ARC review; thanks to NetGalley and Indie/Self for the access to this book. This isn't a new release though. 

I think this is a good book to read in between dense or more challenging books. On its own, it's a decent story. The strongest thing it has going for it, in my opinion, is the FMC's character development from a selfish, self-centered, casually cruel, spoilt brat, to someone who manages to care about people. That kind of change is always fun to see play out. The way that it happened, with the scheme, felt a little melodramatic, but overall it was fine. The writing style also makes the book very easy to get through. 

The story is nothing new, so if you've read a similar story before where an unlikable, privileged character changes when put in the place of the people they look down on and with the help of a counterpart character who challenges them to make them better, then you know how this will go. The beats it follows are very expected. That predictability doesn't make it a bad book, it just makes it an average one. 

Also, I want to say I hated the spice. It felt very out of place and I don't think it was at all necessary for the relationship development. Moreover, this has an epilogue that makes it seem like the story will continue in a sequel or something, and that also feels unnecessary. It should've stayed as a standalone and I don't think there's anything here to expand on at all. I certainly wouldn't be interested in continuing, so this is a standalone to me.