The beginning emails do a decent job setting up the story, but I'm not sure they were necessary. Though cute, the letters and recipes didn't provide a very clear timeline; the jump to third-person narration felt odd.

I think Isadora's actually the first heroine I've ever condemned as legitimately TSTL. And okay, I get that it stems from Isis, but what's with the weird names? I mean, Orion? No thanks. Plus, the twists were really obvious.

Fun, quirky characters and entertaining plot (just enough fairy tale balanced with realism). Jaxter's endearingly and relatably clumsy, balanced by cleverness and a gift for negating magic. Loved the vocabulary too; this story was totally "bangers"!

Overall, this book is itself like a solo travel adventure: educational but (mostly) not stuffy, meant to be enjoyed slowly. The tableaux illustrated in each of the four cities really come to life, in stark contrast to the sometimes cheesy or cliched advice for “living life to the fullest” and overabundance of direct quotes. It’s clear that this is the product of both lots of research and personal experience, but it’s the latter that’s really compelling and that I wish comprised an even larger part of the book.

A little higher than 3 stars, but not quite 4 stars.

An interesting, vivid read. Realistic without being melodramatic or pessimistic, though I thought the ending (epilogue) was too optimistic - not that they didn't deserve happiness.

(I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

2.5 stars.

The premise is interesting, if not very new; I was definitely interested to see how it all played out, because frequent readers will probably be able to put the pieces together much, much more quickly than Paul does. Unfortunately, that took quite a while, then it was just a matter of getting through to the end.

I never really got invested in the story. The characters seemed pretty flat, defined by their circumstances and reacting to the plot rather than having complex individualized traits. I'm not a fan of randomly translating words into the "local" language, and it doesn't really work because Latin-based languages look pretty similar (I hadn't reviewed the synopsis before reading, and I thought it was Spanish. But no, it's set in Venice, so Italian). And I've never liked the ominous foreshadowing statements — "I wouldn't know it until later, but..." — especially when the "twists" to come are fairly predictable. You'll probably also see the relationships coming from a mile away, not because they're thoroughly developed but because they're convenient and, to be frank, pretty heteronormative — especially the primary romance.

This book might be one for readers who are more interested in plot than characterization, and if you like the dual past/present narrative format. But it wasn't really for me.

Shit, this book really pulls no punches. One part of me wants to go listen to the podcast, because apparently it's real, and the other part of me doesn't think I'd be able to handle it. Because perhaps the biggest strength of this narrative is how devastatingly believable it is, and how fucked up of a world we live in — not something anyone wants to dwell on, but it's reality nonetheless.

Summers does a terrific job evoking an emotional response in the reader, the desperation to find Sadie and bring her home because no one can take another dead girl. Sadie's own POV reminds you of her struggle, keeps her in your mind's eye even as West McCray struggles to follow her trail, frustrates you when he reaches the wrong conclusion or pursues a red herring.

Honestly, this is a hard review to write. There's so much to dig into, but I don't feel like I can do it justice; you might have to just read it for yourself. (But please be aware of the content warnings and make sure you're in an okay headspace first!)

cw:

Spoiler

pedophilia, sexual abuse of children, potential PTSD, substance abuse/addiction, parental neglect, minor violence, mentions of blood.

For an inevitably drawn-out plotline, it was rather well-executed, and pretty interesting from start to finish. Though, the blatant tell-ahead (not even foreshadowing, too blunt for that) was excessive.