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.

The Girl with No Reflection
3.75/5 Stars - Rounded up to 4

I thought that The Girl with No Reflection was a solid debut novel, with an interesting plot and a fascinating way to format and tell the story. But I found the magic system a bit complicated for the story. I also found the two mc's had a juvenile nature to them, which made it harder for me to connect with them at times.

I also think there were issues with pace throughout the book. Despite liking the plot, it felt like it would start building up and up and would hit a wall before starting up again, only to hit the same wall. I feel like this book could've benefited from taking more time to develop the plot and the characters, potentially leading to this book being split into a duology.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced copy of the book in return for an honest review!

I felt like this was such an interesting concept, but it fell flat for me. There were a few things I felt were not fleshed out enough to make a complete and cohesive story. Although, I did find it fun at times.

I enjoyed the myth format of the book and is a great story for anyone who wants to have a good time. The book had surprising twists and kept me wanting to go just one more chapter. The book felt a little childish at times but I think that that means it will fit a broader audience. The setting is an interesting place in old China as she is to be married to the emperor's son. She despises the emperor’s son because he kept her locked up in her apartments at the palace without friends or family or so she thinks. I don't have any things I disliked besides the fact that some of my theories were wrong. I enjoyed the quick pace of the book. I also appreciated the uniqueness of the story in general.

The idea for this book is so interesting. There is a mirror world that must copy everything that the "real" world is doing but there is some rebellion brewing in this world and our main character is a key person in this plot. But I feel that the execution was lacking. And I felt the book was really bogged down by the characters and the relationships between them. Ying Yue is such a frustrating main character; she is incredibly naive and she is always falling into obvious traps and trusting people that she really shouldn't. All the betrayals were obvious since the beginning.

The book had a lot of conveniences so everything would work out in the end.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.