This book hit me so hard I was not ready. The way that Ryan writes is just mind blowing. I have never read a book that talks about depression and grief in such a raw way that has such a body positive and therapy positive lens on it. I do think this book could be very triggering to people and as someone who thought I would be okay after reading the triggers there were parts of this story that were so raw and real I had to put the book down. 

This was a fun read.  I enjoyed myself while I was reading it, but there were times when I felt like the actions of our main character were a little unbelievable. I think that the plot of the story was interesting but I also felt like the foreshadowing was a little heavy handed. I think  that the miscommunication trope was a little excessive as well.
I did have fun reading this story it was an absolute page turner I read this in the whole of 24 hrs which is a feat as a stay-at-home mom of 3. I think that this is a great book for someone just getting into the mystery genre. I also think that if you have read books by this author before and loved their writing style then you will probably love it as well.

This is a story about our two main characters who have both lost their mothers. This is a novel that explores grief and how they can take on different forms. 
This book was written beautifully for the middle grade/young adult reader. As an adult I could still appreciate the writing. I think that this book felt like a warm hug to anyone who is experiencing any sort of grief. The main character Una looses her mother after the birth of her younger brother, and I thought the discussion of how she never assumed her brother had anything to do with her mother's death until she heard the governess talking to another adult. I think that this book really touches on some deep topics, but in a way that is age appropriate and I appreciate that as a mom. 
I think that the characters were good and acted accordingly for how old they were supposed to be and that is something that I find so refreshing. I also found the discussion of disabilities with the way that Julian couldn't smell but could hear the plants a special way was such an interesting way to show that just because we may not be able to do things like others that doesn't mean we can't still enjoy things with others. 
My only dislike was that I wanted more to the story, but I know that is a me problem and not a book problem because of the audience that this is written for.
I think this is the perfect book for kids between the ages of 10 and 14 and is especially great for any preteen or teen who is or has dealt with the loss of someone close to them. 

I think this story had so much potential for me to love this book. 
I do think that this author accomplished what they set out to do and I commend them for the plot of the story. 
My biggest issue with this book was that the characters never felt fully fleshed out to me. I felt like some of the things that Selene did were hard to wrap my head around because I feel like there was more telling than showing when it came to characters development. I think the end was great but the 2 epilogues felt like info dumps for the next book. 
I do think that the author did a lot of research to make this world and I think that was the best part of the book. 
I may continue on with the series but I may not. 

This is not a book for everyone because there are definitely some triggers that should be checked. I think that this is definitely a fun story, but at the beginning it says that this is not a plot book and that the content is dark. I do have to say I appreciated that warning. I thought that the spice was definitely spicy, but I guess I wanted there to be more development of the relationship that were forming not just the spice. I had a fun time but probably will not continue on with this series