3.5 stars. hm. okay. i’m a little upset.

i really enjoyed reading this book—very entertaining. a solid 30% of this book is the main character, Alex, swimming. idk if it’s a metaphor, but whatever. i didn’t mind it, i liked it i guess.

the shit she gets into is really interesting. however, we get absolutely no closure from anything. what happens to jack? no idea. what happens to dom? no idea. who the fuck is dom even and why does she owe him money and why is she so afraid? no idea. what even happens when she reunites with simon—which is her whole end goal in the book? no IDEA!!

i usually rate books based off of the author’s intention: were they able to effectively convey the plot, the concept, and the broader meaning of writing the book? so i was incredibly disappointed by the end. i think the author wanted to put us in the dark—keep alex as much of a mystery to the reader as she was to all of the other characters. but my qualm is that the elusive backstories that were meant to add depth were so poorly written that they added NOTHING to the character’s value (value as in regard not as in principles). so yeah! it bugged me when nothing came to a conclusion.

overall, an entertaining, and absolutely enraging read. i even liked the main character and rooted for her, but everything else was just poorly developed.