Thank you so much to NetGalley for sending me a copy of Only A Monster in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book with high hopes and unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

I really loved Vanessa's writing and world-building, but unfortunately I just could not get into the characters. As someone who needs to really love the characters to get into a book, this meant that I really struggled to connect with the plot.

It was definitely an interesting one and I loved the time travel elements. It still wasn't enough to grab me.

Perhaps the book is just more aimed at a younger reader and that's completely fine, but I ended up skimming towards the end as I didn't love the book.

I hope that Only A Monster finds it reader, because I know teenage me would have adored this book!

This book intrigued me from its very beginning. It begins like a lot of other YA books and suddenly everything collapses. I liked Joan and her family from the start, even if they are supposed not to be likeable since they are monsters. But in this book, everything is turned upside down and we see the story happening through the eyes of those we are supposed to detest. For once, the hero isn’t telling the story and gives his place to the monsters.

Joan is an average girl on holiday, spending a good time with her family until she discovers they are monsters and that she is one too. Her situation is very interesting because her father is human and she has been raised as one. So, her reactions are the ones the reader can have when she discovers monsters are real and that they are stealing people’s lives. I also liked this idea because it shows that magic comes at a price and it adds some morality to the book which is not often the case or even well done in YA.

If you read this book, you will see that some of the characters are present just for a few pages at the beginning and then disappear from the story. But the odd thing is that you will be attached to them anyway because the author succeeds in giving them a strong background and personality in a few pages. Even more strange, I was rooting for Joan and her monster friends while hating Nick (the hero). The latter was so brainwashed and trapped in his own morality that he was insufferable. This book perfectly shows that there is never just one side to a story.

The action was happening very fast and each time I opened the book intending to reading just a few pages I ended up reading for more than one hour. I was caught up in the story and was helped by the writing which was like a movie, I could see all the scenes happening in front of me. The book is quite complex with all the characters, the different timelines and powers but also so complete that I originally thought it was a standalone but then discovered it would be a trilogy (yeah!!!). For those who usually wait for the all series to be published, don’t wait to read this book since it’s perfectly standing on its own!

And can we talk about the end? It was so refreshing! No easy resolution, no easy choice or miracle unlike what I’m used to seeing in YA. And there’s a real growth of Joan, who realises that some things can be heavy on your conscience, and especially memories. I found this analysis particularly true and poetic.

So, the only criticism I have is the trope (I don’t even know if it’s one or just a literary trend) of the heroine discovering her powers/a new world and being stupid about it. I don’t know but when you know nothing about something, you listen to the advice of people who already know the ins and outs of your situation, no? I’ve always found this to be an easy way to make the action happen and here that’s exactly the case with Joan making rash decisions when everyone’s telling her ‘uh no that’s probably not a good idea’. However, the other aspects of the book are so good, and the fact that she’s finally growing up a bit towards the end saved this book from being spoiled for me.

In brief: Well, this one is definitively one of my favourites of the year (even if theoretically it’s one of my faves for next year 😀 ). It was a surprise until the end and I can’t wait to read the next ones in the series to see more of this strange family!

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review!
Perfect first book of trilogy series. I was swept away from the very beginning and couldn't skip absolutely anything! The concept of time-travel is what makes the book unique among others, because it requires a sacrifice. There's new feel of duality that is created for the concept of a single touch. It sucks your whole life force for the our main girl to borrow just few minutes of time. Something so grand, so big and essential for something so small. And the beginning we believe we'll have a beauty and the beast vibes regarding the romance subplot, but it's way more tragic, heart-wrenching and bittersweet. The book twists intriguingly even the concept of enemies to lovers, so it's definite must-read and can't wait for the next book!

4.5 stars! Only A Monster contains a fun concept about time-travelling monsters and heroes with a bittersweet romance. I like that despite Joan's feelings for Nick complicating how she feels about what he did to her family, she stayed true to her goal in her battle against him and didn't let her feelings get in the way.
I'm excited for the next instalment of this series!

Thanks to Netgalley and Harperteen for providing me with the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I started and finished Only a Monster on the same day, it was so good I just couldn't put it down!

The whole concept of the story was really interesting and totally different from anything I've read before, I love time travel in books anyway but this twist on it was great. It felt new and exciting, from the morally grey time travel to the general magic system - it was all so intricately done.

The characters all go through so much, Joan in particular grows a lot in a short amount of time and really has to reevaluate how she feels about her whole world. I don't want to give too much away because I really think this is one to go into blindly, the twists and turns came thick and fast and the whole story was really addictive.

I'm really excited to see where this series goes, I'm kinda mad I have to wait so long for a sequel now!

A great read! An excellent and well-executed concept with a fantastic host of characters. Very much looking forward to the next book!

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Normally with fantasy books, they take me a couple of chapter to get into them, but this book had me gripped straight away, and I read it in one sitting.

This big gives us a unique take on time-travel, with good historical references. Very morally ambiguous characters that you can't help liking. The pacing of the story and the world building was perfect.

Looking forward to the next book on the trilogy.

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley.
4.7 stars
*Spoiler alert!*
I was curious about the book since the moment I've read the synopsis. Who doesn't like monsters and hero stories? At least, I do.
The beginning was a bit slow for me, that's why it lost 0.3 stars for me. But when the pace picked up - oh my! I couldn't put the book away and finished it in one sitting.
Joan, the main protagonist, was told from when she was little that she was a monster. She did not understand what that meant and I neither. I thought that it was cruel to raise a child seeing themselves as a monster and not the hero they wanted to be. And then the story began...
As I mentioned, the beginning didn't wow me. We met Joan and her family, we saw her volunteering in a museum and having a not so secret crush on her co-worker. Seems like a normal teenage life, doesn't it? And then it happened. She touched a man who pushed her and the world changed. The day changed to night in a blink of an eye. That moment changed Joan's life drastically.
Her Gran revealed the story behind calling her a monster. Because she truly was. Half-monster and half-human, not belonging to any world. Joan could travel through time by stealing time from humans. Stealing their time on earth.
I did enjoy a different concept on time travellers. No machines, no science but a simple touch. A touch that could suck the rest of your life from your body or borrow just a few minutes.
And here's the first tragic plot twist in this story. Nick, Joan's first love, is a hero in this universe. A hero whose job is to kill monsters. He kills Joan's family, slaughtering them without a second thought. But not her. Not yet. This story couldn't finish so soon.
And there's Joan, who just found out about her powers and lost her family to her beloved one. Doesn't it sound like perfect timing for some adventure to begin?!
Joan meets other monsters who help and teach her. Aaron, the first monster who was mainly nice to her, taught her how to travel, how to borrow time.
I don't want to retell the whole plot but I cannot stop thinking about how good the story was!
I'm used to happy endings after such a tragic storyline so I was expecting to see another one. There was a legend about a hero falling in love with a monster girl so why couldn't Joan and Nick be happy in the end? But the author decided to take another turn. Prepare yourself for the plot twist you won't be able to forget for a long time. This is where I need to stop myself before I reveal too much.
Get ready for different lovers to enemies, for the monsters who are not as cruel as they think they are, for the time travel of your life.
The writing will lully you into reading and reading more until you reach the last page in disbelief. And you'll be left hungry for more. But is there going to be more? The time will show.

I liked the pacing of the book, it opens with a cute museum date, and then descends into sword throwing and chaos and keeps up the intensity throughout the book. I was never bored of the story, but I also wasn’t a big fan of the time travelling. The system and rules were a lot to follow, and because Aaron wasn’t patient enough to explain anything to Joan, the reader didn’t really get an explanation either.

I am glad that this is going to be a trilogy, as I think there is a lot that can be done with the story, and hopefully the characters grow, and I find them more likable, as I was struggling to connect with them. I think the description of the book gave me a different story to what I was expecting, I assumed the story being told through the monster's perspective would be more of a morally grey, anti hero, and not whatever 'monster' the story was trying to push.

Don’t mind me, just adding this to my ✨all time favourites✨ pile!
Honestly, where do I even start?
Vanessa Len has created the most astonishing world within our own world, a world where monsters exist.
When I first read the plot I adored the sound of it but I have to admit I was a little sceptical because there’s a LOT going on and I was worried how it would be pulled off without it being confusing and messy… but Len did it! Ohhh she did it and it was IMMENSELY GOOD!
I have never read a book where the hero was my enemy and I’m supporting the “bad guys”. Every second was executed perfectly. It’s fast paced, easy to follow and interesting! So many YA fantasies I’ve read recently have fell flat and been boring, not this one!
I’ll be raving about this book for a long time to come.

Oooh I really enjoyed this one. It’s deliciously dark. If you like morally grey characters or you're a fan of Marie Lu or V E Schwab then this is for you! Joan’s biggest concern after a perfect summer working at a historic house is how her date with her co-worker is going to go but when she discovers she is a monster, who can steal time from people in order to time travel, missing her date is the least of her problems. Joan barely has time to confront her family’s secret and her own monstrousness before she has to decide how far she is willing to go to save her family when a monster slayer is hunting them all down. The settings felt really solid, the characters fit together really well and I especially liked the tension and uneasiness between the families. The main plot had enough twists and turns to keep me wondering and I just really liked the feel of the book in general. There was a little bit of everything I like in here and it reminded me of some of my favourite YA reads growing up. Vanessa Len was not afraid to go to a very dark place and I’m a bit scared but very excited to read the next two books in this trilogy.

The series has potential and the story and characters weren’t nearly as predictable as the blurb suggests. I mainly enjoyed it as an unchallenging fantasy/ ya read… but very reliant on Rowling magical universe, and not the time travel/ multiverse isn’t tight enough. Will probably come back for the sequel, as generally a lot better than so many other books in the gentry

Wow! This book! It had me hooked from the start and I could not put it down!

We follow Joan, as she spends summer with her Gran and cousins in London, when a chance incident sends her spiraling through time, uncovering family secrets and on a mission to to re-write the timeline. The magic system, time travel, angst, friendships and world building were all outstanding.

This has easily became one of my favourite reads in a long time, and I'm sad that it doesn't release until next year, because I need the next book now!

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the chance to read Only a Monster.

I used to love reading new fantasy authors, till a couple of years back when a bunch of massively hyped new fantasy releases were absolutely terrible. I'm really glad I set aside my wariness of the genre for this book, though. Vanessa Len's a very talented writer, with a great control over plot-of course you require suspension of disbelief when it comes to fantasy, but that doesn't mean there are plot inconsistencies. All the characters are memorable, and distinct, and they all have their parts to play.
The protagonist of the book is Joan, a 16 year old who's spending her summers at her beloved grandmother's in London. She volunteers at Holland House, and has a crush on a fellow volunteer, Nick. Like any good fantasy protagonist worth her salt, though, Joan isn't an ordinary 16 year old. The twist in the story, is that the heroic Chosen One, Nick, is on a mission to wipe out Joan and people like her, called 'Monsters', so the "heroes" in this story are actually...Monsters. The Monsters in this world are like reverse Weeping Angels from Doctor Who-they can take time from non-monsters, and store it up and use it to time travel, thereby reducing the lifespan of the human source. I love the moral dilemma Len sets up- Joan knows this is morally wrong, but for a history buff like her, the temptation is hard to resist-would some stranger she steals time from really miss that one hour from their life?! Joan has to team up with the only living member of the Capulets to her Montague-Aaron Oliver, to figure out how to save themselves. The plot's twists and turns, the people she meets-they're all ingenious and wholly unique. An element I've sorely missed in a lot of modern fantasy is humour, and I absolutely loved how witty this book is. While this works excellently as a stand-alone and all the loose ends are tied up, there's enough left for sequels, and I really hope there are more. Read this book to fill up the Harry Potter-shaped hole in your life!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the early access.

I devoured this in a day!

If you don’t want any spoilers, that’s all you need to know and you should stop reading here.

If you are in the group of those of us who already went on this wild ride, here you go:

I loved this book - probably no need to say this after my above statement.

I went into this thinking it won’t be something that would grip me, as I’m not an urban fantasy kind of person. Was I wrong!

I was sucked in by the magic system, the way that for once you horrible price for time travel, the (tiny bit cliche) blooming romance between Joan and Aaron, and I enjoyed the non-cliche aspect of this ending so much. I loved how for once, it is not a happy ending for our MC and that made the story all the more realistic.

All that said, it’s not perfect as I think there were issues with the rules of the time travel aspect and a few other things, where you could pick holes into this novel if you wanted to. I also don’t like the UK cover (the US one is stunning, so I’m a bit sad) - so decided to rate it 4 stars overall!

Other than the above minor issues, it would have been a 5 star read.

Here’s to hoping for a stunning Fairyloot version, so I can take that dust jacket off!

How much do you think I can hush about this book in this review? Not a lot, a lot of A HELL OF A LOT!

It’s definitely going to be a Hell of a Lot. So I dont read as many YA Fantasy books anymore they are all a bit of the same. However when I read the blurb for this book I knew I had to have it as it sounded different to others. With it being a debut author as well I was going in with an open mind.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. From the storyline, characters, world building and general way it was written was a hit for me. I was engaged from start to finish and was honestly invested in the characters.

The book follows 16 year old Joan - she’s come to stay with her maternal family in London for the summer. She’s got a summer job at the local Historical House that she loves. With her also crushing on another worker Nick what could go wrong?

Let me tell you it went wrong. Joan is half monster something that she didn’t know about until she’s caught in the crossfire at Holland House the place where she works. Nick is also present but he is not what he seems either - one night changes everything and she makes unlikely friendships on the way to try and save her family.

There was action, friendship, grief, secrets, magic, power and a little bit of romance. All things that I love in a fantasy read.

Like I said what could be better than this book? I loved every second of it and I am excited to see what happens in the rest of the series.

The fact that this book isn't coming out until february next year upsets me because how am I supposed to go through 3 months without talking about this book?

I loved Only a Monster, and this was such a great YA Fantasy debut. I saw this on Netgalley a month back and I was intrigued by the description that was written. A star crossed fantasy? I was sold instantly.

I love the concept of monsters existing in the real world and this was a perfect execution. The world building was easy enough for me to understand but also complex enough without it being too info-dumpy. I loved how Vanessa also kept me in my toes because as the story goes, there are still stuff I learned about the world and the characters itself. The action was so good and I love the little heist storyline and the time travel concept and everything.

The characters were also really well written. Not going to lie, it took me a while to like Joan but she's such a clever character and I know why she acted that way in the first place. My heart breaks and cheers for Joan as she tries to save her family in this one. It annoyed me how reckless she was in the first half of the book, but it grew on me and I have grown to love her. My favorite characters were definitely Aaron and Tom though.

One of the things in this book that intrigued me was the romance. Vanessa really played my emotions with the romance in this one, and I think this is the first fantasy book I could actually remember enjoying the complicated romantic relationships between the characters (Is it a love triangle? i honestly could not say but every single romance in this book that I've gotten was 10/10. The romance is one thing I cannot wait to talk and discuss about when this book comes out.). I also loved the family aspect in it, although I would've wanted more, but there's always the next book.

Super glad to see the untitled #2 and #3 books on goodreads because I would love to come back to this world and meet these characters again.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC.

I would like to thank Hodder & Stoughton for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
You know when a you are reading a book and the world building is intricately beautiful and tje writing is soooo good that you forget that you are reading? Only a monster did this for me.
THIS BOOK IS A MASTERPIECE.
The tropes! It had all my favorite tropes. What more could I ask for? If you hadn't realized already this book has HERO X VILLAIN (monster but you get the idea)
The idea 0f a monster as the protagonists is absolutely fantastic. I want to see more books like this.
If you like the shadowhunter world, this is for you. I swear you will love it.
I read the story in one sitting, was hooked from the very start. I must also mention how there was no boring info dumps. The world and the setting was perfectly discribed. Ohhhh and TIME TRAVEL!! This book has time travel y'all!!! And it's not even too si-fi, it was pure fantasy and history.
I would like to conclude by saying, Aaron Oliver, will you marry me?

Brilliantly enthralling and unputdownable, debut author Vanessa Len masterfully blurs the lines of good and evil in this vividly immersive tale of time travel, forbidden romance and monsters that you’re definitely not gonna want to miss.

When sixteen years old Joan stay with her mother’s eccentric family in London she’s determined to enjoy herself. With a nerdy job at the historic Holland House and a date with the boy she’s been crushing on all summer, things feel like their falling into place…

But when her attempt at a good deed reveals her mother’s family secret her life quickly starts to unravel. For the Hints aren’t just eccentric: they’re monsters with terrifying, hidden powers. To make matters worse, Nick (the boy she likes) is a monster slayer whose sole purpose is to hunt her people to extinction.

Forced on the run Joan begrudgingly teams up with the beautiful and ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a rival monster family who hates her own.

If she’s to save herself and her family Joan will have to embrace her own monstrousness. Because in this story…she is not the hero.

I loved every second of this and literally devoured it in record time. The world building was exceptional and no attention to detail was spared, the alternate version of London was also well developed. Having the monster for a protagonist was also utterly refreshing.

I absolutely fell in love with Joan who was just as new and unfamiliar with this world as we (the audience) were. Her struggle coming to terms families’ abilities was well thought out and led to some interesting questions around morality and what makes a person ‘evil’.

There were some pretty intense scenes of Joan with both Aaron and Nick (there was definitely chemistry) but I loved that the story mostly focuses on Joan, her family and trying to save them, which was really nice.

The time travel element was also well crafted and I absolutely adored that one of their stops happened to be my year of birth—I like to think a baby version of me exists in this world (and no one can convince me otherwise.)

The pacing was really good and the non-stop action was undeniably, edge of your seat addictive—it’s a beautifully written and richly detailed twist on the Hero vs. Monster trope and I can guarantee that it’s the monsters you’ll be rooting for in this marvellously mind blowing, fantasy YA debut.

So if time travelling monsters and a heart wrenching, Romeo and Juliet-esque romance sounds like your thing, then I definitely recommend you check this out—it’s magnificent!

Also thanks to Hodder&Stoughton and Netgalley for the e-arc.

Joan is a normal girl enjoying her summer after moving to London to live with her maternal grandmother. She’s loving her job at the museum and has met a cute boy. Then everything turns on it’s head when she accidentally discovers the family secret — her grandmother and the rest her late mother’s family are monsters. Not only that but the boy she’s falling for turns out to be monster killer determined to take out her whole family.

Wow this one was a ride! The pace was super quick and I loved Joan. I feel like there wasn’t a single word wasted in this story, it was so well done. The reveals were spread out well throughout the book. I loved the relationship building and back and forth between the characters.

The world building was really interesting and pretty much I enjoyed every aspect of this story. I have so many questions and theories about what will happen next, I’m so glad it’s the first ina trilogy. A refreshing and creative YA fantasy.