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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Light, interesting reading. The love triangle that extends into the next book had me hooked.
3.5 stars
I am so conflicted about how to rate this book; parts were really good, but then some of it was just plain confusing.
I'll start with the good: I really liked the play between light and darkness: (the verity and void) in this book. The way that darkness can take hold, but then light can overcome it was a powerful image. I'm intigued to see how the author builds on this in future books. (I'm sure there will be future books, after that cliff hanger!)
I thought the characters were well don, I liked Eliyana, but she wasn't too perfect, got annoyed at times, and had some irritating habbits herself.
There were also a lot of plot twists, many of which I did see coming. This leads me into what I didn't like.
The book was just plain confusing, at times I was completely lost. There were so so many characters, I don't think that it helped that some of them had similar names.
I also found the writers style quite hard at times. She seemed to have a thing for One. Word. Sentences. At times there could be several on one page. she also loved sound effects (crunch, slam, sigh, etc etc) long words, and italics. While all these things can be good, they were over used, to the point of distracting the reader from the plot.
All in all it was a decent enough.book, I would be interested in reading more by the author.
Many thanks to net galley and the publisher for a review copy of this book.
I am so conflicted about how to rate this book; parts were really good, but then some of it was just plain confusing.
I'll start with the good: I really liked the play between light and darkness: (the verity and void) in this book. The way that darkness can take hold, but then light can overcome it was a powerful image. I'm intigued to see how the author builds on this in future books. (I'm sure there will be future books, after that cliff hanger!)
I thought the characters were well don, I liked Eliyana, but she wasn't too perfect, got annoyed at times, and had some irritating habbits herself.
There were also a lot of plot twists, many of which I did see coming. This leads me into what I didn't like.
The book was just plain confusing, at times I was completely lost. There were so so many characters, I don't think that it helped that some of them had similar names.
I also found the writers style quite hard at times. She seemed to have a thing for One. Word. Sentences. At times there could be several on one page. she also loved sound effects (crunch, slam, sigh, etc etc) long words, and italics. While all these things can be good, they were over used, to the point of distracting the reader from the plot.
All in all it was a decent enough.book, I would be interested in reading more by the author.
Many thanks to net galley and the publisher for a review copy of this book.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love first person, present tense stories; really feels like you’re in El’s shoes!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence
Minor: Body horror, Body shaming
I have to admit that I was confused for most of this novel. Perhaps if I paid more attention, I would have fully understood the plot line and how each character fit into the story. I did really enjoy one particular chapter where it is explained how the main character Eliyana got the mark on her face. (It was rather sweet.) As many of you know, I am not a fan of romance so this would not have been high on my list as a favorite but it was definitely unique and different in plot lines.
This book IS pretty unique and the world building is vibrant and fun. There were great things about this book that many people will like. It's fast paced busy which I like.
The world building was fun as it was contemporary but this story deals in Reflections or with parallel worlds. Not necessarily parallel PEOPLE but just worlds and these are called Reflections. It gets pretty complex which I appreciate big time, I enjoy a good unique world building and what makes this story so different. I liked that a lot. There is A LOT to this story that makes the world and the story very enchanting and vibrant.
Eliyana is marked. Not scared or deformed, marked. It's a very unique mark of swirls. This mark covers the entire right side of her face. However due to this mark she's been the brunt of ridicule and lack of friends. She feels like she is a freak, monster and ugly. You immediately feel bad for her. Especially as she talks about her only "friend" and then there is the guy she's been crushing on forever. As the story begins the loss of her mother which makes you just sad for the main character. Ugh what a beginning, it was brilliant you were immediately hooked.
I really liked Eliyana or 'El' at first and I felt bad for her and I was very interested in this mark. But I grew tired and annoyed of El and her obsession with Joshua her one true friend and long time crush. Throughout the whole book I had to listen to her whine and mope over this guy, I just wanted to shake her or slap her! GAH!
One good thing about Eliyana was the character development, it was a bit of a roller coaster with her as I liked her and then I didn't and it wasn't till the end that I really decided I liked her. She had A LOT of growing to do and fast which can be hard for a reader but in the end I was satisfied.
The big elephant in this book is the love triangle. I don't mind 
triangles if they are done well. And I need a good understanding and reason as to why there would even need to be one. Not sure if there is a good reason in this one but if you enjoy triangles, then you'll definitely want to pick this up.
The pace was overall fast which I generally enjoy. However I did feel like there were something missing at times. Things sometimes happened almost too quickly and conveniently.
Overall I enjoyed the book but there were times I felt like I had missed something or things happened and the romance was a bit much for me ONLY because I got tired of El and her constant obsession with a boy. I look forward to the next book and MORE from this author.
*A HUGE thank you to Sara Ella and Thomas Nelson for this ARC which I got in exchange for an honest review.*
The world building was fun as it was contemporary but this story deals in Reflections or with parallel worlds. Not necessarily parallel PEOPLE but just worlds and these are called Reflections. It gets pretty complex which I appreciate big time, I enjoy a good unique world building and what makes this story so different. I liked that a lot. There is A LOT to this story that makes the world and the story very enchanting and vibrant.
Eliyana is marked. Not scared or deformed, marked. It's a very unique mark of swirls. This mark covers the entire right side of her face. However due to this mark she's been the brunt of ridicule and lack of friends. She feels like she is a freak, monster and ugly. You immediately feel bad for her. Especially as she talks about her only "friend" and then there is the guy she's been crushing on forever. As the story begins the loss of her mother which makes you just sad for the main character. Ugh what a beginning, it was brilliant you were immediately hooked.I really liked Eliyana or 'El' at first and I felt bad for her and I was very interested in this mark. But I grew tired and annoyed of El and her obsession with Joshua her one true friend and long time crush. Throughout the whole book I had to listen to her whine and mope over this guy, I just wanted to shake her or slap her! GAH!
One good thing about Eliyana was the character development, it was a bit of a roller coaster with her as I liked her and then I didn't and it wasn't till the end that I really decided I liked her. She had A LOT of growing to do and fast which can be hard for a reader but in the end I was satisfied.
The big elephant in this book is the love triangle. I don't mind triangles if they are done well. And I need a good understanding and reason as to why there would even need to be one. Not sure if there is a good reason in this one but if you enjoy triangles, then you'll definitely want to pick this up.The pace was overall fast which I generally enjoy. However I did feel like there were something missing at times. Things sometimes happened almost too quickly and conveniently.
Overall I enjoyed the book but there were times I felt like I had missed something or things happened and the romance was a bit much for me ONLY because I got tired of El and her constant obsession with a boy. I look forward to the next book and MORE from this author.
*A HUGE thank you to Sara Ella and Thomas Nelson for this ARC which I got in exchange for an honest review.*
I wanted to like this book much more than I did!! I am not sure what about this book annoyed me a whole but a big part was how accepting she was of the new world she was thrust into! I hate when MC's don't ask questions or just go along with what everyone else is telling them to do and gahhhhh i just couldn't stand it!
The world building in this portal fantasy is layered and detailed, interwoven with messages of true beauty, sacrificial love, and choices. Lots of twists and turns—I know without a doubt this would have been a book I binged as a teenager; but, as an older reader, I’m not a huge fan of the love triangle trope which is a large part of this narrative (especially the second half of the book). However, if you enjoy the love triangle trope, you will most likely enjoy this book. Fans of other tropes including friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, chosen one, good versus evil, and family secrets will enjoy this book. A solid start to a YA trilogy series!