I have never been disappointed by a book so much. Never. Now don't get me wrong, it's not a terrible book by any means, but for all that it promised to be, it completely fell short of what I expected from it.

This is often compared to The House in the Cerulean Sea and while I really don't want to compare the two, that was the selling point for me. I expected a wholesome and inspiring story with adorable and precious characters that all make up this wonderful found family. On the whole, this story is just that. It's cozy, the characters are lovable, and there is found family. But I thought it was all executed so poorly and so ineffectively that I read every page feeling pretty much nothing.

Everything about this book was just so bland. None of the characters have much depth to them. Yes, they have their distinct quirks and traits that make them unique but nothing was done to really make me root for them. Thus, I didn't care about any of the character relationships, including the incredibly lackluster romance.

Overall this book was just so corny and boring. The dialogue was predictable and unrealistic. And I'm saying that as someone who doesn't mind corny and predictable, being a longtime fan of middle grade books. If you disliked how cheesy Cerulean was in some parts (which I did), you are going to hate this book. The worldbuilding also felt forced. It was interesting at first but then turned out to be shallower than water on a freshly washed plate. And the story itself was just so meh and tonally inconsistent. I honestly don't get how much hype this book has been getting recently.

The one merit this book has is how diverse the cast of characters is, but that's about it.