Well once again Amie Kaufman has taken me on quite a journey and left me bereft and waiting eagerly for the next book. The only thing I didn't really love was the number of POVs - it made the story slow-going at times but that's a minor quibble.

3.5 stars, rounded up

This was...surprisingly good. Well, maybe it wasn't a total surprise because I've enjoyed most of what I've read by Amie Kaufman. (tbh, I probably wouldn't have been interested in this if it had been by an author I wasn't familiar with)

But, this was a fun seafaring fantasy adventure. I liked all of the characters (even if a couple of them felt a little generic), and the pace of the story was perfect. The magic system was interesting (again, even if it felt a little generic) and, for a YA fantasy, the worldbuilding is pretty solid.

My only little gripes were that I don't feel entirely sold on the romance and the big climax at the end felt a lil melodramatic. Those two kind of go hand in hand though, so maybe we could just roll it all into one slightly bigger gripe. I'd still recommend this to anyone who likes a solid YA fantasy though.

I adored this book. If you are into universes like the Grishaverse then this book might totally be for you! This whole book exceeded my expectations and I want to continue the journey!

There are five different point of views but the author did what I absolutely love if you are going to have multiple characters to follow; she named the chapters with the characters name as well as added in extra of where they were at so it was easy to follow.

Selly: (Main) Pirateer (f)
Leander: (Main) Prince (m)
Keegan: (Support) Scholar, went to school with the prince (m)
Laskia: (Main Villain but still a support) gangster living in the shadow of her sister (f)
Jude: (Support) old schoolmate of Leander, used to be close to Leander (m)

I would say that even though we follow 5 characters in this book, only two would be are full on main characters: Selly and Leander. The other characters are just those strong supports along the way but we get to get a glimpse of their thoughts from time to time. Although Laskia might shine out further in the following book.

The book starts off as Selly attempting to sneak off onto another boat so she can meet with her father since he failed to return after the 1 year mark but her plans go awry and she is forced to stay on her family's ship to escort the prince to the isle of the gods. A lot of things go wrong along the way and we get to see the villains perspective which is cool. You could absolutely get away without knowing any of it, but I feel like it was done well enough that it doesn't hurt the book.

Character development was fairly good. Selly and Leandor had a lot of growth which to me were the characters that needed to grow. Laskia doesn't really show growth but maybe in the next one, she is really in her villain era.

I would absolutely read this book again.

The Ending Redeemed It: The Isles of the Gods - An ARC Review

I wanted to like The Isles of the Gods. I mean, who reads a book hating it, am I right? But, I developed such a love-hate relationship with this book. On one hand, the ending completely saved the book. I loved how it wrapped up. On the other hand, I disliked the rest of it and boy, do I have much criticism about it. But I promise, I was being very respectful about my criticism and was only snarky once. I promise.

Plot, Prose and Pacing: Shows Promise but Poorly Executed

Told from five points of view, The Isles of the Gods details the story of Selly, Leander, Keegan, Laskia and Jude over the course of a handful of days. We begin with Selly and Leander. The latter is the prince of Alinor and he is on an important mission aboard Selly’s ship: to make the yearly sacrifice at the Isles of the Gods. Keegan has also tasked Selly’s ship with an important job, to send him across the ocean to study at the Bibliotek. But, there are deeper and darker workings at hand and Selly, Leander and Keegan soon find themselves in hot water with Laskia and Jude looming darkly over their heads as the trio fight valiantly for a task to save their country from a centuries old war amongst the gods.

The Isles of the Gods presents a compelling story. I’ve always loved stories that involve gods, mortals and age old wars. There’s always a dark gravitas to the tales woven but, you won’t find that here. At least, not in this book because The Isles of the Gods is clearly being set up for a sequel and possibly more. I think The Isles of the Gods has good bones but lacks a focus on the kind of story it wants to be. The marketing blurb is misleading. It promises a high stakes adventure but fails to deliver on the pacing it needs to drive the sense of character urgency. For one, it took too long to get to the point! Supposedly, the events in the book take place over a small handful of days and the book’s considerable length just demonstrates how long it took to get to the point. It's a dreary, dreary read with a word count more heavily padded than a Chloe Gong book.

The Isles of the Gods is split into a couple of distinctive parts although as I write this review, I can’t remember their titles nor did I initially realise that the books were split into parts. But most of the time in between plot points are spent jumping between character points of view, repeating the same drivel we’ve been reading since chapter one. I've never struggled so hard to read a fantasy in my life. I think it took me over a month to finish it because starting it was very rough. I just couldn't wrap my head around the names, the places, the setting (but I also attribute this to my ADHD).

The Isles of the Gods also doesn’t know what kind of book it wants to be. Thankfully, as it neared its last few chapters, The Isles of the Gods really picked up and delivered on the adventure and suspense it needed to feel like an epic fantasy. While it is touted as an epic fantasy (the cover clearly seems to suggest that), there was nothing truly epic about it. I found that it was because instead of focusing on being a fantasy, The Isles of the Gods spends its pages trying to set up a failing romance. The book wanted the Selly-Leander ship (pun not intended!) to sail so badly that it ended up never leaving the harbour. It started off quite nicely, I quite liked the banter they shared in the beginning when they first met. It set a really nice tone for their relationship. But it all just went downhill from there.

Characters: Too Many Cooks Spoil the Soup

One of The Isles of the Gods major shortcomings which made the plot feel clunky and slow-moving is the excessive points of view. This worked fantastically for Six of Crows and authors have been trying to replicate the success ever since. However, why I feel so many authors fail to succeed where Six of Crows did is because so many stories are plot-driven rather than character-driven. And many authors fail to identify this core difference. There is often a lack of direct purpose, role and motivations that drive the characters’ lives. Rather, they let the plot guide their actions, rendering multiple points of view meaningless. This is one such instance.

As I mentioned in the section above, we have five points of view:

- Selly: a privateer with a love for the sea who finds herself suddenly needing to escort and protect the charming prince
- Leander: the charming prince in question who needs to travel to the Isles of the Gods to make a sacrifice that will strengthen and renew Alinor’s protector god’s powers
- Keegan: a scholar and schoolmate of Leander’s; he is reserved and studious, preferring the company of his books
- Laskia: having lived in the shadow of her sister Ruby, she is a religious gangster hellbent on proving herself to her god and to all who has stepped on her
- Jude: a schoolmate of Leander’s

Unfortunately, the cast of characters did nothing to achieve what I believe the author was trying to capture. The sheer number of unnecessary points of view in the story, ended up cluttering the pages and not allowing any one character to shine. It is clear as one reads The Isles of the Gods that a majority of the POVs here were set up for sequels and I absolutely, absolutely hate this sort of story planning.

Jude was an absolutely useless point of view; if he's being set up for the sequel, I can't tell what role he'll play. Keegan, while very sweet and scholarly, also did not contribute any substance to the story. His chapters were all just repeats of Leander and Selly's except from his point of view. Leander, Selly and Keegan spend an infinite amount of each other: we did not need 3 POVs of the same setting!

Truthfully, we didn't need Laskia's POV either because while they provided a different view of the scene, didn't contribute much either because the same story could have been told through exposition. Or, worked into Selly and Leander's POV. It would have made Selly and Leander's characters stronger. It's obvious that less time was spent on developing Laskia as a villain character as opposed to just writing a villain for conflict's sake. She felt very one-dimensional, her internal struggles were all telling rather than showing and while it felt like she was written to be an unhinged character, felt more like a little girl who couldn't get her way.

Also, because the POVs are so useless, they start blending into one another especially Selly, Leander and Keegan. I often forget who's POV we're reading. The voices are not distinct and their experiences are not unique at all. It would have been a much stronger story should it have been told solely from Leander and Selly’s point of view if the author had intended for The Isles of the Gods to be a character-driven one. Instead, because it’s plot driven, the purposes and motivations for the characters’ actions feels weak and uninspired. Their wants and needs in life are rendered obsolete. So, it feels completely hollow to include character-inspired motivations and not follow through on them, making their goals unimportant and easily put aside.

For example, when the book starts off, Selly’s main goal is to join her father in his seafaring travels, wanting more independence and autonomy in her role on the ship instead of being relegated to simple chores. And while a character’s motivations may change along the way, Selly seems to have forgotten her main motivation the moment the plot starts moving in its own direction, dragging Selly along with it, and is only referenced sporadically throughout to remind us of it yet eliciting no emotional response because of its lack of importance to the plot.

The same thing goes for Keegan. He starts off as a scholar, wanting to go to the Bibliotek to pursue his studies in peace and quiet. But he is soon thrown into the melee and very quickly forgets about his initial purpose yet, he doesn’t seem remotely affected by it. So, did he in fact have a purpose or was he supposed to derive a purpose from this perilous journey? Keegan is as confused as I am.

But I believe where The Isles of the Gods multiple points of view fails the most is in that of Leander and Selly's relationship. Due to the nature of the plot and the excessive points of view, we don't spend enough time actually developing the relationship. Even forced proximity could not make it happen. Plus, it felt too much like insta-love.

Picture this: boy and girl are forced to survive together and next thing you know, they're in love. I didn't feel the romance at all. And I think it's such a shame to push the romance because Selly and Leander have wonderful plot developments of their own (link to Amelie's series) which overshadows any romance. Their feelings were not central to the plot and gravitas of the story felt too heavy to allow the romance to seep through naturally. Whatever fun banter between them fizzled away the moment their lives were in danger and survival was imminent. They could have fallen in love in melancholy but Selly is too fierce to simper and Leander has too much baggage to court her while their lives literally were dependent on his survival. Any romance scenes didn't feel natural. There were no stakes to heighten their feelings for each other and while everything moved at a glacial pace, there weren't enough "pastoral" moments for feelings to naturally make their way into the gaps. Neither was there a sexual charge between them that could have fueled the romance. Leander and Selly deserve a slow burn romance, not this insta-love nonsense.

Worldbuilding: Gods, Where Are They?

I could have dealt with a glacial plot. I could have suffered with wishy-washy points of view. But what pains me the most about The Isles of the Gods is the god awful worldbuiliding.

Firstly, there are the gods. What gods you ask me? Good question. I don't know either. I think there is a big missed opportunity to have one of the characters actually communicating with the gods and giving readers more of an emotional or tangible connection to the gods. I was hoping one of them would show up in the end but spoiler alert, none of them did. This makes the gods too omnipotent and too abstract. We're supposed to care that Leander and Laskia are on missions for their gods but with the gods so far away, I don't feel that sense of purpose. Furthermore, there are supposedly seven gods and the Mother but we are only introduced to two of them. And each god watches over a country of its own and yet we are not introduced to the other regions. Yet, we are supposed to care that an ancient war is going to break out and these gods were just biding their time before being unleashed onto the world. (For a fantastic read featuring gods, check out Richelle Mead’s Age of X series. Unfortunately, it is incomplete and we won’t see the third installment any time soon)

Secondly, we have elemental spirits that magicians can communicate with. It is not explained at all where magicians derive their abilities from and why they can communicate and control these spirits. Furthermore, what is the correlation between the spirits and the gods? Is there any? It's confusing. The book spends an infinite amount of time explaining spirits but not the gods and the two elements seem disjointed. We’re just expected to accept that magicians exist, they wear identifying marks on their skin and everyone has one in their employment.

And, I can accept poor worldbuilding and poorly explained magic systems. What I cannot accept is Eurocentrism. Selly is a sailor; she has spent her entire life on ships, boats, at sea. Do you know what she is described as? Pale. Selly is PALE. Be still my beating heart, even in the character cards the author has commissioned as pre-order gifts, Selly is pale and pink while Laskia, our resident villain is a beautiful, Black queen. The main character sailor girl retains her glowing pale pink complexion? At least give her a tan! Are you going to next tell me that Selly has some fantasy version of sunscreen? I’ve never been one to fixate on a character’s description cause I just imagine my version of them but this was so nonsensical. Imagine, spending all day at sea and being pale and pink. This had me docking an entire star and left a sour taste in my mouth for the rest of the book.

Did I Enjoy It: Conclusion

In conclusion, it’s hard to determine if I truly enjoyed The Isles of the Gods. I think it has fantastic potential and has really good bones. I think the characters are all interesting and have so much more to show and grow. I want to tell you that I truly loved The Isles of the Gods but I can’t. I managed to get to the end which is a good sign but I struggled a lot with reading it and made more than one snarky note in the figurative margins as I read. I am looking forward to book 2 only because I want to see where the story goes; it ended just as it was finally getting good so I have more hope and promise for the next installment. But for now, this has to be a two-star read for me and I’m sorry I can’t rate it any higher.

This is definitely a book for readers new to the YA fantasy genre but not one for veteran readers who expect more out of a seasoned author.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, I loved Selly, Leander, and Keegan's POV, but felt like I could have done without the other two.

I loved the first chapter where we learn about the backstory of the war between the Gods, it was super interesting and really sucked me into the story. I loved everything that happened while my favorite three characters were aboard the Lizbetta. It was action-packed, and emotional, and really got me rooting for Selly, Leander, and Keegan to survive. There was a bit of insta love happening and that wasn't my favorite, I didn't really get any real chemistry between them, but I think I will enjoy the romance portion much more in the next book. That ending was completely bonkers, and if I hadn't already been sure of reading the next book, this ending definitely would have made the decision for me! I can't wait to see whats going to happen next!

I had high expectations for this book, and it went beyond those plus another billion high. This is my new favorite ya series right now! I have not been so invested in a ya fantasy in a while, and this had me heart and soul. Very character driven, plot driven also. But these characters, Selly, Leander, and Keegan, feel like my new best book friends.

A sentinel goddess that requires a sacrifice, a slumbering god that needs to awaken. These are the two sides of a war that seem hellbent on coming. Leander is a prince who is journeying to make a sacrifice to his kingdom's goddess, unknowingly entering dangerous waters on Selly's ship. Keegan, a scholar, is also aboard, unwittingly being dragged into the middle of history in the making.

What they don't know is that the country across from them has been paying attention. Particularly Laskia, dying to prove that she is better and worth more than her infamous sister.

I cried 5 times reading this, and I really never cry in books. This author had me instantly feeling attached to these characters and their emotions, so yeah... some tearjerker moments had me.

Out May 2, 2023!

An ARC read for Amie Kaufman? YES PLEASE. I have loved her work in the past and this is no different.
The first pages hooked me and Selly kept me going. There's something about a character with a smart mouth that just draws me in and makes me love them.
I was a tad thrown off by the multiple POVs and keeping all but Selly separate.
A satisfying read without a huge cliffhanger but leaving you wanting to read the next.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great start to a series, but it felt like it took me forever to read it. It took 10 days which I know isn't a ton, but my usual is less than a week.
There are many POVs, I think we get 5. At first this seemed like a lot and a just a lot to remember, but I ended up really enjoying have all those different views on the story.
The main 2 POVs we get are Selly and Leander. The third POV we get in this group is Keegan. Selly is a sailor. She starts out trying to leave the ship she is on and find one headed north to be with her father. This ends up not happening since before she is able to sneak away, they are forced to set sail carrying secret cargo. The prince. Leander needs to travel to the Isles of the Gods to make a 25 year ritual sacrifice, which he is a year late on because he just liked having fun too much to do it. Keegan is a scholar who just wanted a ride to the Bibliotek and now here he is on this top secret mission. I absolutely loved these 3 characters. Selly is so smart and confident, though she has magician's marks that have proved time and time again to be duds. Leander is cocky, but is that hiding something else? Keegan loves his books and his schoolwork but has a great sense of loyalty. The other 2 POVs we get are Laskia who wants to kill the prince to start the war. Jude is blackmailed into identifying the price after Laskia's plan comes to fruition.
So like I said, the plot of this book is getting Leander to the Isle of Barrica to make a sacrifice to his god, Barrica. So many things happen. It's an incredible journey. But at points, I felt like it just dragged a tiny bit. So many things went wrong and they had to make a new plan, I think that if one thing had gone right somewhere in the middle, it would have felt a little less one note.
This book really left off without a super cliffhanger, but with a lot of unanswered questions that I am really keen to learn more about. I am really excited for the next one already!

Another masterful story from the genius of Amie Kaufman. The worldbuilding is interesting and the characters enchanting--I only wish we'd had more time with each of the POVs.

A plot involving old sleeping gods… I was IN.

An incredible character driven story. The pacing was a little slow considering the story took place over a two day time period. But I TORE through it. I loved all of the POV’s, the character development and dynamics, world building. Cannot wait for the books to come.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Honestly, I have been a fan of Amie Kaufman's work for years, but this novel was a breath of fresh air for me. The adventure and world that Amie Kaufman created in this novel are wonderful and I can't wait to share it with my students. Perhaps the best thing about this novel for me was the characters. They are all round, well developed characters who seem so real - flaws and all. Watching the characters grow and seeing their motivations for their actions - good and bad - was my favorite part of the story even though the plot was fast-paced and full of action.

As a teacher of Creative Writing, this is definitely a mentor text I could use to show students how to develop a character and show how growth in a character arc can be accomplished. I look forward to using it with my students after publication!

4.5/5 ⭐️
Wow. I walked into this book a little unsure, but wow. I could not put this book down, it sucked me in. I really enjoyed the different POVs because it added so many layers to the story and the world because they all had very distinct backgrounds and upbringings and flaws. But I appreciated that the events were kept between two sides. So like three of the narrators were always together and the other two were together. But the multiple POVs work because of this quote the story starts and ends with: “Everyone tells the same story different ways. And the only version we’re the hero of is our own.” By the way, Leander was my favorite. I liked all the narrators, but Leander is my favorite kind of book boyfriend. You know, the ones with an overly inflated ego that can’t fathom anyone not liking them, haha.
Overall, I am definitely going to be recommending this story. Between having a prince in disguise, a sailor, a scholar, a mobster, and a bruiser, all working to stop or encourage another great gods war, this story was truly entertaining and will have your heart racing.
Thank you to NetGalley & Random House Children's for providing an advance reader copy for my honest review.

Like many, I'm mostly familiar with Kaufman's collaborative work and two of those series have become heartwrenching favorites. I was really quite eager to see what a solo novel by Kaufman would be like and it did not disappoint.

The Isles of the Gods is a fantastic set up to what I believe will be a duology. It is a little slow to start, there's a lot of character and world development with a medium dose of plot. Its a good trade off, however, as I've found myself already quite attached to 3 out of the 5 POVs (yes there are five POVs) in this story and I can see the pacing picking up more in book 2.

The writing is excellent and makes for a light but emotional read. I think my only complaint is that I would've liked a little more ramp up of the romance. Just a touch. It's not super abrupt but I do feel like the relationship went from severe dislike to I need them in my life rather quickly. This did not stop the relationship from pulling at my heartstrings, however, so its a small complaint.

I cannot wait to read the sequel and almost hope it will be expanded into a trilogy as I feel like there is a lot of potential in this world. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Isles of the Gods is Amie Kaufman's first solo attempt. With it, she proves she can write an exciting story without a writing partner. Her story is a hybrid adventure/fantasy story with fun characters, some twists, a great romantic arc, and many unanswered questions.

All of those bloody death moments in her other novels may not have been the work of her partners, as I suspected. It turns out Ms. Kaufman has a bloodthirsty streak and likes to put her characters through hell. There are several cold-blooded scenes that will take your breath away with their cruelty. Ms. Kaufman, I never knew you had it in you!

Selly, Leaner, and Keenan make for an unlikely but effective trio. All three have an entire luggage set of issues, but together they work. Jude is similarly intriguing with his background and current issues. Meanwhile, Laskia makes for one evil villain. The girl proves zealots are among the most dangerous types of people out there.

The Isles of the Gods struggles with a predictable plot. From the beginning, you know where the story will end and why, if not the how. It doesn't make the story any less engaging. However, the lack of surprise forces you to focus on characters' interactions, which I enjoyed. So while there is a lack of suspense and tension, the bright side is that it allows us to get to know the characters, and the characters are what make the story.

After so many novels as a cowriter, it is nice to see Ms. Kaufman pen a solo effort. While not perfect, The Isles of the Gods is a strong start. I enjoyed Selly's and Leander's banter and sighed with joy as they fell for each other, another not-surprise but enjoyable nonetheless. There are enough intriguing unanswered questions that I want more of the story. It also ends with a bit of a shocker, so now I cannot wait for the sequel!

“The Isles of the Gods” is a high-seas adventure you won’t want to miss out on!

One aspect of “The Isles of the Gods” that I enjoyed was reading from a new point-of-view each chapter. Kaufman’s choice to alternate between Selly, Jude, Laskia, Keegan, and Leander’s viewpoints not only helps the reader to piece together each character’s role in the quest they must embark on, but also provides opportunities for her readers to see parts of themselves reflected in her diverse characters. Kaufman’s efforts to represent characters of different races/ethnicities, socio-economic classes, and sexualities mirrors the diversity of our world, which I thoroughly appreciate.

The slow and gradual development of Kaufman’s characters over the course of “The Isles of the Gods” gives her the space needed to build her fantastical world. Kafuman does a fantastic job making each country distinct from one another with her detailed descriptions. For example, I especially like how Kaufman contrasts Alinor’s rolling greens hills with Mellacea’s crammed city to make both regions more memorable. Additionally, she goes in depth about the land’s origins, the Gods and Goddesses that ruled over them, and the ways in which they are honored.

Kaufman’s complex world-building does not allow the story to take off until its halfway point, but once it did, I was completely engrossed by the slow burn romance, the high stakes atmosphere, and the intriguing magic system. With the threat of war between Gods looming, I cannot wait to see how book 2 unfolds.

I will read anything Amie Kaufman writes. She has won my complete trust for writing compelling and addicting sci-fi/fantasy stories. Which makes me happy to report that The Isles of the Gods was no exception!

So many of my favorite tropes were included: one bed, inaccessible magic, tension and angst! Selly was such an enjoyable main character to read about, and I think a lot of teen and young adult readers especially will connect to her.

If you enjoy pirates, multiple POVs, alt historical fantasy, this is for you!

4.5/5
Thanks to Random House Children's Books and Netgalley for the ARC.

"It's not that I thought I'd live forever. I just didn't expect this kind of advance notice about when I was going to die."

I've loved Amie's stories she has co-written, so I was very excited to have received the ARC for The Isles of the Gods. And let me tell you, she absolutely hits the mark with this story!! It's a wonderfully crafted tale set in an ocean-centered world and it's full of adventure, twists, heart, loss and love. Amie excels at writing fully realized characters that never feel flat, but are full of nuance, grit, loyalty, flaws and grow throughout the story.

The main protagonist is Selly, the daughter of an influential ship owner and she is hoping to rejoin him after serving aboard another of his vessels. Her goal to get back to her father is waylaid as she becomes embroiled with royalty, gods, assassins, and a potential war that may cost thousands of lives.

Isles is an absolute delight to read and you can tell how important the sea is to Amie as it is a character in and of itself. The relationships between the characters and their growth throughout is so well done and I quickly became attached to Selly, Leander, Jude, and Keegan. Fantasy fans should snap this story up and let it carry you away!!

The Isles of the Gods is a Young Adult fantasy novel by Amie Kaufman. When Selly’s father abandons her, she decides to continue her life at sea. Her plans are changed drastically when a handsome stranger boards her ship with an unusual mission, to sail undetected across the Crescent Sea to the Isles of the Gods. When the stranger is revealed to be the Prince of Alinor, Leander. Shelly begins to realize this simple life on the ocean is about to become very complicated.

This book feels very average for a lot of the beginning of the story to me. I felt like there wasn’t really anything new and interesting and I almost put it down. I also really don’t like books that have large portions at sea. But reading all the reviews, I decided to give it until the 30 percent mark just to see what happened and I’m glad I did! This story takes a little while to take off but once all the characters are established and we really start learning more about the world, it became a very fascinating read. There are also tons of chapters and they are relatively short most of the time which makes this a very fast paced read.

I have read several science fiction books by Amie Kaufman but they have always been co-authored so I was really excited to see what she would do with a fantasy book all on her own and I think she was mostly successful. This has politics involving religions, a clash of two cultures based on gods, a love story that never feels forced, and an ending that really surprised me. I didn’t realize how emotionally invested I was in the story until the last chunk when I was worried about what might happen.

We get five perspectives we read from and some are definitely more important than others. There is a character named Jude that I really wish we would have gotten more from. Either that or I wish we would have just had two or three perspectives. I got confused more than once about who I was reading from and had to look it up. The character voices feel very similar.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes young adult fantasy because this is a fun one. But it feels very young adult so if you don’t regularly enjoy that age range/genre, this won’t be the book for you.

Huge thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s for the arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book somehow had everything in it I didn't know I needed? Sea adventure, magic, romance, subterfuge and I could go on. The bad thing about these advance copies is simply that I have that much longer to wait before reading the sequel...ugh.

I love Amie Kaufman but I did not at all anticipate how much I was going to love this book. This was full of adventure and kept me on the edge of my seat. I can’t believe I got to read this before it’s even out and now I have to wait EVEN LONGER to read the next one! I’d do it again.