I ended up enjoying this book a lot more than I thought I would! The first half was just okay, but where I thought it could have ended and been a “basic” YA fantasy/romance it ended up developing into an even deeper story that I really enjoyed. Based on the summary on the back of the book, I thought it might be spicier than my normal preference but I was pleasantly surprised that it stayed pretty PG.

My main grievance is with some aspects of the writing style. The multi-line sentence format of a lot of the female protagonist’s POV chapters made it feel like everything was supposed to be dramatic (and if everything is dramatic and impactful then nothing is) and read a bit choppy. Also, some of the use of all caps felt a little juvenile and took me out of the story momentarily.

Other than that, I ended with a positive impression and am glad I read this book as well as the included epilogue-style short story!