~~Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!~~

4.5/5 rounded down!

I didn't know what to expect when i started to read this, but I'm glad it turned out quite good!

Despite the consistent fantasy element throughout the store (i.e., Sariyah's need detector), it is very much rooted in reality through its themes of mental health and social justice, specifically the invisibility of missing Black girls and how the urgency to find them isn't as visible on social media. It tackles these topics hard and with such sincerity and heart, but the book is also very short. I feel like there were a lot of things that were being jumbled. Between Sariah's struggles, her mom's depression, her bro's sickle cell disease, her best friend and his missing twin sister, and so much more, there was a lot to go through in so many pages. Desamours balanced as well as she could of; I just personally wish these issues were paced more evenly, that's all.

Sariyah, this poor girl. I just wanted to give this girl a hug so badly. She directs every bad thing happening as her fault, which fuels her to seek out needs to fulfill only for her to inevitably become devastated once more if another thing happens to go wrong. She constantly directs all these feelings, especially the anger she has towards others, at herself, because she doesn't believe she's allowed to be upset at people when she believes they're suffering more than her. It makes her seem self-centered, but all she does throughout the book is do everything in her power to help, even if she's juggling between helps all at once. As you probably guessed by now, I really loved this girl. Sariyah has become one of my favorite protagonists.

Additionally, the relationships and other characters are done so well. The ones she shared with her mom and brother, particularly, felt so real and relatable, and her little romance with Jude was cute (Side note: Is Sariyah bi/pan? She mentions having a crush on a friend's sister early in the book, but the words are never used on page, nor does she go into further detail on her sexuality later on. I hesitate to label this lgbtq+, so I'll wait until I get official confirmation from the author via post or something). Her best friend Malcolm could have been a protagonist in his own right, with the complexities he displays in the story.

(There's a HUGE cliffhanger at the very end of the story involving his missing sister, and I'm predicting that it will be the subject of Desamours next book, if she writes it. I think that's where Malcolm would become the protagonist, with Sariyah being the major supporting cast, but nothing is confirmed at the time I'm writing this. If I'm right, I'll be SO happy.)

All in all, this is such a great book, and I hope it gets the attention it deserves when it officially releases next February!