Ah this was really short but cute! My friends loved this, so I pretty much assumed I would too, and while it's not my favorite romance ever, I really enjoyed listening to this audio.

The premise of this book set the story up for a lot of drama, but it honestly fit the characters and plot quite well! There was a lot going on, but it made the downtime the Carey and James found with each other even sweeter. I loved seeing the moments they were able to steal away for themselves, and that they had so much more to talk about than just commiserating about the bosses. I also loved how sweet James was, and how much he seemed to look out for Carey. Carey was overall my favorite character though, I loved seeing her grow and stand up for herself more as the story went on. I thought it was great to see a main character that struggled with a chronic illness, and how the story seemed to shape itself around that without ever putting her down for it. The way James tried so hard to be conscious of it and her only made me love them even more.

I think this might actually be my first Christina Lauren book, but this one has me excited to try out more! It was just a super soft, sweet romance that felt quick and didn't overly hang around in the frustrating components of romance (miscommunication, big fights, break-ups, etc.)

“Remember my name. Because I'm going to be the one who kills you.”

Stars (Out of 10): 5/10 Stars

Overall Thoughts: This was… okay. It had pretty decent premise, and I’m curious where this whole twisting mystery is going, and want to continue the series. But the main character, she sucked. A ton. She was soooo set in her ways, and unable to even see anyone else’s point of view. It felt like she was just using people at points too :( Ugh!

The Good: Pretty cool world (and while it is technically “urban fantasy” it seems to mainly stick to the fantasy world, which I prefer), and I also am pretty interested in where the plot goes, since book one

The Bad: It dragged on! And then all of a sudden tons of stuff happened somewhere else, that felt unrelated to the main plot of book 1 so far, in the last 50ish pages of the book? So that was rough. But the main thing here is Bryn, the main character. I liked nothing about her :( her personality didn’t line up with her dreams, she was stubborn in the worst way, and downright rude to whoever didn’t agree with what she was saying that exact moment.

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE

The Characters: Okay, I probably won’t even have the space to write about anyone else, but let’s just say that all the side characters were leagues better than Bryn. Ridley, Ember, her parents, etc, all were super accepting of Bryn, even when she was being a world class bitch, or changing her mind frequently, or talking back against the people she preached she would lay her life down for, or wanted to serve at the highest extent. For that amazing feat, those guys deserve a million medals. But oh Bryn, why did you have to be the main character? She has a dream, and that’s all she cares about, EXCEPT when she was working? She was inconsistent, speaking back against the King, yet wanting to be on his most elite workforce? Why would that ever be smart, and why did her friends always have to remind her of her dreams to stop her from making career ending decisions? Then, on top of all that, she was rude to her friends when they didn’t follow her sometimes shaky mantra of work above all, and was only okay with seeing her parents when she knew she would be able to worm some info out of her dad? Overall, I strongly dislike this main character, but hey, at least there’s room for a crazy awesome character arc, right? (please)

The Plot: This was actually pretty cool, and probably the main reason why this book is still 5/10 or 3/5. It kept me reading even when I didn’t care about Bryn anymore, and at this point I’m just sticking around to see all these secrets unfold (and for that sweet, sweet character arc). I’m so in the dark of where this can all go, and this time it’s actually good, and interesting, to just go where the series takes me. (But not yet, need some good main characters to ease my irritation.)

The World Building: This was actually done pretty well, and done in a factual way by using someone new to the world as a way to explain the world to the readers. Felt clever, although obvious, since that new guy never really showed up again. But hey, I’m glad I was actually given knowledge of the world! The tribe system is super complicated/interesting, so good detail and building is necessary.

The Favorite Character: Ridley, and I liked the friend that stood up to Bryn’s bitchiness but I’m a terrible person and forget her name already

This review can also be found on my blog: https://paragraphsandpages.wordpress.com/

The Wayward Children series is still one of my favorite series of short stories, and that still holds true for this installment. I'm by far not a horse person, and was a bit wary going in because of that, but honestly? I loved this world so much, and I loved what was done with it.

I loved Regan as a main character, and I loved the family and friends she made in her world. There were so many mythic creatures in this world, and I loved seeing how in depth the world was built for how short a story this was. There was this very interesting hierarchy going on, and this story worked to start unraveling it and poking at it, in a way that made you think. I don't always wish for an extra book in a specific world in this series, but I would have loved to see the aftermath of this story in another one.

The only reason this book isn't 5 stars is that it felt like some parts dragged a bit or felt a bit slower, and the 'action' part of the book felt like it moved very quickly as well. It was all moving very quickly, very suddenly, and it was a bit jarring after the beginning and middle of the story. I still really enjoyed it, though.

One of the interesting things about this series is that there are two distinct styles of short story that are part of it. You have the stories that are about a singular character, or wayward child, and it fully explores their door and the experiences that shape them behind it. Then you have the stories that gathers many of these wayward children into a single adventure, often related to at least one of their respective doors/worlds, and here is where we generally get more information about the structure of this worlds and doors as a whole. This book falls into that latter category, and I really enjoyed where it was going.

This is the first short story I read that felt like the story itself was unfinished, in the sense that I do believe another book will have to pick up directly where this one left off (in a stricter sense than the general chronological progression of these team adventure stories so far). I really liked what it started and can't wait to learn more, but I had hoped for a bit more of a resolution, though I understand that this story undertook and started something that couldn't be resolved in so few pages. I'm really intrigued in seeing where this story will continue and how the actions that took place here will shape the rest of the series.

This story took me a bit more to get into, because it's been a while since I've read 1-5, and this one hinged quite a bit on having remembered most of it. While quick summaries did serve to lessen my confusion, I felt like I was missing something through most of the story, though it didn't hinder my enjoyment too much. In the end, I found myself slowly finding my place again in the story, though I do think this one is a bit more enjoyable if you fully remember the previous stories, or at least the other team up ones.

In the end, I loved this one just as much as those that came before it, and can't wait to see what happens next!