littleredmacks's Reviews (528)

I do think there is a target audience for this book and once it finds its target audience it is going to be deeply loved. However, I don't think I was the target audience, even though I desperately wanted to be. 

This book is told completely in letter format. The parts that aren't letters (very few) are transcripts of the conversation, presumably taken by a present character. I think that is what made it difficult for me to love. However, the concept is wonderful and it was a beautiful story nonetheless. I would say this book is the definition of a cozy mystery/fantasy and the pacing is very slow. 

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my review. 

My fifth graders gifted me this book a couple years ago and I thought it was really cute. 

The representation. The illustrations. The plot. The vibes. So amazing. I loved this so much. 

Overall, I was very disappointed with this story. Theoretically it has so many things I love: mystery, intrigue, mind games, morally grey characters, a strange circus like game. However, all of that fell extremely flat. It felt extremely juvenile, even for a YA book, and I'd expected it to grip me more. 

The main characters (the sisters) fell a bit flat for me. It felt like Scarlett's only personality trait was being a sister and not being improper which got to be redundant at times. 

The author also loved to hold our hand through every single tiny reveal, not trusting the readers to put two and two together on their own, which was very frustrating. On top of this we had much more telling than showing throughout the entire novel. 

Good concept. Poor execution. 

I will say that the tone that is set in the beginning of the book (high stakes, fast paced) wasn’t the tone that was kept throughout. This was a bit jarring as I wasn’t expecting it. Shortly after the beginning it started turning into a lower stakes fantasy. But then it developed into differences between animals in captivity and in the wild and how their care can change the animal fundamentally. 

 

Overall this story was still very beautiful and I can see why it won awards. 

 This was a cute easy read. 

Does Kennedy Ryan ever miss? Because I'm not convinced that she does. This was so well done. I can't wait to pick up the next book and see how the other character's storylines get resolved.