**Thank you so much Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine | Del Ray for the earc! All words and thoughts in this review are my own honest opinion!**

Posted to: NetGalley, Goodreads, and The Storygraph

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2.9 (rounded up to 3) out of 5 stars.

Uhm- I’ve got thoughts. I’ve got a jumble of words in mind for this read that I don’t really know how to untie. I’ll try my best to be coherent, but I have very little yet so much at the same time to say about this read…

Let’s dive in?

I understand the sort of message that Lilliam Rivera was trying to convey here. I kind of hate that the only fashion world reference I knew to help set the scene was ‘Ugly Betty’ because it seriously kicked some of that seriousness out of ‘Tiny Threads’ too, and there was already only so much to work with. I think for me it was the pacing that affected this a lot.

At the beginning, it felt like Rivera was trying to take things easy to help set the scene and let readers get a feel for what was to come, but then realized she was nearing a word cap and rushed all the important plot points back to back before the end. It just felt… messy. There was too much stitched together to fill in gaps left by other ideas, but then more gap arose. I think if the book was a little longer, more time could’ve been given to weave the timeline that Rivera started with.

Something else that bugged me was the way these plot points were intersecting. Once everything is connected, earlier details start to make some more sense, but there were too many stories being told for it to run linearly. I almost wonder if back and forth flashbacks/two time period POVs could’ve helped achieve the ending that ‘Tiny Threads’ came around to? I’m not sure. It just felt like there were too many ideas being used to help elevate the plot and not much was done to help smoothen the bumps in the road.

I have to agree with others in that the love interest isn’t really a love interest. He’s in for a few scenes, but not terribly much as- a love interest. I’m saying that word a lot, it’s losing its meaning. I feel like more could’ve been done to either ascertain that idea that he is a love interest beyond a few awkward meetings, or a different title could’ve been lended to him instead. This personally didn’t bug me all too much, but I figured it’s something worth noting as others found issue with it.

‘Tiny Threads’ attempts to lay down a *strong* and impactful message within its story. It strives to capture attention with its eeriness and by showing the true horrors that lay deeper behind glimmering facades and money-cushioned lives. I just think that the air could’ve been a bit more dramatic, a little less rushed, and a lot sharper. I haven’t read any of Rivera’s previous works, but as one of her firsts in the adult-fiction world, I believe this to be a good starter with which she can only grow from!