He did not look like a sorry sack of shit. He looked—all I could come up with in the fraction of a moment between his first step and the next—like impending doom.

By now you may have figured out that I am contractually obligated to write a positive review of any book I read with good OCD rep, and this book definitely had it. Checking that the door is locked so many times you lose sleep and THEN worrying that all of your checking has literally weakened the door and will be the reason the lock fails? That's some real OCD-er shit right there. OCD for me is like an itch that you can't scratch—but also can't ignore—because it's somehow deep under your skin, and the author does a great job of capturing that feeling here. If you read this book, I hope you'll also take a few minutes to read her author's note at the back where she talks about her own OCD.

Anyway, this book was great, but the ending was utterly DIABOLICAL. Lisette Marshall, I am hacking into your computer to look for a draft of book 2 as we speak. Do NOT play with me right now.

"All that stands between a hero and villainy is proper motivation," he says. "Love provokes the hero as violently as it does the villain, and it's merely who tells the story that determines which is which."

THIS!!! BOOK!!!!

I was SO so excited to receive an ARC of this, and let me tell you—it did NOT disappoint.

Right from the very beginning, the writing style so perfectly immerses you into the story that you can't help but get lost in it. As a mood reader and someone who can have upwards of 20 books going at a time (I know, I know, I’m terrible and trying to change), it takes a lot to keep my attention. ASSFV grabbed me immediately and did not let go. I won't say too much about the writing style because I don't want to spoil the small magic of discovering it for yourself, so you've just got to trust me on this one. Shannon J. Spann, you are a genius and have gained a devoted fan in me!!

This book has all the unique magic of One Dark Window, the spooky performance art of Phantasma, the stories-about-stories layers of The Starless Sea, and characters that you want to root for even when you aren't sure who's the villain (especially when you aren't sure who's the villain). It had me clutching my head, clutching my chest, and gasping out loud in the coffee shop where I read it. (THAT ENDING???? One of the great tragedies of my life is that I read this as an ARC so I don't have anyone to talk about it with yet.)

This book is an endearing hug and a slap in the face all in one, and I say that in a complimentary way. Even just now as I sit here looking over my notes and highlighted quotes to write this review, I am overcome with this warm glow in my chest that I feel when I read a truly beautiful story.

“You can be a great many things, dear heart. But you cannot be fewer.”

This is a book about good and evil, truth and lies, love and tragedy, identity and reinvention, and how they all intertwine in the stories we tell each other and the stories we tell ourselves.

I devoured this book and it devoured me right back. It is, in short, a book I think you should read.

⭐️ A massive thank you to Shannon J. Spann and Entangled Teen for the free advanced review copy of this book. All opinions here are my own. ⭐️

(Voluntary self-disclosure: I should say that I myself was never a theater kid (besides my very brief, ill-advised foray into musical theater in middle school), but I am an ally to their community (former choir kid). This book can be loved by anyone, but I imagine that if you are a theater kid you will enjoy it very, very much.)

"If not in this one, then in the next."

^ (Using this quote as a placeholder for one of the multiple other quotes that absolutely destroyed me that I'll add in here once the book is out.)

Song suggestion for after you finish: "The Manuscript" by Taylor Swift. (Then the actors were hitting their marks / And the slow dance was alight with the sparks / And the tears fell in synchronicity with the score / And at last, she knew what the agony had been for / The only thing that's left is the manuscript / One last souvenir from my trip to your shores / Now and then, I reread the manuscript / But the story isn't mine anymore)