YA – Page 20 – Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Monsters #1

With the sweeping romance of Passenger and the dark fantasy edge of This Savage Song, this standout YA contemporary fantasy debut from Vanessa Len, is the first in a planned trilogy.

It should have been the perfect summer. Sent to stay with her late mother’s eccentric family in London, sixteen-year-old Joan is determined to enjoy herself. She loves her nerdy job at the historic Holland House, and when her super cute co-worker Nick asks her on a date, it feels like everything is falling into place.

But she soon learns the truth. Her family aren’t just eccentric: they’re monsters, with terrifying, hidden powers. And Nick isn’t just a cute boy: he’s a legendary monster slayer, who will do anything to bring them down.

As she battles Nick, Joan is forced to work with the beautiful and ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family that hates her own. She’ll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .

. . . she is not the hero.

**Only A Monster comes out February 22, 2022**

Thank you Edelweiss and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Vanessa Len’s debut with an anti-hero protagonist and a morally good “villain” has my head whirling around for all sorts of reasons. I’ve barely had time to digest everything but I wanted to put all my thoughts down in this post while it’s all super fresh. I will have to be vague to keep anything from becoming spoilers, but I hope you’ll bear with me.

Joan is a monster. Or at least, half-monster since her father’s side of the family, the Asian part of her, is human. But growing up, she thought monsters were just fairy tales. Who wouldn’t? She had wanted to be Superman as a kid (what an irony, am I right?). Her moral compass seemed on the straight and narrow. Which is what drew her to the hero.

Where do I even start with Nick? This star-crossed lovers romance was what I was here for. As Joan realizes more about her monster heritage, is Nick going to be able to differentiate between the parts of herself? Is she truly monstrous? I also thought it’d be like an enemies to lovers kinda thing since, well, he hunts monsters. Doesn’t get more enemy than that. But it didn’t quite feel like that in some ways.

Star-crossed romance…or a love triangle?

I had come in thinking Nick was everything. But he wasn’t – I will get into that in a bit. Due to some really fast paced events that occur LITERALLY right out of the gate, Joan is thrusted into the monster world with, well, another monster. A monster boy named Aaron from a rival stuck-up monster family. Who is exactly the kinda character you can totally see a romance brewing between.

We actually get to know Aaron, dare I say more, than even perhaps Nick because he just has more page time. He goes from a pretentious little bugger to a pretty decent guy (he probably wouldn’t like to be described that way, but oh well) over the course of the misadventures they find themselves on. I don’t normally like love triangles, but there’re certain heartstrings being pulled in his direction.

Nick is also more than he seems. While I would’ve liked to have known him more, there was enough for me at least to start softening to this boy who only fought for what he thought is right. I mean, he has a reason to hate monsters, and a lot of monsters are downright…monstrous. Are his actions justified? I wrestle with that a lot while reading, but I can see where he’s coming from, and more importantly, so could Joan.

However, most of the romance heavy parts are actually at the end of the book and I honestly have no idea what’s to happen next. I’m as stumped as a log and only Vanessa Len knows where she’s going with the romance. And at this point, is it weird to say I actually wouldn’t mind who Joan picks? (The blasphemy!)

Traversing the plot

This book doesn’t know what a slow start means. It really just GOES from page 1. Joan didn’t really know what monsters are as her mother’s family hid it from her all her life so she (and the rest of us) are quickly thrust into the monster world without knowing the rules or ins and outs of it.

This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing because who loves pages of information dump? I like it when the world is organically built into the story so we learn as we go. Of course, this may mean it’s rather confusing in the beginning, but that’s the payoff.

There’s time travel in this story and the mechanics of such time travel is still a little fuzzy to me. But the rest of the world building was super great. I loved getting to know a little more about the different monster families, their specific powers and the machinations of this hidden monster world among the humans.

As I mentioned, the pacing is just GO GO GO. It definitely helped to keep me reading because Joan and co. Are constantly moving from one thing to another. The start is the rockiest because it threw me off with how much of the synopsis was revealed so quickly, but the story really picks up from there in directions unknown that was exhilarating to find out.

What’s the best part of this?

We don’t get to know many characters in this story well just based on the way the plot goes, but for character-driven lovers, I think we get to know Joan very well and that’s always a highlight for me. She was new to all of this and her heart was always set towards a moral compass that didn’t love the monster side. Seeing her wrestle with literally herself was an interesting take at certain crossroads.

Did she want to be a monster? Could she do what came so easily to her family and was her birthright?

And what would she do about Nick?

That really is the question, right? And with it, the epic ending that I didn’t see coming. I really can’t say much but I’m left with so many questions. I’m glad this is a trilogy because I really do need more. The world building has been a great intro, but I can see the potential for this to continue blooming.

There’s also the matter of the romance and the unknowns of it all. But most importantly, it’s the ramifications of Joan’s actions and who she becomes that intrigues me the most. I like both Nick and Aaron (and the rest of her small gang she meets), but it’s ultimately the decisions this anti-heroine makes that drives this story for me.

I absolutely cannot wait.

Overall Recommendation:

Only A Monster is an exploration into this new and fascinating world of monsters hidden within the human one as we follow anti-hero Joan in her discovery that she is in fact not a hero but a monster. The pacing just hits you from the very start with time travel and fights with the morally good hero, Nick. There is absolutely so much potential for this world to grow, and the knowledge we gain is organic as we learn alongside Joan how the Monster world operates. Romance lovers don’t have to fear because we not only get a star-crossed romance but potentially a love triangle brewing for Joan as monsters and heroes fight to save their own. While it can be rushed at times and more than a little confusing at the beginning, I love this debut by Vanessa Len and the ending makes me want to see more of who Joan is. I highly recommend you check it out (and if you’ve already heard hype, it’s definitely real).

3.5 star, YA

Review: You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus

January 24, 2022January 23, 2022 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day.

Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out–he’s been working two jobs since his family’s business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up…. again.

So when Cal pulls into campus late for class and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They’ll ditch and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they’ve barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say…

Until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school–and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it’s about to get worse.

It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common. They all have a connection to the dead kid. And they’re all hiding something.

Now they’re all wondering–could it be that their chance reconnection wasn’t by chance after all?

From the author of One of Us Is Lying comes a brand-new pulse-pounding thriller. It’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with murder when three old friends relive an epic ditch day, and it goes horribly–and fatally–wrong.

I have been a fan of Karen McManus since her debut novel came out. She’s the reigning queen of YA mysteries for a reason, but in that way, I expect a lot from her writing. While You’ll Be the Death of Me is not bad by any means, it also wasn’t the best that I’ve come to expect.

Our 3 protagonists were friends in middle school that had once played hooky together and cemented their friendship, but due to some circumstances, they split up prior to high school. But on this day, all 3 come together by coincidence and decide to play hooky once again – maybe to recreate that amazing day they had.

While the story takes over the course of a literal day, the suspenseful aspect didn’t really hit me. The mystery takes a little while to get to because it takes place after the 3 friends are already together and skipped school. In all honesty, this piece felt more focused on the characters than only the mystery, which is still standard McManus writing but usually I find there’s more of a balance.

Okay, so this character-focused story may feature other secondary characters but it truly follows just the protagonists as we go around Boston with them. Of the 3 main characters, I empathized with Ivy the most, and not simply because she’s the only girl of the trio. I understood the immense pressure she put on herself to be the best, especially when she had an extraordinary genius for a younger brother. But I will say I enjoyed Cal’s POV a lot since he was someone that felt different from other characters I usually read from. He struggled with fitting in but not in the sense that he was bullied or anything. He just slipped between groups so easily that his presence was invisible at times. Mateo was probably the character I associated least with, but only because his perspective felt more reactionary to things Cal or Ivy said or did.

I liked that none of them were perfect. Each of them had their own secrets that slowly came to light over the day, and oddly enough had something to do with the murder victim in some way. This is some good storytelling for a mystery while highlighting the humanity of each teen. They’re not just props for a horrible crime but real people with their own problems that had unintended consequences.

As always, there’s a little bit of romance present too, but Mateo and Ivy’s rekindled feelings felt lacking in some way. The focus wasn’t on them, but it also didn’t add as much to the overall mystery or story in the same vein as other romances worked in Karen’s previous works.

That said, I wasn’t really sure where this story was going for the crime. It wasn’t suspenseful but it also wasn’t super predictable. I normally guessed the culprit (or at least some of the twists) in Karen’s other books, but I honestly wasn’t sure what to think here. That should be a great thing, but it lacked a bit of that wow factor I sometimes look for. The ending made sense when wrapped up all together like that, but I’m still left feeling like it overall missed something that would make it outstanding.

And that little final twist at the end? McManus-style final twists I normally find unsettling, but this one just made me upset. Like there’s this huge piece that was unresolved and we won’t ever get to see what comes of it. Maybe that works for some, but not for me apparently.

All of this to say in short, You’ll Be the Death of Me is a good mystery even with my nitpicky comments. If it came from any other author, I’d probably would’ve loved it. I still gobbled this story up in a day, but it was missing the extra Karen McManus magic I’ve come to love.

Overall Recommendation:

Karen McManus’ latest mystery You’ll Be the Death of Me is a Ferris Bueller-based story featuring a trio of previous friends that literally have the worst day ever when they land themselves with a horrible crime. Lacking in a suspense even with the shortened time period, this story felt more focused on the 3 protagonists than the mystery at hand, an imbalance I don’t normally feel from McManus’ books. However, I did enjoy the POVs of the trio and each of their unique voices as they rushed to solve the mystery (and hopefully not implicate themselves further). There’s nothing largely wrong with this story, but perhaps my expectations for the queen of YA mystery were somewhat let down by this one. If you enjoy mysteries in general and come into it with more of an open mind, it’s an interesting premise with twists I didn’t see coming.

4 star, YA

ARC Review: These Deadly Games by Diana Urban

January 17, 2022January 15, 2022 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Let’s play a game.

You have 24 hours to win. If you break my rules, she dies. If you call the police, she dies. If you tell your parents or anyone else, she dies.

Are you ready?

When Crystal Donavan gets a message on a mysterious app with a video of her little sister gagged and bound, she agrees to play the kidnapper’s game. At first, they make her complete bizarre tasks: steal a test and stuff it in a locker, bake brownies, make a prank call.

But then Crystal realizes each task is meant to hurt—and kill—her friends, one by one. But if she refuses to play, the kidnapper will kill her sister. Is someone trying to take her team out of the running for a gaming tournament? Or have they uncovered a secret from their past, and wants them to pay for what they did…

As Crystal makes the impossible choices between her friends and her sister, she must uncover the truth and find a way to outplay the kidnapper… before it’s too late.

Author of All Your Twisted Secrets, Diana Urban’s explosive sophomore novel, These Deadly Games, will keep you riveted until the final twist is revealed.

**These Deadly Games comes out February 1, 2022**

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Fast paced, exhilarating and full of twisted games, These Deadly Games had me on the edge of my seat the whole time as we race with Crystal against the clock to save her sister.

This is Diana Urban’s second novel and I fell in love with this one even more than the first. Written in the same storytelling method I have come to expect from her, we are not given too much information about certain aspects of the protagonist and friends’ past that only slowly unfolds as we move forward in the present time. How this impacts the present day characterization of the main group of friends we are following is brilliant as it shaped who they each are.

Besides characterization, the mystery flows super well that it’s very hard to put down. Right from the get go, we know Crystal’s group is up for a gaming tournament with high chances of winning the team component. Is someone hunting them down one by one so they wouldn’t qualify for it? There are plenty of motives and suspects who may not want to see any of them succeed. Guessing who the culprit(s) may be was fun, though I will admit I had a sneaking suspicion who it was around the 50% mark, but that didn’t lessen how much fun it was to see it all being pieced together.

This book is also aptly named because, oh boy, those sure were some DEADLY games this unknown entity put Crystal through. What seemed like innocent enough gestures alone soon became separate ways that were hurting people she loved. And if the “truth” of these deadly acts came to light, all the evidence would point to Crystal alone, wouldn’t it? It was such a brilliantly devised plan and this evil mastermind had me applauding their, well, genius the whole way. They were so creative, and I have to praise Urban for devising up such things.

There was a lot to love about this book. I felt the secondary characters, all of Crystal’s gaming group, were unique enough although we don’t get to spend a lot of time with each since we really are just following Crystal during this 24 hour period. It also explored some of Crystal’s family life and the feelings she had about the dysfunction present there, along with her instinct to put her little sister above all else. Unfortunately I couldn’t quite give it a 5 star rating. I felt like it was just missing a “wow” factor, but that really could only be me since I might’ve guessed whodunnit rather early on.

However, how the ending wrapped up was pretty solid and amazing. I can’t give away much, but let me just say it made a lot of sense and still had me gripping my seat until the very last page. I think Urban couldn’t have written a better ending for this story with the perfect amount of allure and openness. It was definitely far better than the dumpster wreck ending of her debut.

I would definitely recommend you pick this one up when it comes out if you’re looking for a fast read that takes some turns you may not expect. These Deadly Games is sure to thrill and have you flipping through the pages to find out how it would all resolve.

Overall Recommendation:

These Deadly Games is a wonderful mystery/thriller that features a cunning mastermind tormenting Crystal and her friends on the weekend eve of a big gaming tournament they’re posed to win. Its fast-paced storytelling set in a 24 hour period as Crystal races against the clock to save her kidnapped sister had me rushing to get to the bottom of it. I enjoyed the characterizations of Crystal’s friend group, but particularly learning who Crystal was and the lengths she’d go to juggle the hardest decision she’d ever have to make: save her friends or her sister. The ending was spectacularly handled, although I kind of guessed who the mastermind was some time earlier. Overall this was a solid mystery but may have missed a little wow factor for me to reach 5-star. Diana Urban’s sophomore novel definitely set the bar and I look forward to seeing where she goes next because it’s only getting better!