Marlow really was so insufferable The plot was interesting enough, but seriously. Hard to say how much I like the MMC because he wasn't even in it that much. The level of obnoxious pick-me from the FMC was truly painful to read. Her inner thoughts are repetitive, making sure the reader knows how much religious trauma she has, and how she was a sex worker. We get it. Not sure if I'll continue this series.

Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley

This will definitely be one of my favorite reads of the year. I loved this book from chapter one.

Marlow is every human woman faced with a new reality. As much as I would like to think I’m super smart, I would probably be asking dumb questions too. I can only hope I would find someone like Fauna and Azrames to guide me. Fauna also steals the show every time she’s on the page.

The narrator was excellent. And the story made me feel so many feelings.

This book is problematic in so many ways. First, the FMC (Marlowe) reads like the author is writing about herself insofar as she is in author of a bestselling series. We are introduced to some of her friends, who are always checking in with her, but Marlowe never returns that favor and sees herself as better than them. The flashbacks surround her life as a sex worker, which apparently she enjoyed, namely because of all the money and power she had over those men. This shows the lack of knowledge the author has about the sex trade, and comes across as extremely callous. The FMC is shown as "seeing things," which she thinks is a mental illness, and I am guessing it turns out to be different. (I did not finish it, but enabling schizophrenia is disturbing.) It becomes super clear that the author (and FMC) is very political and inserts her views throughout. Marlowe (and I'm thinking the author as well) has a ton of religious trauma, which is emphasized throughout the book and gets to be plain annoying. There is seriously nothing about this book that is redeeming or charming.