4.5 Stars

I expected to enjoy this book and I was not disappointed. It's magical and atmospheric and a little strange. The writing is descriptive enough to be immersive without being overwhelmingly flowery or forced. There was some ambiguity and mystery to this book as well that helps the plot keep its momentum even with the multiple perspectives and the relatively slow plot. This book is more about its characters and relationships and magic than it is about plot, but there are still elements of plot that keep the story moving. The characters and relationships seem realistic as far as acting like teenagers and how they interact with their friends and family. The only reason this is not a five star read for me is that there are so many characters that some the side characters are not as developed as they deserve to be, but this didn't bother me much. While I did know some about this book going in, I was not expecting some of the real world themes and ideas discussed in this book, which gave it depth and relevance. I would recommend this for anyone who likes books with mysterious magic, immersive setting, and strong female characters.

The audiobook for this is also great. It has different narrators for the three perspectives, which helps keep them straight.

I wish I could say that this book changed my life or had me in tears, but it just didn't quite effect me on that level, which is kind of disappointing since so many people with similar reading tastes to me did have that kind of experience. I was mostly just stressed the entire time I was reading this, partly because of what the characters were dealing with, but also about decisions I'm making in my own life. I really wish I had read this in high school instead of in college because I think I would have related to it more then and it might have had more of an effect on me.

I'm giving it 4 stars because there is a lot I liked about this book, even if it didn't have the emotional impact I wanted it to. I flew through it because of its structure with short chapters and multiple parts for each term. The writing was easy to read, but it was a little over dramatic at times, which took me out of the story. I related to Frances and Aled and I appreciated that they were never even close to being in a romantic relationship. I also appreciated the discussion of sexuality in this book, although I wish there was more about Aled being demisexual. However, the word "demisexual" was actually used on the page, which I don't see often, and there was more discussion about Frances being bi. All the characters feel like real people and their actions make some kind of sense even if they are obviously making a mistake. Their experiences with the pressures of school, especially related to university, are also something I related to, even though it was stressful just reading it even though it's the middle of the summer and I'm not even taking any classes. This book also did a really good job of showing how much impact parents have on their kids' lives and there were multiple types of parents, both good and bad, but almost every major character's parents were present in the story or at least discussed at some point. Relationships with parents are important, especially as a teenager and YA books don't always take the time to develop those relationships as much as they should.

Even though this wasn't a 5 star read for me, I am definitely glad I read it and would recommend it to anyone considering or already attending college/university.