This was sloppy. The author used a mix of first person and third person POV, while also having one of the characters address the reader as if she was telling a story. It felt so disjointed, unserious, and extremely rushed.

This was also supposed to be a loose, twisted retelling of Beauty and the Beast but I fail to see the comparison no matter how hard I squint. Just because a story contains abduction and a giant in-home library does NOT mean it's similar to Beauty and the Beast. This was only 184 pages, but I had to force myself to continue past the first 30.

The characters were also extremely flat. Asiya's only personality trait was that she was the most beautiful girl to ever exist and everyone wanted to either be her or be with her. And Lila's only personality trait was that her parents were dead.

The author spent more time summarising a story than taking us on the journey. The concept of this book was intriguing and I would give it another chance if it wa heavily edited and expanded to a full-length novel in order to give the author and reader space to actually experience a story.