First book in the Monsters series
94th book of 2022
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.
CW: Violence, blood, murder, death of parent
Rating
Quotes
He had the graceful precision of a cat.
For the first time in Joan’s life, she kind of understood the appeal of a nineties boy band.
Review
Quick and easy to read, not the most essential book of the year but neither a bad one. Spent a great time reading it, even if it drags a little toward the end.
The world-building was a good thing; it feels so expansive and complex as you follow Joan, a character who doesn’t know anything about it, you understand her, and it’s a lot to take. The concept of time travel is well done, as you feel her sensations when she travels through time (just a thing 1993 is not old, thanks). However, I was sometimes wholly lost.
I didn’t really care about the characters, I just liked their backstory, and that’s all. There are only two that I really liked: Jamie and Tom. During most of the book, Joan talks about her family’s death, but oh god, I was fed up with it at some point.
There is a thing that I needed help understanding, the concept of monsters. For me, they weren’t, they were just people with powers, and that’s all. You can say that their ability isn’t the most ethical, but even that, they are not real monsters. This makes everything pointless; this war and hero aren’t really needed. It’s just convenient for unravelling the plot and how every relationship works.
The ending was a little too quickly resolved, and I thought we would have a cliffhanger; still, nope, the conclusion, let’s speculate on someone. But, other than that, it’s a real ending, as if it was a novel.
I won’t continue the series, but I can understand why people like this book. It was a good time for me, but that’s all; nothing makes me want to continue it.
Liz.
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