Malice is the first book I’ve read from author Pintip Dunn. The reason why I wanted to read it was due to the synopsis. I liked the storyline of a young girl named Alice in high school, having to save millions from a virus that happens in the future. She had to change the past by listening to a voice in her head that comes from the future. Unfortunately, she has to do what the voice says even though some of the things are out of her comfort zone. They are WAY out of her comfort zone is what I would say!! There is no way I would listen to a voice from my future that told me to do the things that Alice’s voice told her. One of them involved murdering the person who creates the virus that goes to her school, but the voice won’t tell her who it is. Alice has to figure out who the Virus Maker is on her own.

Things I enjoyed about Malice:

1. I love when authors write diverse characters in their stories. Bandit was one of my favorite characters in the story due to his Thai culture and his blue hair.

2. The banter between Alice and Bandit, especially in their text messages, was adorable.

3. The concept of time traveling within the mind. It’s different.

Unfortunately, Malice was a hit or miss with me when I was reading it. I wanted to love it, but I couldn’t get past some issues with the story — one of them being that I couldn’t connect well with Alice. I wouldn’t say I liked how she handled certain situations. One of them is what she did to her best friend. She drove me crazy with that part of the story. There was also the issue with Alice not knowing who was the Virus Maker when I had figured it out from the beginning. There were subtle hints in the story which it could be, but Alice kept thinking it was someone else in her school due to the voice.

Overall, this book gets 3.5 stars from me. I would recommend it to readers that enjoy Young Adult Science Fiction books and love reading books that involve time travel. Some triggers in the story: Bullying, Attempted Murder, Virus Epidemic in the future, Child Neglect/Abandonment. I may not have enjoyed the book, but I would still recommend it to other readers that are looking for something different to read in the Young Adult – Science Fiction genre.

4.5 stars.

Alice has started hearing a voice in her head. It's herself...a time-traveling consciousness from 10 years in the future. She has been told that a deadly virus will kill 2/3 of the people on Earth...unless Alice can prevent it. To do so, Alice must kill someone...one of her classmates. She must kill one to save millions.

Occasionally darkly humourous, Malice is a YA sci-fi dystopian novel with an underlying layer that is much more hard-hitting--revealing several areas of social commentary. I liked the concept a lot and found the execution to be well done. The narrative moves at a quick pace with very little extraneous plot and good characters who act true to their age. There are moments when the writing is a little immature, but overall it is snappy, smart, and thoughtful. The plot is fun and twisting, but the mystery isn't too difficult to solve if the reader pays attention. I very much enjoyed my read.

I really loved the concept of this book, it had time travel, mystery and superhero qualities.

Alice a 17 year 0ld girl is visited by her future self to be warned that a virus will wipe out the entire human race, Alice has to stop the virus maker In the present to save the future. Plot twist- she also has to work out who the maker is to be able to stop them!

The book follows Alice as she questions all those close to her in the event to stop this disaster.

I really liked the characters the author wrote and the story had me flipping the pages at high speed to find out if Alice could save the world.

Every time I thought I had the maker figured out, another twist was thrown in.

This was such a great read that did not disappoint.

I think is the first time when I’m rating a book before finishing it. The risk of an unfulfilling end didn’t matter; I had hope that what was to come will be as good as what I have already read. It was even better.

Traveling in the past to save the world is far from a new theme as it was the center of many good books and successful movies. But Mrs. Pintip Dunn has created a fresh and excellent story. It’s a young adult story that bests many of the adult ones and/or of reputed authors.

Malice has intelligence, mystery, love. Mrs. Pintip Dunn has gracefully played with them and used them to create a puzzle which if it is to remain unsolved could cost our existence itself. A jigsaw in which the pieces and their pattern change all the time and hard decisions must be taken and executed. Messages are artfully delivered.

I liked that all the details are relevant, nothing remains unused, and everything is connected. The fantasy and reality come together naturally and in a… believable way. The pace is good, the thrill, passion, weaknesses, and strengths are there, curiosity is well maintained. The path to the climax is skillfully handled. Hope is not lost.

I loved Malice and I’m past YA age. I’m sure you’ll love it too.

This book surprised me! As in I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did.
Between reading the summary of the book and actually reading the book, I kinda forgot what it was about. And I think this is a good book to go in blind!
There are a lot of twists and turns in this book, of which most of them surprised me! Especially at the end, there were some things happening I did not expect to actually happen!
The time travel was done in a pretty interesting way, even though the actual explanation of it was a bit hard to follow haha.
I really liked our main character Alice. At some point she starts hearing this voice from the future, I understand why in the beginning she just follows this voice, based on things being said (but spoilers). But I really like that at some point she starts to doubt this voice, and stars making decisions for herself. And goes around figuring out things for herself, which makes the story very interesting!
Another character is Bandit, I liked him as a person, and the decisions he has to make are hard but I understand them. So I liked that. I wasn’t too impressed by the relations development between Bandit and Alice, it felt a bit forced.

I’m definitely interested in more work of Pintip Dunn, and I will for sure read the sequel when that comes!

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher EntangledTeen via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! In no way does this affect my rating or review.

All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication.

Content Warning: Attempted Murder, Virus Epidemic, Discussion of Suicide, Profanity, borderline Child neglect, Depression/borderline Mental Illness, Death of a child, Bullying, Disowning

"Don't tell anyone about me, Malice."

Archie is a genius that is heading off to Harvard in a few months. Alice wants to be a photographer for National Geographic. The siblings had always been close, but became much closer after their mother left them six years ago. With their father mostly absent, and her brother's slow decent into despair, Alice works tirelessly to take care of and protect her brother.

"Your parents are supposed to love you above all else. And when they don't, you can't help but question your wroth. I should know."

While seeing to her brother, Alice also nurses many wounds that her parents afflicted on her. Her father's sudden disinterest in her since their mother left had left her questioning what is wrong with her. Undoubtedly, her brother feels the same. Such brilliance that he possesses places him in a caliber that many cannot relate with, and it makes him the odd man out.

One day, Alice has an odd, painful, and terrifying experience. Her older self speaks inside her mind. Identifying herself as Malice, she makes Alice aware that the world is about to be plagued by an epidemic that will wipe out two thirds of the world's population. The sun, the most important natural resource that sustains human life on earth, will become it's biggest enemy, as people will become allergic to UV rays. Unable to ignore this catastrophic news, Alice finds herself on a mission trying to figure out which boy in her school will unleash the devastating virus.

The voice in her head appears at random, and has her do odd things in order to help with her "mission." One of those tasks entails of her telling one of the most popular guys in school that she loves him. Mortification only lasts for a short while, as Bandit is swept into this mission when he learns that his uncle plays a key role in the creation of the virus.

Alice, in the middle a manhunt, also has to deal with the daily pressures of high school, caring for her brother, and dealing with the weight of the world on her shoulders.

MALICE was a surprising read. It is incredibly fast-paced, packed full of twists, and will constantly keep the reader guessing who is behind what, as there are a lot of factors at play. Ultimately, MALICE is about acceptance and friendship. It really has a very strong message, and is incredibly heart-wrenching. One thing I thought was weird was that Alice was pretty unaffected for the most part that she would have to kill someone. She's no assassin, and the lack of her reaction to that part of her mission felt unreal. Despite this and the lack of much physical description of characters, I thought the character building was decent between these characters. These characters offer diversity in grapple with several real-life difficulties.

Vulgarity: Some.
Sexual content: Kissing.
Violence: Moderate.

My Rating: ★★★1/2

This book was really good! I wanted to read more sci-fi this year and this was the perfect jumping off point. It's like a mix of sci-fi, romance, mystery and a touch of fantasy. The characters are great. I liked Alice's growth throughout the book. I enjoyed Bandit even though he was kind of obnoxious but in that bad boy kind of way.
It was fun to try to guess who the Virus Maker is and I kept flip flopping on my choice right up until then end. The story was fast paced and the plot drew me in right from the beginning. I think a lot of people will enjoy this book!

Thank you Netgalley and Entangled Teen for my copy!
⁣

Disclaimer: I received an ARC via Netgalley for the tour, this does not affect my opinion. 

"One wrong move, one detail too many, and we could create ripples that will change the future in ways we never intended."

When I saw this book that had 59 chapters, I complained in my head, because I was reading another ARC with 53 chapters and those chapters are long. I kinda dedicated February in reading my library books, and ARC's which is fine. I would have gotten this post on the 8th if my dumbass didn't get sidetracked, commented that I never got the book sooner and my self being afraid of going back to school again. 

I never realized this book was actually science-fiction. This book deals with a virus that wipes out 2/3 of the population, so older Alice task her younger self to go find the person who will eventually create the virus and stop him. 

Doesn't that sound so entertaining? And it was. I was hooked instantly because there was this sense of mystery in this book. Those chapters just seem to go by quickly because I was entertained. It was such a cool concept and something I never seen before, but I did have issues with it. 

The time-traveling aspect? I love time-traveling, it has always been one of my favorite concepts in shows/books, but this book not so much. I have so many questions about the time-traveling aspect of this book and I want to know more. If your future selves could visit past you, how do you do that really? What are the rules? Is there any after-effects that may take a toll on you? I have all these questions, but little to no answers to them. 

I just really want to talk about the virus? Like wow. That stuff is messed up because it's savage. I feel like it could happen one day if someone understands UV light and all that, because that is one way to wipe off the human race if someone really wanted too. I'm not talking about me, because science and me doesn't get along. 

The characters were iffy to me. I wasn't neutral about them, I liked them a little bit-but at times they acted annoyingly. Alice had the worst of it, because her character never made sense. It bounces back and forth, but there were a few moments where I really liked towards the end. 

Bandit was one of my favorite characters. At first I hated because, all he said was that he was Thai in every single dialogue that got a little annoying, and acted like one of those YA brooding, dark boys with a past. Guess what, I was off and that there was a lot more to him than what meets the eye and I love him for that. 

And the fact that he has blue hair? That stuff is cool, and I'd kill for blue hair from what I've imagined-but no happening. The last time I had blue hair-dye-it turned my hair green and I was being self-conscious so now my hair is red.

This book had so much potential but left me wanting. The romance was too much of a focus for it to be considered anything other than a romance. I would have liked more descriptions of the time travel than Bandit's or Zeke's looks. I enjoy a good romance but this one promised something other than that. I did enjoy the diversity of it very much

This book was incredible! As soon as I read the synopsis I knew it was something I needed in my brain asap! The premise was just really intriguing to me: Our main character Alice is basically trying to find out who in her school is going to release a virus that will decimate 2/3 of the world's population. There was also an unexpected sci-fi twist I wasn’t expecting at all, and I loved it! I don’t even want to say what it is because I went into this not knowing and I was pleasantly surprised. So, since the synopsis doesn’t mention it, I won't either 😉 I will tell you this though, the sci-fi aspect was very cool! And when we find out exactly what’s going on, I was mind-blown! 🤯 It was just really intriguing and really well done! And then the virus itself... damn 😬 To unleash a virus like that is just insane! What it does to humanity is awful and it’s definitely something you wouldn’t be able to survive. And it all comes down to one girl to save the world: Alice.

The mystery of who the culprit was also very intriguing. I had a couple guesses but when one of my own suspects was confirmed, it broke my heart! 😩 It was just really sad because this poor character went through so much, and while what they’re doing is all sorts of wrong, you almost understand WHY they’re doing what they’re doing.

I also really loved the characters in this book! Bandit, the cute Thai boy with blue hair... OMG! 😍 I loved him! He was arrogant but also a really sweet guy! I’m not gonna lie, when done right, I love them arrogant boys. I blame Jace Herondale 😉 Lol.

---
Tell me. How does a person fall in love w someone they've never met? Is it my good looks? My rock-hard body? Or my big, big...brain?
---

😍😂

Anyway, under all that arrogance there’s always a little sweetness to balance it out. I loved him so much 🥰

---
“I trust you because I noticed you long before you ever approached me on that basketball court,” he says quietly. “Because you bring two lunches to school every day, one for you and one for your brother. Because when I talk to you, sometimes you forget to blink. And so help me, that makes me feel like the most important person on the planet.”
---

😍😍😍

The first time Alice and Bandit interacted in this book was incredible... Incredibly embarrassing and awkward for Alice! 😂 But I loved it! It was so funny! Throughout this whole book there were some very funny moments, but it also had some very serious, sad moments, which the book also balanced out really well!

And speaking of Alice, I loved her! She was a very likable, strong character who was smart and caring. The things Alice had to do to prevent the virus from being released was insane! I really felt for the girl because a lot of these things go against her moral compass, so she was really struggling with this throughout the book—doing what’s, in her mind, right vs doing what’s right for the greater good. It was really hard on her, but I loved how she dealt with everything.

All that being said, I obviously loved this book! It was a wonderful blend of mystery, thriller, sci-fi, and romance. I also loved the characters (the sibling relationship between Alice and Archie... I loved them!) and the premise, which was executed amazingly! It was really cool to see everything come together—all the puzzle pieces falling into place to form a bigger picture. Finding out who the culprit was was tough, but I loved the way Alice handled things and how everything wrapped up. I can already tell this is gonna be one of my favorite books of the year... and it’s only February! I highly recommend this book and I’m really looking forward to reading more from this author!

---
I don't know what will happen in the next days, months, or years. But I'm hopeful. Even optimistic.
The future can't come soon enough...
---

*I WAS PROVIDED AN e-ARC FOR THE PURPOSES OF A BLOG TOUR. THIS DOESN’T AFFECT MY OPINION*

I liked this novel a lot.

To start with, I loved the diversity amongst the character. Bandit and Lalana are Thai, and even though it wasn’t majorly focused on, we did get a bit of a look into Thai culture.

There was also quite a bit of banter between Alice and Bandit, and I felt like it really raised the story up a little bit from that heavy synopsis we were given.

However, there were some things that I couldn’t get through. For one, some of the plot seemed… too much. Some of the things that happened were just plain unrealistic, and some of the things Alice did, didn’t even feel connected to her character.

Another thing I noticed was that Alice’s character was a big inconsistent. She claimed to love her best friend but didn’t even think about her when she was gone. She willing destroy’s someone’s life without even doubting it.

All in all, this book was okay. I did like it, and for that, I rate it 3 stars.

First, I would like to thank The Fantastic Flying Book Club and the publisher for giving me an opportunity to read e-ARC of Malice and give an honest review in return.

The book started out a little slow but it did pick up speed later in the book and continue on fast paced afterwards. I thought the time-travel part of the book was interesting, the way the author wrote it was intriguing, it was a different way of approaching time-travel. The book has a lot in it, it has future apocalypse story line, adventure, romance, and time-travel.

The main character, Alice is a typical teenager who all of sudden start getting messages from her future self. The future Alice informs Alice that she has come to help stop the person who is the virus maker that wipes half of the country in the future. She tells her that the person who invents it is someone who is in the high school.

The process of how Alice's was piecing together who was the inventor of the future virus was nice to see and you kept second-guessing yourself who it was and I was pretty shocked to find out who ended up being in the end. I like that present-time Alice decided to take a different direction on handling the virus maker because the way future Alice wanted her to do was in my opinion extreme and it would have morally affected Alice if she would have done it that way.

Overall, the writing style was done really well and Pintip pulls you in and makes you want to turn the page to see what happens next. It made me want to continue on to find what happens and if Alice listens to future self. Unfortunately, this is a standalone story, I was a little disappoint because I really wanted to know if what Alice did in the end actually work or not.

Are you the same person now as you will be ten years from now?

One of the existential questions Pintip Dunn's asks of her heroine in her newest page-turning YA Sci-fi, Thriller. Malice is Pintip Dunn doing what she does best, testing her readers to see possibilities that lay just outside what we accept as possible.

Who is Alice Sherman? She would say she's a loyal sister, loyal friend, a person who sees the best in things, but admittedly, the worst baker. Alice is chugging along despite difficulties in a broken family, keeping a STEM preoccupied older brother anchored to the outside world. And this girl has her eyes on the prize; she isn't going to let boys distract her from surviving highschool. She doesn't date.

Pintip Dunn sets up this story with slow-rolling reveals which increase the pace and urgency of the evolving narrative. Couched inside the mystery is an ever-present reminder that there is no way we can know today what challenges to come will change us fundamentally. What motivates us right now can flip on a switch with a new catalyst.

The Forget Tomorrow series is an excellent introduction to Pintip Dunn because it lays the foundation for the science on which she bases this premise. It's not necessary to read those books to understand Malice. But Forget Tomorrow series is set in a dystopian future where much of the theoretical science regarding metaphysical plane and time travel/precognition are applied. Malice is more or less the 'prehistoric' landscape of that dystopian future. The instigating event in Malice lies in two different timelines--present where the agent needs stopping, and the future when the catastrophic results require alternate past resolutions.

Even if you read Malice first, I recommend her Forget Tomorrow series.

Pintip Dunn sets Alice on a quest to solve in present time upcoming events. The vehicle she is using is a voice from the future that demands Alice does things that go against the personal identity of who she is now. Her first mission is to humiliate herself by telling the class heart-throb she loves him when she barely has a positive opinion about his arrogant and ego-driven self — the kick-off to her fighting her instincts, ideals, and morals.

The secondary characters are well developed and likable. Archie, Zeke, Lalana, Bandit, and Cristela push the story forward. Nothing said between the characters is unimportant, and nothing happens without reason in this narrative. Pintip Dunn dipped my heart in angst and sorrow often, and one conversation in this book made the organ ache.

'"... I don't deserve you--"
"No. You don't. Which is why you don't get to keep me. We're no longer friends, [name]. I don't forgive you. I'm just not willing to screw up your future."'

And I removed the character name from that because it would be a spoiler. No one should spoil anything in this book for readers. Any spoiler would be out of context and misleading because you need everything in the story before it and after the spoiler to fully understand it.

I urge any sci-fi fans to read this. You don't need to be a YA reader to enjoy this.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary advance copy of this book.

This book had so many twists and turns it kept me on the edge of my seat as I turned page after page trying to figure out just who really was the link to stopping the disaster in the future. I had a feeling from the beginning that it might be someone more important to Alice than just the guy she didn’t know, or his uncle. I had all kinds of hunches and thoughts about who it was really, and honestly, in the end I was right. But the way that the author took it was definitely not what I saw coming.

The way time travel was done in this book was so unique and something I’d not really read in any stories before. Even that made me keep guessing about what was really happening, and if what they did could actually change anything. I liked the way the book even touched on the whole theory of alternate universes.

While I may be a bit behind on the books of Pintip Dunn, the few that I’ve read so far have totally won me over and I need to read them all. I saw on another blog that this might be a series? Well, count me in for book 2 if so!

Alice and her brother Archie are a junior and a senior, respectively, at a prestigious gifted high school. Their mother walked out several years ago and Archie and their father are both certified geniuses, not like Alice. She's smart, but pragmatic--her talents lay in graphic arts like photography. Their dad runs a pharmaceutical research lab, and spend very little time with Alice and Archie's a bit of a loner--having trouble making friends is one of his issues. Alice "mothers" him the best she can, and loves him dearly, but he's a bit on the depressed side, and often the butt of pranks from his peers.

Alice is at school one day when she's assailed by a painful voice in her head. It's her own voice, speaking to her from the near-future warning her that there will be a deadly virus unleashed in the next decade that decimates the population. She must stop the Make of the virus, not, before that person can develop enough research to lead to this disaster. In the future, Alice goes by the nickname of "Malice" and it seems she's closely connected to several students from her school that she'd never befriended before: ultra-popular Bandit, super-smart Cristela, Archie's bestie Zeke, and she's got an odd connection to the school bully and her brother's personal tormentor Lee. Any of these people seem likely candidates to grow into the Maker of the virus. Adding more trouble for Alice, and she tries to unravel the identity of the Maker, her absentee father reconnects with his old college lab partner, Charlie, a sketchy scientist with a grudge who meets nearly all of the likely candidates at a banquet where Archie and Cristela are being honored.

The pacing of this story is really tight, with plenty of tension surrounding the Voice, and the intentions of Malice. Though Alice suspects it, she doesn't learn until much later that other actors are talking to their "past" selves, in the way Malice informs her, and their agenda is not always to stop the Maker. It's a deep game and Alice doesn't know who to trust, but she's really banking on Bandit, as he seems to be the most trustworthy. Also, she knows through Malice that Bandit plays a really big role in her future-life. There are lots of spins and twists, with Alice trying to build bridges between herself, her tiny family, Bandit and Cristela. Her natural protectiveness at points fosters and harms Archie, but her resolution to find a way to stop the Maker without killing leads to a new possible future, and one she hopes includes Bandit.

I enjoyed the story, and it's many turns. I'll admit I was dubious about her odd family from the start, but I was glad to have a plausible explanation for what seemed an avoidable dysfunction. Archie's bullying situation was deeply troubling, and I know it was intended so, but the lack of action bothered me, especially as Alice often had a front-row seat to his plight. In all, Alice, the not-so-bright-as-her-genius-peers ends up saving the day with good old-fashioned love. I'm not sure if that's a commentary on the sociopathic nature of intellectuals, on the ingenuity of the common person, or a moralistic stance on the heart being more intuitive than the brain. Her banter with Bandit was amusing, and I got how his brashly antagonistic flirting was more endearing than off-putting. It's a fun and interesting start to what could possibly be the love of her life.

This book was hard for me to follow at times. It was really hard to keep my interest., I did finish the book, and I am glad I did. It just wasn’t my style.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

A young girl is visited by her future self and told that she is going to have to murder one of her friends and mess up the lives of others to save the world from a virus that is going to swept across the world killing almost everyone in its wake. Future self will not tell Alice who she is supposed to kill she leaves that one up to Alice to figure out for herself.

MALICE kept me guessing from the first page only giving a little bit of information at a time holding on to all its secrets revealing them increments throughout the whole story right up until the end. There were so many twists that I felt as if my head was on a swivel I didn’t know which end was up.

Future Alice had present Alice running around and doing whatever she told her to do but not without questions. Present Alice asked question after question but it didn’t do her much good as future Alice would not reveal her secrets no matter how hard present Alice tried.

There were so many twists that kept me guessing as to who she was supposed to kill that I never once got it correct. The ending and the one person she was supposed to kill to save the world was a total shock and left me with my month hanging open.

There were parts of the story that had me in tears and made me so sad I would catch myself saying no, no, no. I felt so bad for Alice there at the end poor, poor Alice. But hey I will have to admit it worked so well with the story.

MALICE has been such a great story that I can’t wait to read more from this world or I am hoping that this is not the last that we have seen of this world.

I recommend MALICE to all science fiction and time travel fans.

I know it’s only February, but unless something exceptional lands on my iPad later this year, this will go down as one of my top reads of 2020. Anyone who reads my reviews knows that I love young adult, angsty romance, and time travel. Pintip Dunn is a master storyteller and she weaves these three elements flawlessly in a page-turning tale of impossible choices with the fate of mankind at stake. Yeah, talk about the weight of the world on your shoulders. That is precisely what 16-year-old Alice is facing when a voice from the future tells her she must kill someone in the present in order to save millions of lives in the future. It takes Alice’s older self awhile to convince her she’s communicating from ten years in the future and that she can only give her the very basic information necessary to save the world, but once Alice is on board, she must figure out how far she’s willing to go to prevent the atrocities she witnesses through her more mature eyes.

When her older self shoves her into the path of hot Bandit Skeda, she wonders if maybe there might be a silver lining in all of this, at least until she’s forced to betray someone she dearly loves. Everything comes at a cost, and the price Alice must pay might just be more than she’s willing to bear. Even if everyone’s future depends on her.

Plot
Wow. I don’t know how to accurately portray how amazing the plotting is. Dunn captured my attention in the first chapter and kept me turning pages late into the night. I devoured this story even as I very much wanted to savor it so it would never end. But I just couldn’t stop. I’ve read a couple of reviews where the reader said they knew who the virus maker is from the first chapter, but I only thought I did. Then I was sure it was someone else, and then I was absolutely convinced it was yet another person. The author does an amazing job of keeping the reader guessing. This is more mystery than romance, but not in your typical “whodunnit” sense. Instead, we’re trying to solve a “who will do it” without any evidence to follow, only cryptic clues from the future. The world building is fantastic, from the glimpses into the future to the science behind time travel, I was sucked in for a wild ride that did not disappoint. The twists are friggin’ awesome and left my mouth hanging open more than once.

The Characters
The characters are fantastic. Alice is amazing as our conflicted protagonist with a heart and conscious and intense sense of duty. Bandit is dreamy and sweet and hot and alpha, but did I mention sweet? And then there’s Alice’s family and BFF. Her future self is both the same and yet different. Dunn does a stellar job of connecting the two halves into one believable whole we can love and root for.

Top Five Things I Loved About MALICE
1. Time Travel. My all-time favorite subgenre. Dunn does it justice with intense emotion.

2. Alice. I love her honesty, her devotion to her family, the way she loves the important people in her life. My heart ached for her on so many occasions and I never stopped wanting her to get her HEA with every ounce of my soul.

3. Bandit. He’s so much more than a pretty face and a hot physique. Bandit’s as complex as Alice and I adored him from the moment he was pushed into Alice’s life.

4. Science. I love how much of this is a part of the story and not just to explain the time travel stuff.

5. Foodies. I used to have a gluten free comfort food blog, so I totally get Alice’s devotion to photographing and sharing pictures of food, and I laughed at her failed attempts to cook something photo worthy.

Bottom Line
Another epic read from Pintip Dunn and my favorite book of 2020 so far.

Disclaimer
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Malice was an interesting read. It's unique and has some good elements to it. There's time-travel. There's love. There's mass genocide. It couldn't be more interesting.

Alice was having a normal day until a voice claiming to be her future self tells her she has to save the world. Trusting her future self she tells a boy she barely knows that she loves him and tries to find out who in her school is going to one day kill everyone.

I'm very mixed on this book and can't give my full thoughts on it. It was...okay? Maybe. A lot of confusion and a lot of dragging. From 11% to 85% in the book is only three or four days and that's just a lot of time for me. I don't know. I....I don't know. I can't give a good review of this book. It was fine. I didn't love it or like it even which sounds bad but I didn't hate it either.

Rating: 2-2.5

This book was so freaking good. Like, unputdownable, full of twists and turns and characters and feels. When I started, I didn't know that it would take as much of a sci-fi turn as it did, but I was really excited that it did! So let us delve into all the phenomenal stuff I loved in this book!

What I Loved:

• So much gray morality! I mean, the grayest of gray, The 100-level gray. I love me some morally ambiguous decision making, and Malice has it in droves! The choices these characters will have to make are loaded. Do they trust the voices telling them what they must do? Can they trust anyone? And how exactly can Alice make these decisions between the people she loves, and people in general? Love it. In the same vein, it's incredibly thought provoking and asks all sorts of questions that if you're like me, you have no idea how you'd answer!

• The characters were awesome all around. Alice was a great main character, for sure. She reacts to the information she gets and the decisions she must make in really authentic ways. And feeling invested in the side characters was equally important, because the stakes all felt super high as a result- I obviously cared what happened to all of them!

• It 100% kept me guessing. And oh, did I have guesses! My Kindle notes are filled with "ooooh I bet it's X!" and "oh nope, nope it's gotta be Y!" and of course I was wrong most of the time but guessed often enough that I ended up being right ;)

• Positively engrossing. Like I mentioned before, it was unputdownable. I stayed up too long reading, and paid for it the next day, and didn't even care. I read it every spare minute I had, tbh. Even when maybe I wasn't supposed to read 🙊

• The entire plot felt so unique and fresh, and I just devoured it. I extra liked that it was a bit more sci-fi than I'd expected. I think I expected mostly contemporary, and it was to an extent, but I also got this extra dose of sci-fi awesomeness!

Bottom Line: An absolute page-turner with phenomenal characters, thought-provoking choices, and a plot that captured me from the start.