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.

Thabk you so much, NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton, for the chance to read and review this book in exchange of an honest review.

Only a monster was one of my most anticipated reads in 2022 and I wasn't disappointed at all! Vanessa Len wrote a brilliant book, set in a world populated by morally grey characters, where the lines between good and evil are slimmer than ever and I loved everything!
The story is unique, the characters are so well written and skillfully crafted and the worldbuilding is wonderful and so thrilling! This book is a gem, I couldn't stop reading it and it has everything you could ever dream of!

I really enjoyed this book!!

Normally I struggle with books that are heavily YA, but this one is well written and engaging.

I love that we finally get a book about a villain. We have the monsters POV! But monsters are also misunderstood and not everything is what you expect it to be.

Misunderstandings and forbidden romances - what more could you want?

Loved the writing and found myself heavily engrossed in the story.

I've just finished 'Only a monster' by Vanessa Len and I need a few days to fully recover this. This is such a unique and thrilling YA novel, that I just couldn't put down. Joan finds out that she's one of the monsters from the stories her Gran would tell her and her cousins while they were growing up, She needs to team up with her family's enemy in order to defeat the hero who is hell bent on destroying all the monsters.

This was such a unique and well developed magic system set in an urban fantasy setting. I was sucked in within a few pages, loving the dark tones from this. Len has created a world where, although the monsters are indeed monsters, we learn how to love them and root for them to win. The characters are all wonderful and varied. You genuinely love them all (well, nearly all!) There's romance, but it doesn't take over from the plot. I loved how I couldn't see how it would end up too.

This is part of a planned trilogy and cannot wait for the next two instalments, though as the first isn't published till February next year I may have to wait longer than I want to! Shame I can't travel through time to read how this series continues! I really recommend 'Only a monster' to fans of YA fantasy. It's so different to everything I've read recently.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an E-ARC of this brilliant novel.

“Dragons need not fear other dragons”

I think I got whiplash from this book. I absolutely loved this book and something was happening every second! Thank you to Hooder & Stoughton for giving me the chance to read this ARC!

16 year old Joan visits her Gran and family every summer. She loves to follow the rules and history- which is how she meets love interest Nick

Before her first date with Nick, the unexpected happens and then it’s dark. Hours have passed and she’s missed her date.

She goes home to find her family is not just eccentric as she thought and she is half human Half “monster” and can time travel by taking time from humans.

Joan is thrust into a new world who everyone she thought she knew have been keeping secrets. Especially Nick.

This novel is jam packed with angst, betrayal and family love that will keep anyone interested!

There were some occasions where I had to reread because there was just so much information that I was trying to absorb and my mind couldn’t take it!

I loved the mix of different families and what they are known for and how they had to come together to stop the “hero”

If you love star-crossed lovers, forced proximity, and world full of magic and time travel, you will love this!!! Could not reccomend enough!!

Vanessa Len is a completely new author to me and since the blurb and the beautiful cover appealed to me, I thought I’ll give her a try. I love the cover and it fits the plot perfectly and the blurb promises a great story. And what can I say, my expectations of the book were definitely met. Vanessa Len has a great writing style. It is easy to read, exciting, humorous and emotional. You get served a whole range of feelings. I couldn’t put the book down and I read it through in one go. It was just so much fun.

The characters were well worked out and I was able to understand the feelings, the behavior and the respective decisions. Sometimes I felt like I was watching the action right next to the protagonists. Both Nick and Joan were very interesting and it was fun to accompany them on their way. I really liked the dynamics and the dialogues between the two of them. But I really liked the supporting characters too and they rounded off the plot wonderfully.

If you like YA urban fantasy, you should definitely take a look at this book. You will not regret it. I had a wonderful couple of hours of reading and can absolutely recommend the book.

Wow, this book was really good..I couldn’t stop reading! It was really unique from other urban fantasies I have read..I loved the magic and time travel aspects. The main character Joan was well written and I liked her from the start! I love the enemies to lovers. It was full of mystery and intrigue..I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book!

this book turned out to be very different than what i thought it would be

plot
let me explain it in two simple words. time travel.

my thoughts
i really liked how this novel explored themes of morality and life and death. the magic system is also very well done. however, i'm not sure why, the writing felt very childish, almost middle grade-ish, and i wasn't really a fan of that. and boy did i dislike all the characters. i personally found Joan, the protagonist, very annoying. Nick wasn't all that great either, and Aaron was just a stuck up little bitch. now let's talk about the romance. i think this was supposed to be an enemies to lovers but i honestly don't think it should be called that. there could've been such a good build up for the enemies part, and i'm talking ATLEAST ONE dagger to the throat scene, but we were deprived of that :(

this novel was decent. don't get me wrong, it isn't too bad, but definitely not one of the better YA fantasy books i've read.

Why do I always love the stand-offish men?!

I adored the mystery and intrigue in this book and even better yet…
That ending had me sobbing.

You know a book is fantastic when you’re trying to tell your partner about it and you start crying because the author has just ruined your life and your emotions are so raw.

Things I loved about this book:
High stakes
High loss
Enemy soulmates
Morally ambiguous characters

There are supposed to be more books and I don’t know if I can handle the emotional trauma that comes with them… but I’ll read them anyway because this was so good.

It does surprise me that this is meant to be part of a series though. It felts very rounded off and complete. BUT I am super excited to see where Len might take this.

The world building, the plot, the characters, all of this was utter perfection. I was completely engaged throughout this whole read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

ARC received from the publisher on NetGalley. Thank you!

I had fun reading this book! It was so interesting. It didn't only got me out of the reading ditch, but it also got me hooked. The only time I had to take a break from it was at the end of chapter twelve. It scared me! Ahaha. I was honestly scared for Joan.

I love that the main character is part Malaysian, and that the book location is set in England. I'm Malaysian, and I live in England- so I really like that I was familiar with some of the stuff mentioned in this book.

I still can't decide if I like Joan with Nick or Aaron...

I must say I have a love-hate relationship with the ending. I'm hoping that there will be a sequel?

My panic that I'd only be reading one five star book this year has been unfounded because this book has come along and blown my socks off. I'm somewhat tempted to write this entire review in all-caps, because the book was just that good, but I might save it for some pertinent words. For example: THIS BOOK IS AMAZING AND EVERYONE IS GOING TO LOVE IT.
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Writing a positive review is sometimes harder than a negative one. I could waffle on about the amazing characters for hours. Or perhaps speak in-depth about the plot, and how I was pulled into the story from the very first page. Maybe I'll mention that this is nothing like any book I've read before, with so many incredible ideas that it made me envious I hadn't thought to come up with them myself. Or maybe I'll just repeat that: THIS BOOK IS AMAZING AND EVERYONE IS GOING TO LOVE IT.
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I can't stop thinking about Only A Monster, it's burrowed into my brain and won't leave me alone. I wish I could read it again for the first time and soak up every second of this magical story. The people and places seem so really, and I've already spent hours deciding which family I'd want to be in (all of them. It's all of them), and a long time planning my wedding to Aaron (simultaneously lavish and classy).
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I'm not dropping any spoilers at all for this, but I will say that I needed book two, like, yesterday. My only regret is that I don't have a physical ARC of this, because putting it into my 2021 favourites stack is going to be tricky with just an eARC, but I will find a way.
Only A Monster is out February 2022 and you can preorder it now. Why should you preorder it, I hear you ask. Well, because THIS BOOK IS AMAZING AND EVERYONE IS GOING TO LOVE IT.
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Thank you hodderscape for the eARC. I recieved it through NetGalley in return for my honest review.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

This was the perfect YA Urban Fantasy and I was hooked from a couple of chapters in! I loved the time travel aspect and I loved the enemies to lovers (and this could be for two of them - the hero/monster enemies and the family enemies 👏)

I had my theories throughout on certain characters, but I was very wrong! So well done to Vanessa Len on keeping me guessing with the twists and turns 😅

I’m pretty sure there’s gonna be more books so I’ll sit and wait patiently praying that Aaron is gonna be there 😍

3.5 stars!! This was a fun ride!!
Thank you to Hodder for providing me with an e-arc for an honest review.

In this book we follow Joan and she is a monster, or so her gran told her. But all she wanted to be was superman.
One day she takes time from an old man's life, which ends in a monster massacre. Apparently the hero from her childhood stories is real and killing monsters, and he was her first date.

The monster concept is very cool. They take time from people's lives in order to time travel. The monsters are each divided into different families who each have a special abilities.
But Joan is only half human and according to her gran she is going to be powerful.
The king rules the monsters and there are rumors of a sacred timeline. Apparently the current timeline is not the true timeline and Joan is going to find out what that means to safe her family and all future monsters from massacre.

Halfway through I though this was going to be at least 4 stars as I loved the sacred timeline concept. It gave me huge Loki vibes! Unfortunately the last 25% felt very flat. The reason behind the timeline was just a bummer for me and I really wanted to meet this scary king. I know this is going to be a trilogy so maybe the was the issue but overall the ending felt flat. Defenitly going to check out this author's future work!

This book was one of my favourite reads of 2021 and it’s not even published until next year! Thank you so much NetGalley and HodderScape for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Joan is a 16 year old girl who always follows the rules and loves history (a girl after my own heart), so much so that she volunteers at a museum in her spare time - this is where she meets love interest Nick.

As she gets ready for her first date with Nick, an incident happens where she blacks out and loses half a day, missing her date. She finds out that she’s half human and half monster, and the monsters from her childhood stories are real. In this world, monsters aren’t as we know them, but are time travellers who are able to travel by taking time from humans.

After another incident, Joan learns that Nick is also not as he seems, he is the famed hero from her childhood stories who’s main mission in life is to rid the world of monsters.

I loved the magic system in this world and how time travel/history was portrayed. I also loved the aspects of the different powers that each monster family has and I can’t wait to see how the story continues to develop.

I loved reading about a main character who isn’t naturally rebellious, I loved seeing how she navigated this new world and how she adapted to all these new situations. I struggled to put this one down and wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who likes YA, history or anything time travel.

There is plenty of angst, betrayal, mysteries and high stakes as well as forced proximity, star-crossed lovers and other tropes which I’m definitely missing - pick this up!!!