This book is one of those young adult books that may not translate to an adult reader as easily as other YA books. I definitely wasn’t the target audience. Neat premise, but definitely a book for teens:

I liked the setting. It's interesting how the author used London throughout the book as our main character takes us through it as the plot progresses. Unfortunately, I didn't like much else. Our main character, Joan, sits on the sidelines while the innumerable men in the plot, which are difficult to tell apart, do everything in the plot for her, and the writing just doesn't grab me,

I was so interested in this book the moment I heard about it. Although I feel some things were underdeveloped, overall I had a lot of fun reading this and I will definitely be continuing the series!

This is a story about time.

I thought the was going to be a gothic horror novel? Or a Serpant and Dove-ish enemies to lovers novel… but instead this was entirely it’s own story & I really enjoyed it! This is a story about time- stealing it, traveling through it, running out of it… but it’s also a story about destiny & sacrifice. It was lovely, and sad- but with just enough humor to keep it from being hopelessly bleak.

Thank you so much Netgalley, Harper Teen & Harper Collins Childrens for the eArc!

What if the heroes weren’t the symbols of goodness we create? What if the monsters weren’t really the monstrous beings we expect them to be? Set in London, England, Vanessa Len creates a story that literally takes readers to another place and time in which Good and Evil are not so starkly divided. The lines are blurred when the actions of the Hero result in a cold-blooded massacre of all the prominent Monster families, both young and old, who never saw it coming. It’s a truly fascinating take on time-traveling that had so much potential, and I truly wanted to love it. All that was accomplished during the book, though, feels a bit null by the end. There were several plot holes that left me slightly baffled and more questions than answers by the end. Thankfully, it’s just the start of a trilogy; and I’m hoping that things get resolved in the upcoming sequels.

I loved reading this book. Fantasy romance is my favorite genre right now and this book did not disappoint. The plot and characters are all so unique and intriguing. I can't wait to read what comes next. And there better be a next.

I loved this novel! I couldn't put it down, it was fast-paced and we dived right into the action. The worldbuilding was done very well and Vanessa Len's take on how time travel works and what monsters/supernatural creatures are was very fresh. I loved the concept of the time stream being a river trying to correct itself, and the moral dilemma that comes from being able to travel through time by taking time away from someone's life. The families and their different powers were captivating too; the dynamics betwwen families and the characters from these families were very well developped too, especially Ying.
I loved Joan, her family, Aaron, Ruth, Tom and Jamie. Joan and Aaron were especially realistic and I loved their character development and the fact that Joan was truly the heroine of this novel as the stroy reacted to her and not the oher way around. One of this book's biggest strengh is it has a logical narrative arc that is resolved by the end of the novel even if they are still questions to be answered in the sequel.

The only thing I disliked was the lack of relationship building between Joan and Nick. Their scenes together were original and the execution of them knowing each other from a previous timeline avoided soulmates cliches but I wish I could have read more of them together so their feelings for each other would have felt more genuine and I could have learned more of what their dynamic was in the preious timeline vs this one.

Only A Monster by Vanessa Len is an interesting monster vs monster hunter debut novel that brings readers an enemies-to-lovers/soulmate trope, time-traveling monsters, and a sort-of heist. Overall, it was okay. It’s an exciting premise, but there were some issues in the world building, character development, and prose for me. I was hoping for something much darker and more monstrous, but the story I got was still an interesting start to a series.

Overall, this book read as young YA to me. The writing is fairly simple, and there was a lot of unnecessary repetition of information. Joan, the main character, is very dramatic and very much fits the role of “the chosen one” with her constant need to NOT be a monster. It felt very irresponsible of her family to not explain the whole monster thing to her sooner, especially since all it would take is her touching someone’s neck and accidentally stealing time or randomly time traveling in public. In the end, Joan comes off as being impulsive, unwilling to listen to those around her, and a little ignorant, but she’s also only sixteen. The other characters felt underdeveloped to me, I didn’t care very much for any of them. Nick as Joan’s soulmate made no sense to me because there wasn’t any emotional connection between them. Their romance felt flat, probably because Nick wasn’t in a large portion of the book, so readers don’t have time to really connect to him. Plus, you can’t honestly tell me that Joan is still in love with the boy who murdered her whole family, and has murdered countless others…that seems, very unrealistic, especially since she’s so focused on only doing the right thing and being good.

The world building leaves a lot unexplained. The twelve monster families each possess a unique gift as well as the ability to time travel, which I love this whole concept but wish it had been better explained. The monsters don’t really feel like monsters. Their gifts didn’t seem monstrous, so it must just be the stealing of time to time travel that made them monsters. The monster court being located outside of time and the feud between families is never really explained, but it is mentioned over and over. I’m curious to see if there’s more explanation planned in the upcoming novels, because I love the idea of time traveling monsters and really want to know more about the individual families.

At the end of the day, I think this book was just not for me, and that’s fine, but I’m still curious to see how the rest of the series goes. I do think it would be a good fit for a younger teen who is just starting to explore YA fantasy.

The premise of this book is something I’ve never encountered before and I was interested to find out how it all worked. The ending felt a little deus ex machina but still packed an emotional punch.

I found the writing to be mediocre and plot to be boring. I was hoping for a fun and campy fantasy, but I just felt bored reading this.

The AUDACITY of this book. I thought I knew where we were headed and then NOPE, and the best part is that it felt entirely true to character/story. No spoilers, but I'm still delighted by the whole thing days after finishing. If you like your YA with monster girls and an author who won't pull their punches, this one is for you!

I absolutely LOVED this book. Enemies to Lovers is my favorite trope and it was well executed in this book. I am anxiously awaiting the next book in the series already!

"You're a hero and I'm a monster," she whispered. "There's only one way that story ever ends."

While volunteering at the historically-rich Holland House, sixteen-year-old Joan Chang-Hunt meets charming Nick. On the day of her date with him, a life-altering event occurs, and she learns that not only are monsters real, she is one. Furthermore, Nick is a sworn monster hunter who would love nothing more than to see the world rid of her kind. Receiving help from the most unexpected of places, Joan must learn what it means to truly be a monster.

I truly enjoyed reading ONLY A MONSTER and found myself flying through the pages to find out what happened next. The premise is fresh/unique, with the perspective from the antihero's viewpoint. This book is hard to review without spoilers, as the thing that makes Joan a monster is not immediate revealed, but I found the concept incredibly interesting and well done. My only issue was the pacing at the very beginning and the climax. In both cases, I felt like the book lacked adequate leadup and wanted just a bit more. Nonetheless, I didn't want the book to end, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment. Thank you for the ARC, Harper Teen and NetGalley! All opinions are my own.

*I shared my favorite scene (hidden to prevent spoilers) on Goodreads

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest, personal review. Although this book was not a personal favorite for me, I will say that the storyline itself is very interesting and different, which may make it more enjoyable for others. Without revealing anything to spoil the story, Joan is a teenage girl who has heard that she comes from "monsters" on her mom's side of the family. That phrase has always bothered her and she just wants to be a normal teenage girl who is falling in love with her fellow museum volunteer. She soon finds out what her grandmother means by monster and her whole world gets turned upside down.

This fast-paced YA fantasy had me up at night! I could not put it down. Dark, morally grey, and heartbreaking. It was a perfectly eerie novel with some love and loss.

I was not expecting this to be so heavy on the time travel, but it was done well so I didn't mind!

Overall, this was such a great debut! I'm ready for the next
one.

I enjoyed Only a Monster so much and I cannot wait for the sequel. Joan was a great heroine to follow as she discovers more about herself, her family, and the moral implications of being monstrous. This was thrilling from start to finish and I'm looking forward to seeing what else Vanessa Len has in store.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book. I liked the time travel and the idea of taking it from other humans in short increments. I thought this was very clever and mostly well executed. What did not make sense to me was how Joan was allowed to be in charge of so much when she was the person who was the least knowledgeable? It was not reasonable that anyone would let her make the decisions when she only found out about her power 2 days prior. The love story between her and Nick also felt very insta-lovey for me and I did not feel like it worked well. I did enjoy the story however and will probably read the sequel.

Do you like Supernaturel and doctor who? This is a nice blend of the two. Come with us as Joan realizes she really should have listened to her Grandma when she was giving monster history lessons. They could've come in hand in handy when her hot crush Nick turns out to be a monster hunter. Joan Hunt is now hunted.

I really liked this book. It in terms of writing flows nicely and feels very natural. Some plot is a little, what now? It gets smoothed over with the ease/flow of the writing. The charters are nicely fleshed out even if they are just back around. World building A+

This is a 2022 must read.

This book is an incredibly well-written debut novel firmly in the YA Fantasy camp. Only A Monster comes complete with some of the tropes we've come to love or hate to love in the genre; forbidden love, morally grey characters, enemies to friends and is it even a YA Fantasy if it doesn't include a love triangle. I think not!

The story reads like a standalone for much of the book but does start to give off series vibes about 2/3's the way in. I was happy to hear there are two more books planned and that I wasn't going to have to suffer the pain of being stuck with an ambiguous ending. I'm hoping it also means that I will get to read more with my two favourite characters, Jamie and Tom.

Only A Monster has a little bit of something for everyone but would be an especially perfect read for those that like me enjoy an engaging tale of a charming and sympathetic anti-hero.

This book is by far my favorite ya read of 2022. I’ve been wanting to read a book with a morally grey mc and a morally grey love interest (much less two) because it’s been awhile AND THIS BOOK DID NOT DISAPPOINT.

I absolutely adore Joan and I cannot wait to learn more about her powers in the next few books. Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll survive having to wait 1+ years to read about these characters again.

As for the love triangle, if I had to choose a love interest, it would 100% be Aaron. It’s not that Nick is bad, this is still one of the most balanced love triangles I’ve seen, there’s just something about Aaron. Honestly, he gives me Aaron Warner vibes and I just finished the Shatter Me Series, so maybe thats why I have such a soft spot for him?

Originally, I read this book as an e-arc (tysm netgalley and harperteen), but this book was so good that I might buy a physical copy (or two).