Claire!!! What. A. Ride. One of the best thrillers I’ve read in a while, loved the audio. I suspected parts of the twists along the way but the ending still took me off guard. We love an unreliable narrator and Claire could NOT be less reliable. There were so many moments where I wanted to shake her by the shoulders and also kick Noah’s ass. On the subject of Noah, while everything is not as it seems, he was absolutely not redeemed. I think the flashbacks with her mom and her school bullies interspersed were perfectly done. The diary entries and how they were used in the end were also a gut punch. Some vague, non-spoiler thoughts/reactions I had along the way:

“You’re my cute little tortoise” red flag behavior Claire what the fuck!!! 8 MONTHS LATER?! SHE WORKED THERE OH MY GOD CLAIRE WHAT DID YOU DO

Excited to see what this author writes next!

This one took a little while to pick up but once it did all the hype made sense. I really loved the gothic atmosphere and the unique magic system with the mist and the cards. The Book of Alders gave this a dark fairytale vibe. I thought Elspeth and Ravyn’s relationship was really earnest and sweet, and my heart was aching for them throughout the whole book. I kind of wish this had been dual POV because I would have loved to see some of the events from Ravyn’s perspective. Also, maybe I’m reading into things but I feel like there’s an Elm x Ione side plot happening? I’m really eager to see where the story goes next & I’ve heard a lot of people say book two is even better