I'm so glad I moved this up to the top of my TBR pile after seeing some great reviews and discussion around it. I tried hard to take it slowly too but still managed to finish it in less than 3 days. While I need more time to process the book and its multitude of themes (nationalism, agency, faith, legacy), I can say it is definitely one of my best reads of the year, and I can't wait to see it on all book of the year lists later this year.

I keep trying OV books despite a less than stellar track record with them, so I was surprised to find this one to be the best I've read so far. It's not perfect. There are still some things that drive my personal rating down, but I can tell this will be the benchmark I'll use for any future attempts I make.

I appreciated an FMC that was flawed and both fiery and meek, but she was also normal, a decidedly not not-like-other-girls. She had a strong sense of responsibility towards her father and his career, which drove the fairly well paced plot of the book. I loved her relationships with her friends and how that didn't change after meeting her pack.

In OV, insta-lust is mainstay because of magical scent-bonds, and sometimes I hate it, especially when one or more of the characters try to admit they don't feel the bond. So it was a breath of fresh air that my escapist read didn't make me wait for them all to accept the truth of their senses. I'm also a stan for any green flag relationships, the less drama in the relationship the better, so it was great to see all of the plot and drama be outside the group.

This was a good read, but not quite perfect. I felt like the mystery was pretty clear at least midway through, and I wish that the evil stepmom trope would die on its ass. No amount of she-had-her-reasons helps me get past it. The pacing was mostly good but I also had a fair number of times that I considered the gaps in time and thought, "there's no way my dad or best friend wouldn't be knocking down doors if they hadn't heard from me in days". (I'm aware I think too much on escapist media, it's a curse) It's also super lite on worldbuilding, not really giving me any idea how there were packs and knots but not shifters. Still it was a decidedly fun, cosy why choose story with both real stakes and tea & warm blankets.