The plot of the book is such a fascinating one but the execution falls short in every aspect. From the lack of descriptive imagery, to the jarring pacing, it seems almost like a stream of conscious book that severely lacks any sort of immersive language, leaving all the heavy lifting up to the reader.
The majority of the book, the readers are just being told what happens rather than experiencing it along with Addie which creates a large disconnect and prevented me from really immersing myself in the story. The story also suffers from white room syndrome with only a few sporadic descriptions of the settings and different rooms, largely focusing on awkwardly unnatural dialouge and simple actions. The vocabulary lacks complexity and at times feels largely repetitive.
I usually love books with dual POV, but this one didn’t seem as intentional. We only get Sam’s perspective for the first time six chapters in and it feels very shoe-horned in. There also weren’t any huge differences in the way that Sam and Addie’s inner dialogues sounded, despite the fact that they have very different jobs and personalities so it was sometimes difficult to remember who was narrating the story.
I really wanted to like this book, but it seems like it needs to go through months more of editing before it can even be called that. The only reason I struggled to get through the entirety of it is because I really related to Addie and wanted to see her story through.
Thank you to Elle Jordan and her team for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Two out of five stars.
Paging Kait 