A really sweet portrayal of the characters!

The art style in this was a little different to that of other illustrated Shadowhunters merchandise which was a shame

Impressed with how all the pieces of this came together in the end- I love that moment when everything finally clicks and it becomes a race to see how it will all end. I'm also a huge fan of unreliable narrators so the way Rachel's alcoholism causes gaps in her memory really added to the intrigue of the story for me. I struggled a bit with the multiple points of view since they were all women living more or less on the same street but as the plot progressed this became easier.

Not a fan I don’t think- this is quite far from my go-to genre and I felt like I wasn’t given much information besides the protagonist’s cryptic thoughts.

I also got the bad guy wrong. Not like ‘I guessed wrong’ as in the bad guy was revealed but the writing confused me enough that I thought they were someone else.

Oh well- I got there in the end.

A surprisingly likeable narrator! I really felt sorry for Nathan and how he was dragged into the Venetian criminal art world with no notice but I did love how he told the story. Through his eyes, I saw Venice clearly (and now really want to go!) from the crumbling churches to the heaving touristy bridges.

A nice gentle read- no exciting action until 3/4 in but not boring.

(Side note: feel like if I didn’t love it or hate it it should be three stars but that just feels like a mean score?)

After seeing so much hype around this book, I was looking forward to reading this! (In fact my english teacher told me to read it)

While the story didn't blow me away, it covered such an important topic in a heartfelt way. It reveals an insight into the conditions people are fleeing from, the conditions they travel in and their perilous sea journeys, and the conditions and stigma they face once they reach the UK.

There was a beautiful split time line structure as well as each cahpter ending and starting with the same word which i thought was a unique touch.

Overall, I didn't really connect with the characters but learnt a lot

I've been seeing this EVERYWHERE for months and when I found it in the charity shop I knew it was finally time to get reading. VE Schwab seems to be praised by everyone and I have to say I was very impressed with the world building of all the 'different' Londons that this world is built upon.

Since our protagonist Kell is not allowed to go much further away than London in each world (he's far too precious to the royals), the information given about the rest of the world is limited. I'm hoping that this is expanded upon in later books- I've got the second one from the library waiting to be read already.

I'm obviously in love with Kell: his chaos, his coat, and his black eye (literally) make for a very likeable character. I'm very excited to keep reading more of him even if the other characters didn't really resonate with me.

Definitely a big fan of this- I picked it up from my library for Latinx heritage Month and finished it quickly.
I felt awful for Ana all the way through- from the second she left her home in the DR to she final page when she reunites with her mother. It was a story that made me ache for this girl and the strange life she lives as the wife of a much older man in New York.
I don't know whether this was intentional but I felt that as Ana fell in love throughout the book, having her perspective on things lead me to forget how young she was. Only once I'd finished did my brain recall that her "new romance" was no better than her older husband- in both situations she was still a child.
This book flowed very smoothly for me and I can see why it's so popular!

BEAUTIFUL. I am entirely in love with this book and don't know if I have the words to describe it.
I wanted to stay lost in Jack and August's fantastical relationship well after the last page (was in late night tears at the end)

August and Jack have always been close despite their differing social groups but when Jack starts suffering from severe hallucinations, there's no way that August is leaving him to deal with it alone. Together they embark on a quest shaped by what Jack sees in this parallel fantasy world.

This was full of characters that were vividly strange with no explanation that I absolutely loved. The whole thing had an ethereal feel to it that I could sense form the first page. The actual book as well was stunning with the pages getting darker as Jack and August's mental state and relationship deteriorated.

To end this stunning story, K Ancrum wrote a letter to the reader. I'll leave you to read it yourselves but it had me in tears. This is an incredible book about love, about neglect, and about the lengths we would go to to help our friends.

This was altogether an utterly bizarre story. I appreciated the roundabout way of storytelling but I felt I needed at least a couple of pieces of information to be given to me as definites. The plot/characters were too shaky for me to fully comprehend what Hunt as trying to accomplish.