"jameson had said, right from the beginning, that i was special. i hadn't realised until now how badly i'd wanted to believe that he was right, that i wasn't invisible, wasn't wallpaper. i wanted to believe that tobias hawthorne had seen something in me that had told him i could do this, that i could handle the stares and the limelight, the responsibility, the riddles, the threats-all of it. i wanted to matter. i didn't want to be the glass ballerina or the knife. i wanted to prove, at least to myself, that i was something. jameson may have been done with the game, but i wanted to win."

THIS BOOK WAS SOOO GOOD OH MY GOD!!!! i loved it so much, the plot twists just kept on coming and they literally left me FLABBERGASTED. jennifer lynn barnes is an evil genius??? i probably sound really dramatic for a young adult mystery book but it's probably because it's the first proper mystery book i've ever read (other than where the crawdads sing, but that's more of a courtroom drama and it's only at the very end of the book) so it's the first time i've experienced like the thrill of finding each new clue and getting closer and closer to the answer. the story and the characters were so interesting all the way through and even the small romance subplot that there was had me hooked. i honestly don't know whether i'm on team grayson or team jameson??? i'm too indecisive for the love triangle trope lmao. well, it's not really even a love triangle it's kind of complicated, you'd have to read the book to really understand their dynamic but i LOVED IT!!! starting the next one right now :)