By marking this one off, I mean I read...all of the available ones. I just don't want to clog my reading goal (and also don't know which missions are in which volumes...) But! This is actually really entertaining -- great concept, cool execution. I am excited to see what happens in the future! 

I do have a critique for the later volumes:

Yuri's obsession with his sister is really, really creepy and Becky's crush on Loid is weird. It gets a bit uncomfortable at times. Maybe if there was just a little less focus on that, it would be awesome. But! I do understand that the point is, partially, exaggeration and that it is a) In Yuri's case, essentially crucial to the plot and b) in Becky's case, provides commentary on media consumption, and such. Still, though, maybe a little less exaggeration would be great in this case.

But anyway! What do I know, am I right?

I absolutely love the world this book is set in, I love the different types of magic and the casual way it is all handled. I love the various ways in which filmmaking blends with reality and the way everything has a price.

Nghi Vo writes in a way where she seems to reach into your chest and carve out a space for the story that she is telling, I cannot get enough of it. The format works brilliantly for the story.

The characters seem incredibly real and are so, so easy to like or take interest in. Luli grows while the story is taking place and every step of the way is consistent with what came before for her. It is refreshingly exhilarating to see someone so ruthlessly ambitious.

The romantic elements here made me ache -- Vo beautifully captures head spinning infatuation, the glow and the heartbreak of a relationship, as well as the sacrifice that comes with it.

Overall, this book is most definitely worth reading and I would recommend it to most everyone, but especially fans of The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo who want to be re-immersed in the film world in a new way.

Honestly? The writing style and certain pop-culture references annoyed me to hell and back. Certainly more nods to Bridget Jones than Pride And Prejudice. 

 But! The Christmas-y atmosphere was pretty good, Elle and Darcy have good chemistry and it has a few really great moments. Which counts for something.

 Maeve escaped the Mother Collective one fateful night on her birthday and has been searching for her cousin ever since. When Andrea, now a rich founder of a successful company called NewLife, reaches out to her and wants to reconnect Maeve is overjoyed -- finally, her family has found her. But Andrea isn't struggling with what happened like Maeve is and adamantly refuses to talk about it -- something that becomes more and more difficult to do as their shared past seems to keep resurfacing.

I would describe this book as "mildly unsettling". You're always second guessing your suspicions and are curious to find out more about what happened. That aspect of it was brilliantly done, however, I feel like it swerves into... almost campy territory at some point. It's like most of the book was this inescapable, high pitched buzzing near your ear and then it suddenly turned into a deafening plane engine roar.

The plot was kind of predictable: you suspect something and then it happens, and almost exactly in the way you expected it to. Which isn't a bad thing -- it can be done done great effect but it lacked impact here. There is plenty of material for this book to be, well, horrifying but it isn't. We never really delve into the events of the book. If we had lingered, if we had really seen Maeve react it would have been guttural. Instead it almost feels like we're expected to be horrified because a bad thing is bad, you know, morally, which yes, we are indignant at that but not horrified because we never see the effect of the events, if that makes sense (sorry for going overboard with the italics).

The characters were developed -- every time someone appeared on the page, you would get curious as to what impact they would have on the story. The sense of intrigue about the past was also well executed.

Overall: brilliant concept, great tension but lackluster pay off.

Hannah, a successful novelist, is writing a book about four strangers who bond and become friends over the shared experience of hearing a scream in the Boston Public Library and later decide to investigate when a girl is found dead in the same place. We read the book as she writes it and the chapters are interspersed with email feedback from Leo, a desperate not-yet-author.

Essentially, there are two main plot lines — the one wherein we follow Freddie and the one where we get glimpses of what is happening within Hannah’s life through the emails that she receives. Although at first I felt as though the fact that Freddie’s story is fiction-fiction detracted from my engagement, I quickly became invested in both plots. I quite enjoyed the fact this was, essentially, a writer writing about a writer writing about a writer writing a story based on her life (try to say that quickly five times), it was a level of inception I’ve never seen before.

The writing style was also quite novel to me — less descriptions and a lot of dialogue and deliberation. However, Leo felt very distinct from the book itself. I was completely consumed by this book — I stayed up late just to find out what was actually happening and whether my suspicions were correct, which was a really fun experience. My one qualm is that at times, the book feels like a vessel for commentary on the world of writing, as well as social commentary. It felt a little overwhelming at certain moments but it was also interesting.

The characters are usually the most important part of the book for me, what gets me invested. I cannot say I was really invested in any of the characters, however, because of the framing of the book and the plot, I was still deeply invested in the plot.

Overall, a deeply addictive story that I would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys mystery-thrillers.