Reviews

Only a Monster by Vanessa Len

sunshinesierra13's review against another edition

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4.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Only a monster follows a sixteen-year-old named Joan who works at the historic Holland House alongside her crush Nate, who has asked her on a date. Still, that morning, she learns the truth about her eccentric family: heir monsters with hidden powers, and Nick is just a regular boy; she is the fabled human hero meant to kill her kind. To save her family, she has to team up with Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family who hates her own. Joan learns to embrace her monstrous powers to protect her family and herself.

This book was fast-paced, and I thought I took an interesting twist on time travel. I loved our main character Joan, and Aaron Oliver has my heart. Joan and Aaron’s friendship was made so nicely and was paced so well. Joan’s cousin Ruth was a nice comedic buffer and brought some light to an overall sad story. I liked what we saw of Nick, but I don’t feel like we saw enough of him to believe that Joan and Nick were into each other to be hung up on one another the way they were, especially with how close Len has Joan and Aaron getting, so my only complaint would be that we need to see more of Nick for me to get behind that ship.

Overall, I like this book, and I thought the story was fascinating. I can’t wait to see where the next one goes, considering the ending of this first book could serve as a standalone with an unresolved love relationship. I would 100% recommend this book for people who like a time travel book and love a hint of a love triangle.

theresamothinmyroom's review

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

mittymyers's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

kat7890erina's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5 stars

Rounding up as the second half is better than the first 150 pages might have you thinking.

mentalvoid's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

gilafied's review

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Too much teen angst, not really in the mood.

maddy6688's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

dana_yamaguchi's review against another edition

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DNF @ 20%

rosh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

ma1vina's review against another edition

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2.0

I really wanted to like this book, I mean it includes enemies to lovers, arrogant ml and monsters- what else do I need? This book promised me so much and yet was a really big let down. Personally, I could not really feel for any of the characters and they felt really bland. The plot sounded interesting
(monsters and time traveling come on) but I felt indifferent while reading it and I got kind of bored. Monsters were supposed to be the main focus of the book but instead if they didn't say it almost every other sentence you wouldn't even notice. Over all this book just wasn't it for me and i just couldn't connect with anyone nor really care about them.