Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Small Favors

I was utterly enthralled in this story. It gave me a rumpelstiltskin retelling feel. It was a page turning favorite. I fell in love with so many characters and felt there pain but at the same time grew to despise others. I gave it 4.5 because I had two unanswered questions.

are her parents alive? I mean I figure they are because of how it ended but I would have liked to get the confirmation. My other question I guess is I wanted to see how Sam really grew so dark? Or was he always that way? I wanted a replay more of when he made
his bargain with the "queen". And how absolutely messed up that he was so readily to offer his twin like wtf. Like was he just mad that his dad respected Ellerie more and that set him off?!
This isn't a spoiler but if you have read this wouldnt it have been kinda cool if Ezra the real Ezra had joined the Kindred to spare the town a little longer? I enjoyed the backstory on the first hanging in Amnity Falls not the hanging itself but how famlies have been at eachother at the start. Looping back to what the "Queen" said about how the violence was here they just kinda helped it along.

All in all it was a great book and has become a favorite that I will cherish in my collection. I am looking forward to reading her debut novel. I really enjoyed her writing. It was the perfect amount of flowery imagery, loveable characters that were soooooo easy to connect to, and a dark fairytalk/folklore that I cannot get enough of.

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved the entire experience of reading this book.

It gave me the same feelings I often had reading books as a child. I cannot remember the last time I felt so well immersed. It did a good job of dropping red herrings do I couldn't quite figure things out whilst also giving me enough crumbs that my fairy story loving brain was a buzzing!

I found parts of it quite dread inducing but in a fun way. Like it was surprisingly scary, I didn't expect it!

I connected a lot with the characters and some over arching themes about what desperation and bad luck can do to us.

Just genuinely very well done.

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