Wow!

I had high hopes for this book and it did not disappoint. I loved the world, the characters, the magic, all of it.

Tarisai definitely grows as a character just within this book and that was also really great to see.
I surprisingly didn't hate the romance. I love the found family aspect.

The history and culture are so rich and Jordan Ifueko did a fantastic job of bringing it all together. And because I'm a sucker for a good plot twist, the fact that there were multiple was the icing on the cake.

Also love the LGBTQ+ rep.

Highly recommend that you listen to this on audio if you can.

This was informative, enlightening and funny. We aren't taught anything about apartheid in the States so I learned a lot from this. It sounds like growing up Black in South Africa is a lot like growing up Black in America. And Trevor being the comedian that he is, sprinkles in a few good laughs along the way.

I really enjoyed this, and the way that the story all comes together through the lives of these four women. 

I think the reason that I didn't rate it higher is that I didn't really feel connected to any of the characters. In particular I really disliked Stella and Kennedy felt.... almost irrelevant

I am so sad to say that I hated this. I was really looking forward to it

First and foremost, everything listed in the synopsis happens so early in the book that it's basically over by chapter 2 which was confusing to me.

I guess this is mostly supposed to be a story of self discovery and coming into your own or whatever but the synopsis is pretty misleading. To be honest, I didn't even like the main character. 

Emira spends so much time complaining that she doesn't like where she is in life but doesn't do anything about it and then has the audacity to be a bitter bitch and jealous of her friend's success instead of being....a friend, and celebrating her.

Come to think of it....all of the characters suck

Alex oh im sorry Alix is so damn pretentious 

and so weirdly obsessed with Emira and constantly invaded her privacy by looking through her things. Then she had the fucking audacity to leak the video knowing that Emira didn't want anyone to see it just so she could swoop in as the white savior. And she tried to throw the past in Kelley's face knowing good and damn well that he didn't actually do anything wrong because she wants to be a victim. On top of all of that, why the fuck didn't Emira tell her that she knew what she did? If you're gonna humiliate her on the news then expose that bitch!

Peter 

is very clearly racist from the comment he made on the air.

  Otherwise he was irrelevant

Tamra is a bitch in every possible way.

And Kelley. I definitely think he could have a fetish for Black women which is not okay. Either way, what the fuck was the point of him saying the N word and Emira still going home with him and continuing to date him????

Actually there were a lot of racist moments that were placed in the story and then just brushed off like they're no big deal. I watched a fellow booktuber say this felt like a book to teach white people about racism and it's not even. Nothing is learned in this. White people are racist and there are no consequences.  And I understand that a lot of times that's how it is but

  was the point of this book to piss people off? If so, well done

This book made my heart hurt.

Obviously I knew that this would be sad but the plot twist wrecked me.
 

I already knew that Monday was dead of course. That was expected but Claudia's psychotic break really hurt to read when she realized that it had been two years since Monday had been found dead

 

I liked Neledi as a character but also had some issues with her which I’ll get to in a minute. I liked the character growth. I LOVED Likotsi and I thought that the ending was actually very satisfying. 

 

However, despite the fact that the plot sounded really interesting I hated most of the tropes: lack of communication and knowing that the longer you wait to tell someone something the worse it gets but still wait anyway, thinking that you’re not deserving of love due to past trauma, 

 

Portia was the biggest disappointment because she’s supposed to be her best friend and she basically failed at that job. The one time she doesn’t answer your call (because shes asleep) you accuse her of choosing dick over you. Drunk or not that was unacceptable. And then you suspect that the guys she’s been spending time with is lying about his identity and you don’t say anything???  Hell Portia’s sister was a better friend to Ledi in the one scene that she was in compared to Portia in the entire fucking book  

 

 

 

Thabiso not having time to tell her but having time to fuck her I was not okay with. Frankly most of the excuses just felt really convenient. I personally don’t know if I could have ever let it get as far as it did considering he called her a St. Bernard the first day they met. I’m not going to tolerate being disrespected. I’m just not.

 

 

 

While I liked Neledi, I was irritated with the way she refused to stick up for herself and always feeling like she had something to prove to people who didn’t even give a fuck about her (her boss)

 

 

 

As soon as the uncle had been mentioned earlier I knew that he was gonna be a shady bitch. 

 I also didn’t like the way that the queen treated Ledi. Granted her reasons did somewhat make sense you would think that if your best friend fled the country out of nowhere she must have had a good reason  

 

I did enjoy reading this, the ending was satisfying and I am going to attempt to continue the series. 

Surprisingly I think I enjoy this one most in the series. Probably because Mal is the least annoying in this one. 

I definitely think this was a satisfying ending.

Mainly because the Darkling finally freaking dies. I feel indifferent to Alina losing her power and I don't really care that she and Mal end up together but I do like that they went back to Keramzin. The third amplifier reveal felt a little over dramatic but I guess it works. I love that Genya, Zoya and David will lead the 2nd army, and I expect that we will see them again in King of Scars. Even as one of the Darkling's monsters, Nikolai is still my favorite

Once again, I struggled with the characters. I totally understand that Zahra is hurting but you're on a lovely vacation and you're spending it crying yourself to sleep every night over a man who clearly doesn't give a fuck about you. I get it but you've got to draw a line somewhere.
I was also under the impression that this would be a novella like Beautiful + Dirty but it's not. 
I was also mostly interested in there being a follow up on Shae and Salvo but I'm not interested in suffering through the rest of this to get to it

I did not like Shae. I hate how she thinks that being a "people pleaser" means that she has to suffer for other people's happiness.

I don't understand how the hell she stayed with Steve so long. He is clearly a lazy man-child.

But why does she stay with him after cheating? What's the point? Lease or not, speak up girl.

I know that Salvatore isn't necessarily supposed to be likeable, but I like him a hell of a lot more than I like Shae.

Very interesting knowing that he killed his father in law and his wife was just sort of okay with that?

So of course the implication is that she's pregnant now because that is indeed what happens when you have unprotected sex so I guess she is and somehow Sal finds out? I suppose she could look up the restaurant  and call? I guess we'll see

 

I hated Dannie. The way that she talks about Bella is not the way that you should talk about your best friend. She doesn't take her seriously, she views her as weak, and tries to control her. That's not how best friends treat each other.  ,

She literally told Bella that she did not consider her feelings about her own cancer diagnosis because "that's ridiculous" like what the fuck?

She also was a complete dick to Greg/Aaron from the very beginning for NO REASON

And then she strung David along for YEARS knowing good and damn well that she didn't want to marry him.

 

And then we went through all this bullshit just for Dannie to 1. make out with her dying best friend's fiancé and they have what was potentially a one night stand when she dies.

 

What the actual fuck?