Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I cannot fathom how much I loved this book and how much I want the next book in the series now. The day I finished the book I was just me pure screaming and crying and ranting to people to go add this amazing book in their tbr
I was so amazed by the plot of the story since it's unlike anything I have ever read before. The writing was perfect and descriptive and the pace of the book was perfect and fast as well.

The pitch for this book had been so pulling like - villain pov, Captain America like hero, enemies to lover and monster heists- , And the book has it all and that too done exceptionally well. 
The plot of this book is so rich and descriptive and so many layers and the more you read the more you get to know about the monster world and secret they have. The story revolves around in England during different times and the main character is revealed the truth about her own identity, also the parallels between Joan's biracial identity as a Half-British and Half-Chinese and also Half- Human and Half- Monster The cliffhangers and ending had me gawking and my anticipation for the sequels are so much more now.The romance in the book was interesting to read and I liked it and the slow burn enemies to lover has my heart. I can't wait for the upcoming books and to see more of these characters and the relationships.

Joan was just mesmerizing to read about, her growth as a person during the book was amazing, even though she was naïve during the start she was kind, hopeful and would have done anything for her family.

I AM A SIMP FOR AARON OLIVER I DON'T MAKE THE RULES. That really sums up my feelings for this character. Hot ruthless monster boy and likes to banter and actually has a soft heart and his last scene made me almost tear up.

Nick as a person I may not be the biggest fan of, but I loved his story and how his character came to be. (if you wanna know what i am talking about go pre order now)
In conclusion this book is awesome and would definitely recommend this to everyone!! the plot, the characters and everything is so well balanced and I just can't wait to see more!!

If you ever get a chance to get your hands on this book, just do it. It is really good, thrilling and original. The magic system is unique and it's exciting to be on the monsters side.
I had a great time reading it, I still have so many questions and therefore I will read the second book with pleasure.

This book was an absolute gem . From the unique magic system, time travel battle to anti hero pov everything was brilliant. Vanessa Len was successful in created something where I was rooting for the monster side and not the usual hero . Joan is now one of my favorite main characters with her bold and rebellious personality, she was a treat to read .
I honestly believe this is one of the best debut I have read and everyone should give it a try as well .

Thank you netgalley and hodder and stoughton for providing me an arc of this amazing book . I'll post in detail review of this book on different platforms closer to the release date.

Well this book was amazing, it was a breath of fresh air. I loved how this book was so different, how the 'monster' is so up for interpretation. The magic system, while at the beginning did confuse me, was fab. Honestly, I can't think of a bad thing to say from this bok. I cannot wait for this to come out so I can discuss it with others! I've preordered it, and early await the next installment.

The first in a planned trilogy, and one I'll definitely be continuing - Only A Monster takes the time travel trope and turns it on its head. I loved the mechanics of the travelling, simple to understand but still engaging. Definitely appeals to the more YA side of things, but this isn't a bad thing. The book ends in a tantalising note that leaves me keen to see where (and when) the author is going to take us next.

Only a Monster is a YA contemporary fantasy with elements of urban fantasy, dystopia, and historical fantasy. It’s the first in a trilogy, but as it stands, it can be read as a stand-alone.
The book starts out strong, with a short prologue and then mysterious circumstances soon after, immediately creating an atmosphere of intrigue. It carries on at a good pace from there on, with good story progression and very intriguing (albeit slightly spotty) world building.
The author’s writing is slightly plainer than I expected based on the general tones of her story, but she does a good job playing to her strengths, creating vivid imagery and effectively conveying the characters’s emotional state at any given moment and throughout the story, without any flowery prose. Most of the characters could have been better fleshed-out, but it’s YA and the first in a trilogy, so I overall I think the author did a good job giving us enough to give dimension to their roles in the story and enough for us to connect with, which is no small task.

Where I felt the book failed to deliver a bit was world-building and atmosphere.
The mythology and magic system in this world is original and intriguing, with a “secret society” aspect and entire families carrying on this whole “monster” society for hundreds of years, and yet with all the details and all the variations in powers, they’ve somehow never come up with a better name for themselves than “monsters”?! That seems a little unbelievable. This society of supernatural beings with special powers and a sophisticated societal structure referring to themselves as “monsters” over and over felt childish and poorly fitting, and pulled me out of the narrative a number of times. The dichotomy between hero and monster could have easily been kept and carried on regardless, and the world building would have seemed more polished had the author given them a name. It’s a natural instinct to name one’s group so not doing so here feels contrived.
I also found the atmosphere a bit lacking, which was a little disappointing considering the themes and locations; and there were a few instances where I didn’t feel the sense of urgency and suspense the circumstances should have conveyed.
But I liked the way the reveals and resolution were handled, and I really liked the characters — Aaron and Ruth are definitely my favorites, and if I decide to grab the sequel it’ll be largely due to wanting to know how their stories go on!

Overall this was a smooth read and a pretty good debut; not quite as well-developed as it could have been, but there is a lot of really cool stuff in it that will hopefully be explored better in the sequels.

3 1/2 stars.

Darkly delicious fun. If you've been looking for your newest YA urban fantasy obsession - you've found it.

I FINISHED IT AND OH MY GOD- NO hear me out seriously, I thought I knew what was coming, I thought I was prepared but HELL NO. I was not, like every damn book.

Joan was having her perfect summer, living with her mother's family in London, who was kind of eccentric but still loved her a lot. She was volunteering at Holland House and was going on a date with her crush and co-worker Nick. Perfect isn't it? But perfect is just oblivion, suddenly Joan is thrust into the battle between Monsters and Monster Hunters, good vs. evil. And this time she was not the hearo, instead she was the monsters whom Nick was destined to kill. Her perfect might turn into the worst nightmare for her family as well as the entire monster community.

If I were to describe the book in a few lines, it'd be like
"A story filled with agony, yearning, hope, and pain. A squad that has everything on-line, if they don't succeed, they might lose everything. Time is running out and their enemies are every step ahead, the world might collapse. The world needs saving, but this time..hero is not leading the story"

Now y'all, let's start with the checklist, shall we?
Enemies-to-Lovers ✔
Angst, loads of it ✔
A squad on a mission ✔
Story breaking your heart into fragments in first half ✔
YEARNING AND AGONY ✔
Time-Travel ✔
Queer rep (not the main character, but the side couple) ✔
Begging on your knees for the second book, even though the first hasn't been released yet? ✔

Only A Monster follows Joan, a teenage girl sent to stay with her mother’s side of the family, who finds out that there’s more to them – and herself – than she ever realised. Namely, that they’re monsters, and that means she’s half-monster too.

If that wasn’t enough, Joan then discovers that the cute boy that she’s been volunteering with, crushing on and generally obsessing over, isn’t just a human either: Nick’s a monster hunter, fabled as the only one who can unravel the hidden world that they’ve created.

When Joan suffers an unimaginable tragedy at the hands of the boy she’s in love with, she’s forced to team up with her worst enemy in an attempt to repair the damage that Nick’s done, before it’s too late.

I’ve read so many YA books that have flipped tropes and age-old stories on their heads, but I’ve never read anything that does it quite like Only A Monster. It’s a typical hero story except, for the first time ever, I had to root against the hero, and the moral-greyness of it all was completely flawless.

It definitely took time for me to connect with the three main characters – Joan, Nick, or Joan’s now-ally, Aaron – and I was worried initially that I wasn’t entirely rooting for any of them but, somewhere in the middle, I became completely obsessed with all three. Joan developed into a strong-willed fierce heroine (villain??), Aaron became the newest addition to a long line of arrogant, fictional posh boys that are super easy to fall in love with, and Nick got more and more complex until I genuinely couldn’t figure out how I felt about his mission.

The story was fairly fast-paced, but there was so much world-building included too that the hidden monster world within our own was completely believable and fully developed. It was so easy towards the end to get completely sucked into Joan’s world that I found myself anxiously turning the pages, genuinely concerned about what would happen next, until the very last chapter. Even during the times when the story was slightly slower, I was already so invested that I couldn’t stop reading for even a second.

I had high hopes for this book, and yet it took me completely by surprise how wholly I got sucked into it. I have so many questions that I want answering in the next book and, honestly, I don’t know if I’ll be able to get this book out of my head until then.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this arc.

This was on my list for one of the books that I am most looking forward to in 2022. The story follows Joan, who learns that her family are monsters and the boy that she has fallen for is the hero who is meant to slay monsters. This is a unique storyline and just from the blurb I had a lot of questions about how the story would go!
This was a super fast action filled book that I read in one sitting as I couldn't put it down. I really loved the world, the characters, the different families and cannot wait to read more to see how the rest of the story will play out.

☆☆☆½

I was really excited for this book and whilst it was still a good book it just wasn’t what I thought it would be.

This book grabbed my attention because of its interesting and unique angle. I can't remember reading a YA fantasy novel from the point of view of the bad guys, or in this case, monsters. Definitely an intruiging concept!
The story was also interesting and I finished the book in a day, lying to myself that I'll stop after the next chapter all the way until the last one.

Why then am I giving Only a Monster 3 stars? Well, there's a few reasons:

1. I was missing the actual scariness of the monsters. They could've been a lot more terrifying with maybe their appereance or powers. And as bad as stealing time from people is, it's not scary enough to label someone a "monster". I imagen them having a secret terrifying look that they hide behind the mask of looking like a human. Or having some evil powers that make them mortifying. Or at least harder to kill.
Maybe I'm just in the mood to be properly scared since it's Halloween when I'm writing this review but I was left dissapointed by all the mosters and their abilities.

2. I wish we got to understand more about the families and their relationships. All we got is a rhyme about what each family's power is. Yes, we delved into a few of them but it would've been interesting to know what makes the Olivers so hated and why do the Hunts are always hiding.

3. The ending... I understand that this is only the first of three books but it could've easily be a stand-alone since the ending gave no cliffhander whatsoever. There's a lot of unaswered questions and lots of interesting directions this story can take but I was hoping for a cliffhanger that'll make me want the next book as soon as possible. Instead I got a pretty okay ending with no hint at what might be coming next.

Overall, I enjoyed Only a Monster - it is a breath of fresh air, it is well written and entertaining. But the three points I made kept on bugging me when I was thinking about my score. That said, I'm looking forward to see how Vanessa Len will continue this story but can we please agree on more Aaron in the next book?

3.5 stars - thanks to NetGalley for my ARC!

What first attracted me was the tagline <i>Only a Monster... can kill a hero</i>. I really liked the idea that for a change, the protagonist would be the 'conventionally evil' monster as opposed to the hero. This played out through the book in an interesting way and the author did a great job of demonstrating how even heroes can be seen as monstrous.

Joan <i>knew</i> she was just an ordinary 16 year old, right up until she sets out for a date with Nick and somehow skips hours ahead into the future. From then it was a fast-paced plot which revealed she and her entire maternal family were monsters, and Nick is a hero fated to kill them all.

Where the book fell down a bit for me was the lack of character development. Joan felt fairly bizarrely not curious - apparently never questioning that some of her family could make objects appear or disappear out of thin air - and although her character ARC was interesting, it didn't feel fully developed. I also felt that many of the other 'main' characters felt quite 2D which again made it difficult to feel fully invested in the plot and the danger they faced.

I liked the worldbuilding and what the monster abilities were - again, I would have liked this to be fleshed out a bit more. The references to a King didn't really give enough detail about how the monarchy of monsters worked, and Joan's lack of curiosity meant the reader doesn't find out about many of these potentially interesting areas.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would definitely try the next one in the trilogy. This one felt as though it was fairly self-contained but a future sequel will hopefully build on the world this book began to explore.

"Real monsters look like me and you"

I adored this book, it's everything I wanted it to be and more, filled with morally grey characters whom you often forget are monsters despite their actions and way they work being worthy of the description, and a unique magic system this book will sweep you off your feet.

Dealing with time travel, morality, self-acceptance, this novel plays with the question are monsters born or made, I promise this book lives up to the hype. Expect twists and turns, emotional outcomes and get ready for your new favourite read.

I need book 2 and 3 now.

https://www.instagram.com/charley.therabbithole/

The pacing and writing style was phenomenal and broke me out of a reading slump (!). The character arcs played out well and I particularly adored Nick even though he didn't appear as much as I would've liked. The romance element was a bit confusing and I hope this will be touched upon in the second book. On that note, the magic system was a bit bonkers in my opinion and I couldn't understand how anything function most of the time. To give credit where credit is due, the diversity present made me want to cry because it was SO CASUAL. Full review to come on my blog.

Only a Monster is a fun, fast-paced YA urban fantasy with enough plot twists to keep you hooked on the story. However, while I would recommend this book to younger/YA readers looking for an original urban fantasy novel with interesting world-building and characters, personally I had a little trouble getting into this book.

The plot kicks off quite quickly, which at first I appreciated. However, as the story progressed, I realised that because of this, we didn't get much time at the beginning of the story to really establish many of the characters, and Joan's relationships with them. This meant that some of the later scenes fell a bit flat to me, and I had trouble really caring about many of the characters or the stakes of the novel, because we were basically just told why these people were important to Joan, but the emotional stakes behind these connections weren't really there.

However, I did enjoy the ending of this novel, and I also liked how Joan's biracial heritage related to her being half-monster and half-human. But overall, I felt that while I liked many of the ideas the author had, in general I had trouble connecting/caring about many of the characters and the story.

I would recommend this book for younger readers though, as I think they would probably enjoy it more than I did.

Firstly, Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was really excited for this book because the pitch WAS AMAZING. Monsters in England?? Time travel?? Enemies to lovers?? Soulmates?? Monster court heists?? Yes!! So I was really happy when I was granted an ARC for this amazing book 💖


“Olivers see. Hunts hide. Nowaks live. Patels bind. Portellis open. Hathaways leash. Nightingales Take. Mtawalis keep. Argents sway. Alis seal. Griffiths reveal. But only the Lius remember.”


Only a Monster is set in England with aspects such as time travel, monsters, heists and more! I loved everything about this book- I can’t even explain how much I enjoyed reading it!!

The writing and plot were PHENOMENAL. The writing was descriptive and rich, the plot was well paced. I love how the author expressed Joan’s biracial identity and drew parallels between her being half Chinese and half British, and her being half human and half monster. Only a Monster expressed a new take on “heroes” and “monsters” and I am here for it! The world building was great and I really enjoyed how different families had different powers, it was super cool!

The characters in this book were one of the best I have ever read about. Joan was a great character, she was kind and was willing to do absolutely anything for her loved ones. Aaron was also an amazing character, he was a bit stuck up and entitled, but I really enjoyed his character arc. Nick, well I did enjoy Nick’s character but I was not expecting the outcome that came at the end! I also loved how Joan and Aaron had to work together to survive despite their families having a hatred for each other. In terms of the romance- let’s just say I was not expecting what happened, and while it did leave me a bit confused I do expect more clarity in book two.

The various themes explored such as family and identity were extremely interesting to read about, and they were very important too. In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I cannot wait to read the next one to see how Joan’s journey continues. Vanessa Len has truly written magic! 💖

TL;DR: A magnificent contemporary fantasy debut that explores identity, monsters, heists, family, time travel, and will have any reader screaming for book two!


TW: On and offscreen deaths of parents and guardians, on and offscreen deaths of family members, threats of violence, violence, blood, murder, weapon use, brainwashing, interrogation, involuntary drug use, real-world racist micro-aggressions, fantasy xenophobia.

I wasn't expecting to love this as much as I did, but holy crap, Only A Monster turned out to be so damn amazing. Right from the start, the action picks up and pulls you into the story. I loved the concept of the powers, of the families and the whole worldbuilding surrounding the parallel world of monsters that exists in this book.

This is such a perfect book to read during the spooky season. I devoured it so quickly. And the writing is just absolutely stunning. I already want the sequel now because this book was just so damn good; I literally cannot wait for the next book.

A journey through time itself, a race to the undo what has been done. It took be a little while to get into the story and meld with the characters but once I was it was like a mystery, I had to know the solution to, a tale that's ending had to be found. I was a little addicted the plotline to say the truth. The ending...without ruining any spoilers all I can say is...my heart!

To create a brilliant book, you need several aspects as a writer but there is only one element you must naturally have; and that is the ability to create a world and characters in vivid details with a story that the reader wants to journey along and know the ending of. Vanessa Len has proven in her debut novel that she has this gift. By the end I was needing more, enraptured by the main character and yet had so many mixed emotions about that ending. I re-read the last chapter before writing this review and I still don't know what to feel. This is not necessarily the story you think you are getting when reading the title...but it is the story you will want to read until the very end and beyond.

There were a few negative aspects about this book but nothing that this brilliant debut author can't work on. Firstly, the locations of Kensington High Street and other places in London were repeated several times on the same page and once twice within two sentences....it cut the flow a bit. The flow on the writing itself was a bit choppy which I believe is why it took me a while to get into the character's shoes and see the world for it vivid images straight away, which as I said can easily be learn. As I said before there are certain qualities you must be a nature writer and the main one is the ability to create and develop a world and characters that the reader can fall into with ease. This author has that talent so I cannot wait to see what she writes and develops next.

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

Only a Monster is the start of a new trilogy that deals with time travel, the fear of the other, morality, self-acceptance and so much more. It is a beautiful, fast-paced tale that is a mix of Passenger and This Savage Song, and while I have not read the latter, I do believe it was better than Passenger (which says a lot as I am obsessed with that duology.)

Vanessa Len has created such a unique magic system that intertwines with fated soulmates and a battle through time. We are introduced to Joan Chang-Hunt, a half-human, half-monster who volunteers at Holland House with a boy called Nick, a monster hunter. While I am usually not the biggest fan of characters realising they are not human and have powers, Len pulled it off incredibly well. Both of these characters were extremely lovable and so human and it was an emotional read as they battled against one another.

We are also introduced to various side characters, such as Aaron Oliver and Ruth Hunt who are equally as lovable people. Everyone feels so human, even though they're not, and they all have wonderful and unique personalities. I appreciate that Len developed her side characters just as well as her main characters as it created a nice atmosphere throughout the book.

The world-building and magic system was also extremely well done, I enjoyed getting to know the twelve Monster families of London and the various displays of their power. It was also great to see the Monster Court and how it works with time - time is at the forefront of this novel as it deals heavily with time travel, which in turn creates many dilemmas and evokes the main thematic concern of morality and the fear of the other.

The book also had many plot twists throughout, many of which were very emotional and shocking. There was also a great deal of subtle foreshadowing involved which was revealed in the end, which made for a very sad ending while leaving plot threads unresolved for the sequel. I have many theories for the rest of the trilogy and I am eager to read the sequels and other books Len releases.

This is definitely my favourite YA fantasy of the year - Vanessa Len is a writer to watch. I strongly encourage everyone to pre-order this book before release: February 17th 2022. - 5*