This is a 2.5 for me.

"Live spelled backwards is evil."

I would be lying if I said the first line didn't get me, because it did. It was where I thought, "okay, this sounds like something I'll enjoy". Especially because I love morally gray characters or stories that lets you experience and see the villain side.

I wanted to like this so much, but sadly it didn't live up to my expectation. One of the reasons I find the book hard to finish is because it focused more on telling than showing. There's a lot of explaining going in a scene that I think is not necessary to understand the point of the story. The pov or "inner monologues" as I'd like to call them, were too long that it's dragging and I lose track of what's currently happening in a chapter.

They say origin stories are often a hit or miss—sadly, Shattered was a miss for me. Although the book has great potential and promise, it was executed poorly and I felt underwhelmed. I think this fits better for a YA to NA audience considering the profanities, sexual scene & assault, and the heavy theme of the story overall.

I got this arc in exchange for an honest review . Thank you, Julia. You're wonderful and keep writing.