Date Started: 12th December 2025
Date Finished: 12th November 2025
Rating: ★★★
Fave Characters: Magdu
Writing Style: I haven't read enough books in recent years to be able to decribe this yet
World‑building: I haven't read enough books in recent years to be able to describe this yet
Fave Quote(s): "I suspected they'd met before dad left, but I never asked Gwen about it because she would have told me the truth" - Ignorance is bliss, even when you're sure of the answer. Plausible deniability.
"When I arrived at the station, I had to lock the car manually by depressing a button in the driver's side door then holding the handle up as I slammed the door closed. My clicker was broken, had been for years. Other people didn't have to do this. Their clicker broke and they fixed it" - Seems like something trivial to point out, or notice in this instance, but It feel like it is a good metaphor for Finn's feelings about herself. She felt broken in that moment, and she has felt broken since her sister passed and never took the time to heal properly or to "fix" herself.
"I learned later you weren't supposed to say 'commit suicide', because it was like 'commiting adultery' or 'committing murder'. It implied that it was a wicked, a sinful act" - I liked this quote a lot as I lost one of my best friends because he took his own life. I had noticed that I never liked to say "committed suicide", and always said 'passed away' or 'took his own life' and this quote helped me understand my unspoken reasoning why. I never really have thought of suicide as a selfish act, it was a solution that someone had when they felt they couldn't go on any longer. Perhaps I have this perspective as I myself struggle with suicidal ideation and have attempted in the past, so I understand the mindframe you are in when these thoughts or actions occur.
Notes: A very easy read. Read it all in one day with breaks, in about three hours total. I enjoyed the story, and felt like I could relate to Finn in a lot of ways, with the self-consciousness, people-pleasing, co-dependency and not putting myself first. I also related in a lot of ways to getting overly attached to people and seeing them through rose-tinted glasses, rather than what they really are. I liked the romance between Magdu and Finn and thought that they were good together, and liked that she was helping Finn to build her confidence, and she loved Finn for who she was and not for what she could do to benefit her. I think the twist at the end that Finn was the one who tried to kill Daphne (Finn's long-time best friend) rather than it being Daphne trying to kill Magdu due to jealousy. I think that it really wasn't necessary and that it felt like it was added in just to throw people off. It felt kind of cheap, I suppose. I can sort of understand where it came from, where Finn started to understand what Daphne really was, and I can understand her anger, but it doesn't seem within her character to do that at all. I guess the writer was trying to imply that Finn and Daphne were more alike than what was obvious.
With Daphne's behaviour in the past and how she treated Finn, it seemed like the obvious option that she would've killed Magdu out of jealousy, and that was an interesting enough story to be unraveled, as you look to understand why, she did it.
Another thing is that it was just thrown in there that Finn really did kill her sister? I don't think that makes sense either, but I guess with the ending that the writer chose, in context it does, because Daphne did something similar.
Also, I didn't really like the unprofessionalism of the psychologist. A (good) psychologist would never admit anything another patient has said in her sessions to another patient, and again it seemed like a cheap way to put pieces of the puzzle together, but it was unnessary. There could have been a sentencing where the psychologist was brought in and divulged the information under oath, that would've made more sense, and it would have been legally acceptable at this point as it would've revealed Daphne's character in a better way. But hey, that's just my opinion, right? I'm not a writer hehe