Violet feels like an outsider in her small Midwestern town. She's one of only a few people of color, and she is keeping a major secret--she's part of a supernatural warrior tribe. When the Queen Bee of the school is murdered, Violet must use her abilities to help solve the murder.

I really wanted to like this book. It had an interesting premise and I thought it would appeal to murder mystery fans. Unfortunately, the supernatural element seemed really forced and it didn't seem to truly work for the storyline. I'm not sure that many of my high schoolers will be able to overlook the supernatural parts to enjoy the mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts are not affected by the free copy.

This is a really difficult one to talk about, because it does touch on a lot of things that are important and worth discussing. The main character brings up a lot of racial issues, sex issues, gender issues, nationality/heritage issues, and that's all really well done. But something about the writing style never quite clicked with me. The mystery was pretty lackluster, and the ending was just plain terrible. But I'll get to all that.

Let's first tackle the overall style and plot. A lot of it is infodumped by way of the main character explaining things. She does it in an odd way, too, making it feel like she's interrupting the natural flow of dialogue to give more exposition on things. And it never seems to stop. Even when it gets closer to the climax she's still explaining stuff. How about showing us rather than telling us? The plot is also really strange. I do like this different take on ghosts-- bhoots, as they're called here-- and the more vicious nature of them. I like that Violet was in actual danger because of them. But with all the exposition and set-up, the actual plot doesn't really happen until almost halfway into the book.

Since this is a murder mystery, starting the plot at the halfway mark doesn't leave much time for setting up clues, suspects and so forth before the reveal. All of that on its own would be difficult to do without adding in the Aeideo and this bigger battle Violet is going through. It reminded me of Charmed and how demons were influencing people to kill each other. That set-up really rubbed me the wrong way here. Like all of this was just a test for Violet to embrace her powers. It puts a completely different perspective on the murderer, the victim, and the search for the killer. Again, it is different having someone forced into investigating a murder, but I can't say I liked it. Then there's the conclusion and the ending, which are both terrible. I didn't like having the demon influence being a factor into the murder, and I definitely did not like the cliffhanger ending that is obviously a segway into a sequel. That is not a way to end a book, guys. It's a way to finish a chapter.

All the pop culture references got on my nerves a little bit, too. Some of them are a little strange. What teenager would know who Hercule Poirot is? And since Violet is so extremely pop culture savvy, how is it she doesn't know about Kamila Khan, Miles Morales, John Stewart, America Chavez, Sam Wilson and so forth?

But as I said, there are a lot of good things in this, too. There's a big examination of slut-shaming and the gender divide on sexual activity, there's a great and infuriating scene where authorities argue over whether or not a girl has been raped and what to do about the boys who raped her. There are some great bits about small town politics and how who you are and your sphere of influence can affect the justice system's treatment of you. Violet's struggle with her heritage is something I think a lot of people will relate with.

So I'm torn. Obviously the ghost angle was a reason why I requested this, but I wish it didn't play as big a role as it did. I also wish the plot happened a little sooner and there was more focus on the mystery. I think there are some great things in here, and if there's more focus on that in future novels, then this will be a great series.