Pretty solid thriller. Although I guessed most of the plot twists, there were still a few moments where I was surprised by the direction of the plot. 

I liked the mix between Emma's narration, the first draft of Murder Beach, and the police reports. I especially liked the plot twist regarding the actual author of Murder Beach. It kept things interesting because I knew that the writer of Murder Beach had to have survived the night, but I wasn't certain of who the author actually was. 

I liked the slice-of-life vibe, with informal writing. All of the four POV characters had very distinct voices. The characters were incredibly vibrant. They all felt real and relatable, with realistic and complicated relationships with each other.

There is a masterful balance between two drastically different tones. The story alternates between being a humorous romp of discovering a long-lost family member in the most unexpected place and being the emotional journey of a family trying to come to terms with a complicated past. Ruthy Ramirez never really gets her closure, but her story, along with the story of her family, still gets told.

I had so much fun reading this! The worldbuilding was incredibly unique. I enjoyed reading about the differences between the humans, the Vampyres, and the Weres. There was so much attention to detail when it came to the different cultures of the different species. It was the little things that made the world feel real, things like sun-protectant glass being a status symbol for Vampyres or the Weres not considering Lowe challenging Roscoe to be murder.

The characters were so much fun! Misery was a delightful protagonist: smart, witty, and sarcastic. Her fears and flaws felt very grounded in her tragic backstory. Her abandonment issues made sense because her father sacrificed her for the greater good time and time again. Her general apathy toward the future made sense because she spent most of her childhood knowing that any day could be her last. Lowe was the quintessential Ali Hazelwood MMC: protective of the people he cared about, bold enough to speak his mind, and absolutely in love with the FMC. He fell first and he fell harder. 

I loved the tropes: the miscommunication and misunderstanding, the forced proximity, the marriage of convenience, the fated mates. I loved the plot: the mystery of what connected Serena and Ana, which brought Lowe and Misery together.

The spice was spicy. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I might have to start exploring the paranormal romance genre.

Fast-paced and suspenseful. This was a really unique thriller, especially with all of the con artist/spy elements. I loved the character of Evie — she was so clever and calculating. I liked the use of flashbacks to slowly reveal how much Evie knew about Mr. Smith and how detailed her plan was. 

I was kind of confused by the ending and I would have appreciated a bit more foreshadowing to make it seem less jarring. 

"Knives Out" meets the "Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo": shifting motives, dead husbands, and a family willing to go to any length to protect their wealth. 

Ashby House and Tavistock, North Carolina were a very vivid setting. I've read a lot of thrillers set in English manor houses, but I actually think that the American setting was what made this book so interesting to me. Exploring the concept of the early American business tycoon and how that legacy would create so much entitlement and rot within the family made for a more interesting commentary on wealth. I also enjoyed the literary allusions to "Macbeth" and "Rebecca". 

Another flawless and fantastic addition to the Crescent City universe! This book had a classic SJM ending - it was so cinematic I couldn't put the book down for the last 100 pages!

I loved the strong female characters: Bryce was AMAZING! I was so excited to see her as the Queen of the Midguardian Fae, but it makes so much sense for her character to give that up to give the Fae a more stable and democratic future. It was SO COOL to see Nesta from an outside POV - she's such a badass! Lidia Cervos is my new favorite SJM character!

I loved the relationships: Bryce & Hunt were such a power couple! I loved seeing Ruhn & Lidia finally find their way back to each other and healing from their (mutual) feelings of betrayal. Even Tharion & Sathia were an interesting couple. I'm excited to see what SJM does with them in the next Crescent City book. 

I can't wait for the next book in the series. Even though the Asteri conflict is (hopefully!) resolved, there are still a lot of loose plot threads that I'm excited to see wrapped up!

I'm never going to recover from the ending of this book! The ending absolutely devastated me. I liked that Ella and Beckett were still able to find a happy ending amongst the tragedy. I appreciated that there was a hopeful message that could be taken from the tragedy that occurred at the end of the book. I liked the themes of coming to terms with the fact that life isn’t fair and realizing that a person can only do the best they can with the information that they have. 

 

Colt and Maisie were cute, even if they didn’t entirely act like normal seven-year-olds. 

I really liked the commentary on true crime — how society obsesses over the stories of serial killers at the expense of the stories of their victims. All of the women in this story were incredible, and I love that we got to hear all of their stories. The love and friendship between Pamela and Denise, Ruth and Tina, and Pamela and Tina made this story so special. 

 

This was a really intelligently written thriller, and by that, I mean that this book isn’t just an interesting thriller, it’s also a story about fighting misogyny, empowering women, seeking justice, and healing from complex trauma. 

I was skeptical going into this book because I thought that Nesta was a bitch and I hated her. It turns out that Nesta is a bitch and I love her! Nesta’s character development was incredible to read. I loved her friendship with Emerie and Gwen. I loved her relationship with the House of Wind. And of course I loved Cassian — he’s definitely my favorite of the bat boys!

One of my favorite parts of Sarah J. Maas books is the way that she writes the endings of her books. There is so much plot and tension packed into the last ~100 pages of this book that I literally couldn’t put it down until I finished it!

I have mixed feelings about this book. I found the overall plot to be very interesting. Evie spends the novel being pulled into the gravitational field of a cult on the verge of committing an act of violence, and it's fascinating to unravel the different character's motivations, particularly on the night of the murder. There's a lot of interesting commentary on the shift from childhood to adolescence, but given that it is a historical novel, I didn't find any of that commentary particularly relevant. The author prioritized beautiful and descriptive writing over developing the plot, which is a shame because I was really interested in the plot. 

My biggest complaint about the novel is the age of the protagonist, Evie. The author wrote Evie to be fourteen for the events of the novel, which was not necessary for the plot and served no real purpose other than to make the book more ~taboo~