Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
I mean you may as well give it a go, to the nobody that’s reading this that hasn’t already read it (Olivia has) soooo…. I guess that’s me. The characters were bland asf, the only character that wasn’t was Kelly, but Kelly was such an annoying bitchy character that I could’ve strangled her myself if I was in the story; LIKE SHE WAS SO ANNOYING AND RUDE TO ALL HER FRIENDS These reluctant travel companions are drawn into a political struggle that has turned violent; the tension stems from which side either will ultimately choose. There are occasional clunky moments in the text, particularly related to exposition, but the characters’ nuanced emotional journeys in the face of inequality and violence ring true. This lushly described world is well worth vanishing into. By the closing stages we had moved into a setting that made it clear we were going to see the death. However, by this stage I could have quite happily seen any of the characters in this position and not been concerned, and the actual description of the death was so choppily done that it felt like a ‘blink-and-you’ll-miss-it’ moment.
I couldn't understand so many things! By the end, I was in such chaos that I didn't even bother to get what the ending meant. Actually, let's talk about that ending. This is only the beginning of a thrilling adventure that includes venturing into ancient times such as the 1990s (where “the Rachel haircut is a time marker”) and grappling with the seemingly immutable rules of an unfair world. Joan desperately wants to save her murdered family, even as she is told it’s impossible: “Every monster goes up against the timeline...Everyone tries to change something at some point.” I liked the Irish setting and as a British reader that was very interesting. I thought that the way the characters are bought together by staying at a summer camp to learn Irish was very skillful and again, as a British reader, that is something I haven't had the experience of. Sixteen-year-old Joan Chang-Hunt discovers she’s a “monster”, a member of one of the 12 great families of London with particular powers, including the capacity to steal time from humans. And that cute boy, incidentally, is out to kill her – he is the legendary “hero” determined to and prophesied to put an end to all of Joan’s kind. The murder happened really late in the book and leading up to it, it didn't have that much suspense.For me it wasn't always clear when you changed povs or it was sudden. It also didn't help that the writing style for every character was the exact same. I don't want to keep harping on but, basically, this book needs major work. I can see it's already garnered a very low average score on Goodreads and I can see why. It's simply not ready for public consumption yet. It has zero suspense, zero thrills, 2D characters and hardly any plot. It reads like a bad first draft.
Overall, this was a fantastic read. I love the fact that I had no idea who would die, no idea when they would die and no idea how until the end. It was only at 85% (I was reading on kindle!) through that I started piecing together what could happen. I got parts right but the rest I was well off!Protagonist Ingrid straddles the space between these two camps, as a scholarship student secretly dating the son of a wealthy, influential senator. Joining his presidential campaign as her senior year internship, Ingrid draws the attention of the senator’s glamorous and principled political opponent, and begins to question the purpose of the power she so desperately craves. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Simon & Schuster for allowing me early access in exchange if an honest review. Those names were some of the most unoriginal names that I have ever heard. I really liked Réiltín, Suze, and Tadhg...but what were the rest of those names? LB's real name sounded like the name of the protagonist of a bad Wattpad fanfic. The whole story felt like a badly written gacha story, if I must be honest. It was so anticlimactic and the names made the whole ordeal even worse. They were either so incredibly basic or so funny that it was bad.
Even though the characters don't have a personality I did get attached to them eventually, but not really to Kelly tho. I gotta say, I LOVED Rupert - he’s the only thing that brought this book up to 3 stars. Not that Rupe is a “thing”, but you know what I mean. The characters weren’t bland, so to speak, (what the hell does so to speak mean - yk when you just know when to put a phrase into your sentence but the actual phrase just doesn’t make sense? No just me?) Also I told myself I’d be productive today as it’s the first day off for Easter (WE GET TWO WEEKS 🥳) but literally all I’ve done is shower (which is basic hygiene, come on Alice) and start Caraval which is class so far. Not that you asked (Whoever “you” are). This book sounded right up my street from the description. I also thought the title was killer. Unfortunately, it was incredibly boring and I really struggled to finish it.
It was so addicting to read and the chapters flew by. I found myself tearing through it and near finishing it in a day. I was left reeling at the end’' – NetGalley – Nicola, Reviewer It was so addicting to read and the chapters flew by. I found myself tearing through it and near finishing it in a day. I was left reeling at the end’ – NetGalley – Nicola, Reviewer I love that this book made me question each of the characters and that it didn't give you all the answers, which just added to how chilling it was. I still don't know exactly what happened and who to blame. Or if there should be someone to blame!
Why do the whole thing that it was an asylum and "haunted" when it wasn't relevant to the plot at all. Actually. Not just me. Because the author - I forget their name, sorry! - kept writing random things leaving me incredibly confused as to what was going on. If that makes sense, which it probably doesn’t tbh (TBH OLIVIA!!) but like… yeah. WHERE THE FREAK DID I GET CASEY FROM? ITS WRITTEN BY ALEXIA MASON? DID CASEY WRITE ONE OF US IS LYING? The character of Amber was probably my favourite. She likes reading tarot cards, in fact it becomes a little obsessive, she is anxious and as a whole just very believable. I would have liked to have seen Rupert's character developed more but LB had a great story line. I will say, however, if you’re in a reading slump - give this book a go. It’s easy enough to follow along to apart from when it isn’t (like that epilogue???) and it’s a relatively short book with big writing print so you can fly through it. (Not literally, unless you are Leia in Star Wars- like what was that about?)The action - and I use this term loosely - centres on a group of teens who are sent to a summer school in an old asylum to cram for their upcoming Irish exam. For the majority of the book they go to lessons and wander round this building, hinting at tension between characters but giving us little. You know when the teacher is like "Let's all say something good about our classmates!" But you highkey hate everyone and can't think of anything to say? That's how I feel about this book. It was shit. I'm not going to sugar-coat it.
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