Anna Applegate

This is such a unique story and full of unexpected twists. I loved the different aspects of the Fae society that were slowly revealed as things progressed. Cora is an absolute bad-a** and her resilience is unparalleled. I enjoyed her co-workers and their different attitudes about their situation. Prince Noah is very swoony worthy and almost makes being enslaved in a foreign world seem ok. I am very curious about the Seelie/Unseelie world and who is behind all the chaos and Cora’s show more placement. So many questions! I can’t wait for the next book.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. show less

This book is full of the otherworldly--time travel, shifters, vampires, and totally unrelated magic. It works to blend urban fantasy with time travel romance and more, moving at a fast pace encompassing various centuries and locations. Add in family drama, and...well, it's a *lot*. Too much, in this reader's opinion. Because although there was a clear depth to the background of the characters, and there were plenty of attempted twists/turns (most of them either predictable or of 'jump the show more shark' out-of-the-blue territory, hence the 'attempted'), there was no real depth to the story. Where this showed most of all was in the plotting and the somewhat contrived battles.

Battles would suddenly end--conveniently for the heroes, because they'd be lost/dead otherwise--with no real reason other than that the 'big bad' seemed to change his mind. When a reader wanted more depth to a part of the lore/magic, what would instead come would be either an additional magical element/mystery, or else a fast turn in the plot. Things generally happened perfectly conveniently, or perfectly inconveniently, with no real rhyme or reason (lots of showing up exactly one where needed to be if you were the hero, with the villain showing up exactly where the hero didn't want them, of course), and motivations were generally left totally unexplored. In other words, there was a lot happening, but the plotting was so fast and loose that, on the whole, the book felt more messy than finished.

I'd compare the book to a fast-paced surface-level action movie that moves so fast, it doesn't leave you time to question what's happening. If you can make yourself get swept up in the world and action, you might enjoy yourself, but if you stop to question any one thing or character for a moment, a lot of the story will start unraveling. And with fairly stereotypical characters, and a lack of depth in general, that was a real problem here, especially when the characters started acting unbelievably toward the end.

I can't see myself continuing with this series or trying out the author again in the future, I'm afraid. This isn't one I'd recommend. show less

You get drawn in from the beginning of this book, Jules thinks she has made a big step in her path of following on from her parents who dies in a car accident years ago bit even from the first week working as an intern at Falcon Industries thinks something is weird there. There are plenty of secrets, twists and revelations that keep you hooked and chewing your nails wondering what you will find out next. I can not wait to see what happens in the next book especially with the way it all ended!!!