Quality of Writing: 6/10
Pace: 7/10
Plot Development: 5/10
Characters: 5/10
Enjoyability: 8/10
Insightfulness: 2/10
Ease of Reading: 6/10
Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I got this Advanced Reader Copy a while ago from NetGalley, and I will admit it took me a while to get into the book. I put it down for some time, but picked it up again today, and was immediately sucked in. I don’t know what changed, but it was like a Twilight book. The writing had problems, but the book was definitely a page turner.
For one, the plot is very convoluted. You have to pay attention to a lot of details, and things get mixed up very easily.
Two, the characters are a little shaky. Especially Becca Curtis. She plays way too many roles/personalities. Also, the book had too many points of view.
There was a lot of extra, random drama that was just there for effect, and it didn’t add anything to the story.
Something I did like was how casually the author included the LGBTQ+ community without it being the main focus of the story. It threw me off at first, because I didn’t expect it, but it was nice to see the representation.
Overall, the book was interesting, but not something I would highly recommend. You definitely have to be able to remember details in order to get through it.
Some side notes:
– there was an entire short chapter about synonyms for the word “happy”. It was unnecessary, and did not fit with the rest of the book.
– too many psychopathic characters, or characters with psycho tendencies in one book.
– that small tidbit of -Small spoiler in bold- saying Ashlyn has Borderline Personality Disorder was stupid. I’ve done a lot (A LOT) of research on that, and it doesn’t explain her behavior enough. It’s kind of insulting that they just threw that in there.
Once Upon a Time... 