Before anything, I would like to thank Kathryn Trattner, the publisher, and BookSirens for providing me with an ARC. I received it for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

What kept me going with this read was my absolute panic for DNFing books, so not a good sign.

I think the only thing I loved about this book was how realistically the crush Emma had on Jake was portrayed. The idea of liking someone and not knowing if they're into you was perfectly executed, and I found myself saving an enormous amount of quotes from her inner monologue about her feelings. Reminded me of every time I liked someone who didn't like me back.

However, I do think the romance was rushed way out of proportion. It made no sense for them to like each other that much that quickly.

I also didn't completely understand Vivian's abuse towards Emma, as it was mostly told a lot, but barely shown. It was hard to empathize with Emma without a true notion of what she went through.

The author has a talent for vivid descriptions and I could really picture every place described but it came at a great cost. The chapters dragged with endless paragraphs describing a room and it became super boring super quickly.

The plot was chunky and felt a little disorganized, in need of a bit more polishing. There were unnecessary scenes that added nothing to the story, and the plot itself didn't impress me.

What was supposed to be scary didn't scare me, what was supposed to be surprising didn't surprise me, and what was supposed to be emotional just bored me. I was more surprised by the first 20% of the book than I was by the rest of it. Everything was so predictable, and it felt like it was trying not to be.

Overall, the idea was ambitious, the writing style was good, but the story didn't impress me. It just wasn't for me, but I'm sure it could be someone else's favorite book.