It took me until the halfway point of this book to care about the characters or their situation. After that, the book did get significantly better, but still not what I would call "good". The plot was convoluted, often confusing, and weighed down by purple prose. Here's an example:

“He tasted like midnight and wind, and shades of rich brown and light blue. Colors that made her feel safe and guarded.”

What does that even mean?! How does one taste midnight or colors? And how would he taste like all of that at once? This isn't putting any sensory details in my head. Did Garber just choose these words because she thought they sounded good together? There are other examples of this kind of ridiculous writing, but this one stood out to me enough to remember its location. Prose like this takes me out of the story, and I don't care for it at all. I'm sad to see it's becoming popular in YA writing.

The ending also had a strong feeling of deus ex machina. I won't go into spoiler level details, but the convenience of the happy ending and the way everything lines up is simply ridiculous. After finally buying into the premise of the book, I felt completely disrespected as a reader by the last 10% or so of the book. The "big reveal" onward made me roll my eyes so hard that I swear I saw my brain a few times.

I'll read the sequel, but only because I hope Tella's story won't be as clandestine as Scarlet's.

1.5 Stars

This book was a hot mess.

To be fair, I did not really enjoy the first book of the series. I gave it a solid two stars. It was okay, but had major flaws. The second book was three stars for me. It was a good reading experience and greatly improved from the first book. This final installment... a complete and total mess.
Here are my main issues.

#1 There was great potential for the fates. The second book set up for an amazing plot. But that's largely ignored in this book in favor of running around after TWO love triangles.

#2 Granted, Scarlet's is pointless and never should have been included. Thankfully it wrapped up quickly, but it was still a distraction and served only as page filler. There was no tension there. We all saw through it.

#3 Now Tella's love triangle? That was pretty much the entire story. The book focused far too much on who Tella was kissing or sharing blood with instead of saving Scarlet and the entire city from the fates.

#4 Legend didn't shine in this book, either. No one did. Even Tella (a much stronger character than Scarlet) was largely useless.

#5 Rescuing Paloma turned out to be 100% pointless. Not satisfying at all.

#6 Too many new characters were introduced with no true development. Even Nicholas and Paloma and "essential" characters felt like an extra in this book.

#7 That ending. W. T. F.

Spoiler

Scarlet on the throne? Scarlet as empress? That undoes everything that Legend worked for as Dante. Plus, Dante was still alive, so the throne would have gone back to him. I get the whole "what if Elentine was Paloma's mother" shtick, but it doesn't mean Scarlet would be accepted on the throne. She even says the people didn't like her after the discovery that she was half fate. This doesn't seem like something that fits her character or Julian's as her fiance by the end of the book.

Yeah. This had potential, but it missed that potential on nearly every mark. I wouldn't recommend this series now. It wasn't terrible as a series, but it was a huge disappointment over all.

As good as the narration was, I don't recommend the audiobook for this one. It was so difficult to keep the side characters and their titles straight because they were unfamiliar to me. I would have greatly benefited from the "Dramatis Personae" section at the end of the physical book. My hold came in on the audiobook long before I could get a physical copy, though, so I went with the audiobook.

The book had some issues, but was overall an enjoyable experience. I found the third person omniscient narration to be less than ideal for this story, because of the unfamiliar vocabulary. In my opinion, I would have better followed the story from only Fatima's viewpoint, or from a third person limited perspective. The author also used the omniscient narration to dump a lot of information all at once in the earlier chapters. I had to go back and reread to make sense of that.

I enjoyed the plot of this story, even if the narration lessened the mental image I was able to form. I look forward to seeing what this author creates next.

Whew... full review coming soon.

This is a difficult book to review. I can't say I enjoyed it. But it was certainly riveting and important. Full review to come later.

This author shames and abuses his readers if they don’t actively promote his work frequently. When readers try to leave his Facebook fan group, he sends them messages verbally abusing them and calling women bitches and whores. He is extremely arrogant and not at all interested in anyone who isn’t himself. I actively recommend that no one ever purchase his work or interact with him, because he tries to actively harass readers and women in general. Wanker.

I found the notion of a Holmes and Watson retelling to be cute, but a little overhyped with all the recent Sherlock Holmes adaptations. This one stands out from the film adaptations by being strictly Young Adult and by also having a female Holmes. The mystery of this book plays off of a couple of different classic Sherlock Holmes stories. I'll admit that I haven't read all of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories, as they're not really my cup of tea. But I have watched all the BBC episodes. Here's to looking at you, Benedict Cumberbatch!

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This story did a great job of capturing Watson's personality, even though this particular Watson is a great-grandson of the original. Charlotte Holmes, however, is less strong of a character. Sherlock, in all of his various adaptations, is still likable despite (or perhaps slightly because of) his asshole demeanor. Charlotte isn't. She doesn't have the charm of her predecessor.

My main issue with this book is how it deals with rape. Very early on in the story, so early on that I don't feel it's a spoiler, Charlotte is raped. It's never actually dealt with, and serves as a plot device just to set up Charlotte and Jaime as suspects in the rapist's murder. It felt like the rape was never discussed and never worked through. It was also hinted at that Charlotte, with her drug habit, was slightly at fault for what happened to her, and I take some MAJOR issue with that.

Overall, this was a bit underwhelming for me. Jaime was an entertaining narrator, so I'll pick up the second book and see if Charlotte becomes a bit less two dimensional.

It's the next to last page that makes this story perfect.

More to come later.

I absolutely loved this book. As soon as I saw that Ashley Elston had another book out after [b:This Is Our Story|23341252|This Is Our Story|Ashley Elston|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1452621783s/23341252.jpg|42900866], I jumped on finding a copy of this one. I wound up getting my hands on an ARC (advanced reader's copy) even though the book had already been published. I suppose the publisher still had some uncorrected proofs that didn't get given away at BookCon or wherever else. I am incredibly grateful to give this ARC a home in my classroom library.

With that said, on to the book! As with any mystery, I think it's best to go into this book as blind as possible. Owen Foster is the main character of this book and he's just lost everything. His father vanished after stealing what amounted to millions of dollars from his company, Louisiana Frac. With his family fractured and all their assets seized, Owen has no money for his fancy boarding school. And so, he moves back to his hometown where he and his mother live with their begrudging aunt. Now Own has to navigate life in a school and town where everyone hates him. His father stole from nearly everyone in the town, devastating families by ending their careers and stealing their potential retirements. Needless to say, it's a rough environment for Owen to navigate. Thankfully, a hermit named Gus gives Owen a job and a small bit of agency and control over his out-of-control life. But that doesn't answer Owen's questions. Where is his dad? What happened to the money? Who helped his dad steal millions? And who's threatening his mother?

Ashley Elston knows how to craft a mystery that will leave you breathless over several twists and turns. She also knows how to create beautiful characters. They are flawed and they are lovely and they are more perfect for all their imperfections.

If you're a fan of exciting reads, of mysteries, or of Elston's other books, give this one a read today! You'll be glad you did.