I'm kind of shocked how much I liked this given that Aila was regularly kind of... a lot. Characters that are heavy on the anxiety I find intensely relatable and unbearably obnoxious, primarily because I find that quality in myself unbearably obnoxious. (It's not helped that dealing with someone else's fictional anxiety, I have the mental distance to have a scoffing voice going: How is spiraling like this helping and, seriously, how likely are any of these scenarios, you catastrophizing drama queen? The empathy is not there because that is absolutely the kind of reality check I wish I had the wherewithal to give myself in the moment but alas.) So Aila was regularly a struggle for me but she was propped up by so much amazing stuff around her.

Primarily, the world-building. For such a fantastical scenario, there was so much mundanity surrounding it that it really grounded the thing. Budget reports and interoffice politics and annoying customers and meetings with department heads, I mean, it was the boring reality of being a grown-up doing a job but juxtaposed with phoenixes and kelpies and griffins. That's fucking cool, it just is. Also? The set-up was so well done, everything that needed to be there for the climax had been layered in so far in advance that I couldn't help but be totally gleeful about all of it.

I also really loved that Aila got smacked in the nose for treating Tanya like a side character in her life. Too often in books like these, the best friend becomes synonymous with nosy observer or crutch or plot device. And while Tanya was definitely that at times, it was still nice that she got to have a moment where she made it clear to Aila that while she was supportive, her life wasn't all about her.

Also, *happy sigh*, a love story that felt earned. While it was obvious (from the very beginning) who Aila was going to end up with and what the trope driving that forward was, it still wasn't insta-love, you still got to watch in real time how attraction doesn't equal love or shared interests or anything else that nearly all fiction likes to pretend it does. Aila's interest in Connor was wonderfully done, especially since it's a dynamic you almost nEVER get to see. She's tongue-tied, adorably confuzzled, quirky oddball girl around him, heart in her throat, blush in her cheeks, hand-wringing, short of breath dorktastic around him and then they finally go out on a date only to realize they have absolutely nothing in common. That. Was. GLORIOUS. And weirdly vindicating!! This is what I'm yelling at the hundreds of book where characters declare their love for each other before they've even had a conversation. THIS. THIIIIIIIS, you dumb idiots!!!! VINDICAAAATION!!

I can't say that this was a perfect book but it gave me so many things I needed and that I almost never get to see that, well, it's nearly indistinguishable from one for me.