 20s in his first scene. Maybe that was just me cus he was named MERLIN. idk. I actually didn't mind the plot and the romance later on in the book but there was more sex than anything else in the second half and I found the sex scenes boring and was scanning them hoping to get back to the plot that didn't pick up until the cliff hanger ending but I'm not gonna read the second book so rip. Speaking of the cliffhanger, and the whole made up war, why did this book paint Slavic people as scary evil people like we're in the middle of the red scare? And was it seriously the prime minister of Poland who PERSONALLY kidnapped Greer???? Politically this book was so nonsensical it was kinda funny.

Also Maxim is a creep and so is MERLIN why tf did he say all that to a 7 year old. I actually liked the vice president dude him and Greer would've been a cute couple if they stayed together after that first time they hooked up I'd rather read that story.

The cousin (Abilene???) Reminds me of an evil sister from a VC Andrews novel like I was thinking that the whole time waiting for her to do something ridiculous like push Greer down the stairs and kidnap her firstborn child, so her part in the ending didn't shock me

Hard to rate. It's not that it was bad but the writing felt simplistic even for YA. The way Julie grieved didn't resonate with me and didn't *feel* true although I'm sure it did to others since everyone grieves differently. I found it unbelievable how she would talk about how she was too busy to call Sam even before the problems with their calls started. If this happened to me I'd literally be talking to him 24/7 and not caring about anything else and it just felt unbelievable to me that she seemed to be able to prioritize other things so well. I was also surprised to learn that Sam had only been gone a week when the book started because the way it was described made it seem like it was more in the past.

I felt like there were a lot of dropped threads. Did the people from that band ever respond to Julie? Why was Sam so mad about her showing them his music? I get what he said in the voicemail at the end but I feel like that still doesn't really explain his behaviour. I kinda think there was just too much going on in such a short book.

I also feel Taylor and her friends were strange characters lacking nuance, kids can be mean, but the way they acted was shockingly bold and inappropriate. Unbelievably so. Then they never reappeared.

I don't like how there was so much mystery around why these phone calls were happening and little comments that made it seem like Sam knew secrets he was going to reveal at the end, but then at the end there's no explanation. That's a stylistic choice I can normally respect but I feel I was really lead to believe there would be an
explanation so not getting one bothered me.

I liked the portrayal of Julie's friends and how they loved and supported her. I especially liked seeing her and Oliver grow close.

All in all, I think this was a decent story with a heartfelt emotional message, but I didn't connect to the main characters so it didn't have any emotional impact on me. I actually did lose a boyfriend in highschool, so I understand how Julie felt to a degree, but I didn't see myself in this story.

3.5 stars. It's YA urban fantasy. It was fun and enjoyable to read but not particularly deep or likely to be memorable.

It was good, the feeling of unease you get reading it is pretty strong and I'm usually fairly immune to being effected that way by books so I appreciated it