It had an engaging premise but the author, in my opinion, did not have the skill to pull off the premise. In this book, the main character is betrothed to the prince but no longer wants to marry him after supposedly discovering that he’s cold and cruel. She ends up discovering that her reflection is sentient, that a whole other world exists through the mirror. She also makes a deal with her reflection and enters that world, instantly falling in love with the mirror version of the prince.

I have so many issues with this story, the least of which is the insta-love with the mirror prince and later with the real prince. I struggled to understand the mirror world (how it was created and how it became connected to the real world.) The main character was also a bit of a wet blanket that’s also somehow supposed to be a chosen one of sorts. I kept reading to see how the author would ultimately resolve the story, not because I enjoyed it. When I put it through CAWPILE (the rating system created by G at BookRoast on YouTube), it earned a three but I need to rework how I calculate my ratings because this book did not deserve a three star. I have downgraded it to a 2.5 stars.

"The Girl with No Reflection" is a captivating, eerie read that blends mystery with a touch of supernatural intrigue. The premise of a girl who can't see her reflection is super unique, and it really had me hooked from the start. The writing is atmospheric and tense, keeping you on edge throughout. The main character is relatable, and her emotional journey adds depth to the plot. While the twists and turns were thrilling, some parts felt a bit predictable, and I wish a few of the side characters were more developed. Overall, it’s a solid, gripping story that’s definitely worth the read!

first, i'm so sorry. i didn't enjoy this book at all. that was absolutely comical but not the intentional kind of comical😅

so the concept is that there's a whole different world on the other side of mirror, and the "mirror people" was cursed to mimic everything the real people do near the reflective surface. but they're actually different individuals with different personalities.

it didn't take much time for Ying attracted to the mirror prince, in less than 24 hours, to be exact. which was ridiculous.

Ying is gullible, stubborn, reckless, petulant, witless, the list could go on. she's that kind of MC who can fight because she's the youngest and has many brothers. naturally. good luck on telling her anything because she'll absolutely do the exact opposite. she's also the Chosen One, the key between 2 worlds, ultra special individual who's been prophesied for long. etc etc. nothing's wrong with this but her behaviors were just frustrating and tiring to read

i don't want to talk about the romance because it's awful. it made me cringe, rolled my eyes so hard and frowned constantly. just no.

and the fantasy aspect, i felt like i should just accept whatever the terms at face value, with no clear reason or explanation. so they're mirror person, their skin is solid and cold like porcelain. whatever they need in order to mimic the real person will instantly appear out of thin air, like clothings or stuffs. they can also shapeshift into animals. they need light to live. sure yeah whatever. but WHYY?

the only positive thing is that i managed to finish it in several hours so that's something.

The Girl with No Reflection was incredibly hard to get through. All of the characters had very little depth and interacted in out of the norm ways. Throughout the story I found it hard to have empathy for the main character as her decision making and conflict resolution skills were dismal. It attempted many of the normal tropes that are normal in contemporary fiction but none of them landed well. Often times stories written with a mixed era are difficult for readers to fully immerse within, and I think this was the major issue.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's/Delacorte Press for sharing this book's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I feel extremely conflicted regarding this book; hence why I didn't review it immediately. There were a lot of aspects I enjoyed in this book. Specifically, I loved the mirror world concept and the descriptions of when our main character goes inside it. I thought it was going to be more of a gothic read just based on those first few chapters and I wonder if these expectations were ultimately what led me to... not enjoy this book as much?
The Mirror Wolrd and the Mirror People were incredibly eery and there was always tension to it even when our main character becomes enamored with the mirror version of her fiancee. To me, the plot twist was very obvious but I don't think that the author was trying to surprise us with it.
The romantic elements of this book sort of forced me to suspend my disbelief several times, which is not good. The angst and tension felt forced, but I liked the idea of the two main characters together so in my eternal fangirl heart I just accepted it as it was. The jealousy of the prince toward his mirrored self and how it played his insecurities was perhaps my favourite nuance to the romance.
As the plot progressed, it became obvious that despite this book being action-packed, it was just too condensed and the plot wasn't allowed to breath at any point, therefore feeling a little empty at the end. Nevertheless, this made me read the book faster because something was constantly happening, so there's that. I think this could have worked best as a duology.
All in all, I don't regret reading it. The vibes were there and it was a fast, entertaining read.

The concept of this story with the mirror world and reflections with their own minds and dreams (some not quite so good, but you can't blame them because their curse is pretty darn awful). I was more interested in what Mirror Ying was up to though, and not quite so much the real Ying who was, how shall I put this? A caricature of a teenage girl. She only had the most extreme of emotions, from something like, "oh, the prince brushed my hand, now I am eternally in love with him and life is not worth living if he is not by my side, to I am in the pits of despair because I was betrayed, and then, oh. the other prince touched my hand, now I am eternally in love with him!". Though I liked that she did not feel her maids were not important enough to save/help. The roller coaster of emotions and the not thinking before running into bad situations really did put a drag on the story, and even the dragons could not save me from not liking Ying.

But I did finish the book because I was interested in the mirror world and the people living in it. I think the story would have been more interesting with more history about them and the Crimson emperor, than Ying's trials to become the savior of the real world.

Positives: THE WORLDBUILDING IS GORGEOUS!!!!! i'd recommend this almost for that alone. Negatives: The characters are pretty standard to flat, and some of the twists are VERY clear beforehand. 3.5 stars, rounded up. Tysm for the arc.

It is appearing to be more common day after day for these books with beautiful covers and premises to draw you in, only to be let down by lack of substance of the plot. I was really looking forward to this book, but after reading all these negative reviews who agree with me, I cannot recommend this book to my audience. 3 Star neutral review

DNF ~ 20%

I actually really like the protagonist's energy. She's kind of a mystery enthusiast. Unfortunately, I don't really enjoy the pace of the plot or anything else going on in the story thus far. The writing style is serviceable, but didn't stand out. I may pick it up again and revise my review later.

I'm giving this 3 stars because the concept is amazing, but it fell a little short. I was expecting a little more "umph" from the main character. She should've been this bada** lead and at times I wanted to reach into the book and shake some sense into her. She seemed a little too gullible.

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Conceptually, this sounded like it had the potential to be really good, and the mirror world sounded interesting. And for the first chunk of this book, I felt pretty engaged and hopeful that this would work out for me. Ying was a little hard for me to deal with as a POV character, but I figured it’s because she’s young and this is a YA novel, so whether or not she works for me isn’t as important as the intended audience vibing with her. But this somehow went downhill extremely quickly, and I can’t quite pinpoint how things went so wrong for me.

I can’t say I ever particularly cared for the romance, but there was definitely a point where I felt like it was moving at a breakneck pace that made me care very little to see how anything developed, and there were multiple points in the middle 40%-80% of the novel where I thought it seemed like the story was winding down only for something new to happen. This felt bloated to me, and I think maybe 200 pages could’ve been cut and the story would have felt much tighter. Emotionally, I did not particularly care for the plot or characters, and it often felt like a series of events were happening and I was supposed to feel one way or another but it fell flat. There was some good bits here that could’ve been polished more and a lot of parts that could’ve been cut, so I’m a little sad that the execution worked so poorly for me. The bare bones of this story was pretty good, so I’m sad that it really didn’t work for me, but alas.

The first chapter of The Girl With No Reflection had me instantly hooked.

Unfortunately, I think that may have been where the book peaked. I really wanted to like this story. The horror elements were great. The concept of mirror people is so interesting and had so much promise, but was greatly overshadowed by.. not one but two insta-love situations that were kind of insane. The story just didn't have any time to breathe. I don't think the characters really did either. There is so much history, action, and betrayal that is thrown at the reader in not a lot of time. I feel like if this plot had been drawn out over a longer period time, the characters given more time to get to know one another and actually develop logical feelings, this book would've been a slam dunk.

Generous 3 stars because I really like the idea, just not the exection.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House/Delacorte for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Girl with No Reflection by Keshe Chow starts with an intriguing premise, but unfortunately, the execution fell short for me. The writing style felt somewhat simplistic, lacking the depth needed to fully explore the themes and characters. There was a lot of potential for the story to delve into complex emotions and the psychological aspects of the plot, but it remained too surface-level. As a result, the narrative didn’t feel as engaging or impactful as it could have been. While the initial concept drew me in, the overall delivery left me wanting more substance.

Ying Yue is chosen to marry the crown prince but she keeps seeing strange things in the mirrors of the palace. When her reflection talks back and asks her to switch places, Ying Yue agrees since she thinks it'll get her out of marrying the crown prince. However, she soon realizes the two realms are intertwined and she's part of a prophecy that involves them both. Overall, this book had a lot of potential with the mirror world concept, but could have benefitted from a more consistent tone. At times the writing seemed quite young and at others, involved rather mature concepts which made it feel a bit jarring.

The Girl with No Reflection is a gorgeous fantasy centering an imperfect but determined heroine. For what I consider on the high fantasy spectrum, the pacing is quite quick and high octane from the jump, which might appeal to readers who have issues with pacing from other fantasy novels. The prose is lovely, but keeps the main action of the plot in the foreground. Overall, a delightful read especially if you enjoy heroines and romance that isn't cut and dry.

The characters felt barely developed, and the dialogue pulled me out of the story at times. Wasn't for me, but I can see younger readers enjoying this.

This was a DNF at 10%. There was nothing objectively wrong with what I read, the writing style just did not work for me.
I found the writing very drawn out and long winded. The main character would begin to run, you would turn to the next page and the author is still describing how the main character is running. The book is very descriptive but I personally prefer writing that is more concise.

Thank you to Random House Children's - Delacorte Press for this ARC of The Girl with No Reflection for an honest review. First of all, look at this cover! Absolutely stunning. I had really high hopes for this book but unfortunately, I found it a little unbearable because of the main character. I have a lot more patience with teenage protagonists but the main character of this book was really testing that limit. I found it hard to root for her and alongside a very basic plot with little to intrigue me, this book dragged quite a bit. It had it's beautiful moments but for the most part, I found it to not live up to the hype I assigned it unfortunately. I am interested to see what the author puts out next because there IS promise!

This story was so unique. The prose definitely connoted a novice writer and I had some issues with the pacing of the story, but overall enjoyed it very much.