Excited to read another book by M.L.Rio after enjoying 'If We Were Villians'. Shocked at the size (it's actually a novella) but 

Here's what I enjoyed: 
- The dark academia style and setting of the novella. M. L.Rio sure knows how to describe a dark scene. 
-The shift in perspective and how each of the characters told part of the night from their POV whilst revealing anecdotes about themselves. This helped to feed the mystery but also solve it. 
-Some of the inter-relationships between the characters were well established and others felt undercooked. 
-The author's connection to the story and personal battle with insomnia. I felt their author's note at the start of the novella as well as the essay at the end was a heartfelt and raw way to tether the story to them. It was very powerful. 

Here's what I didn't like:
-I felt like the character motivations and the stakes for each of the characters were lacking. What was in it for each of them to solve the mystery?
-A lot of the medical and botany knowledge went over my head and felt like it needed to be scaled down to make it more accessible. 
-The character's were prolific chain smokers. It felt like it was their only personality trait at times... 

This was ultimately a great palate cleanser and nice to try something different (novella) but I think I like more depth and meat to my stories. 

Thank you to Hachette Australia for my gifted copy.