Review: Flip the Script by Lyla Lee


It should have been the perfect summer. Sent to stay with her late mother’s eccentric family in London, sixteen-year-old Joan is determined to enjoy herself. She loves her nerdy job at the historic Holland House, and when her super cute co-worker Nick asks her on a date, it feels like everything is falling into place.

But she soon learns the truth. Her family aren’t just eccentric: they’re monsters, with terrifying, hidden powers. And Nick isn’t just a cute boy: he’s a legendary monster slayer, who will do anything to bring them down.

As she battles Nick, Joan is forced to work with the beautiful and ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family that hates her own. She’ll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .

. . . she is not the hero.


Have you guys heard of 'self insert' fanfiction? It's Fanfiction written with the intent of the reader being able to insert themselves into the story as the main female lead. It's a biiiiiiig thing in the K-Pop fanfic community - a community that I was part of for a few years of my life. Anyway, I have to admit that for the first 10-15% of this book I honestly thought that this book read like a self insert fanfic, it even had all of the typical tropes (K-Pop pretty boys, fake dating) and I was thinking 'ugh, not this!'.

Thankfully, the book did take a different turn and I really appreciated it. I expected Hana and Bryan to be the endgame couple so I definitely enjoyed the turn that this book took from that. I have to give kudos for that much, this book was not as tropey and cringey as I expected when I first started it. That being said, it was still pretty tropey and cringey.

Look, I am a big K-pop fan. I watch the dramas and follow the groups and read the news. I don't claim to be Korean or an expert on the Korean entertainment industry, but this book very much did read like a very shallow view on it. First there was the constant exposition at the start, explaining the filming schedule and and the airing schedule, which was the epitome of telling not showing. Then, there was the ending which just did not read as realistic, which is fine but it just didn't sit with me.

I didn't really care for a lot of the characters. Sure, Hana was nice, but I'd have liked to see a little more of her complicated feelings, which in theory make up a part of the plot but didn't really come through. Bryan was a golden boy, but he was so uninteresting. The best character by far was Minjee who did come across a little more complicated and there was some slightly deeper personality traits. Still, these three make up the core characters and they just didn't do enough for me.

There's not a lot to say about the writing. It was youthful, the dialogue came across as superficial sometimes but it did keep me reading.

Overall, I did enjoy Flip the Script but I found it super shallow. For a book tackling homosexuality in one of the worlds most judgemental entertainment industries it didn't really tackle it so well, and everything was so easily wrapped up. A quick breezy read, but not one I'll think about past finishing it.  





Book released 31st May 2022 by Katherine Tegen
Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

Review: Only a Monster by Vanessa Len



It should have been the perfect summer. Sent to stay with her late mother’s eccentric family in London, sixteen-year-old Joan is determined to enjoy herself. She loves her nerdy job at the historic Holland House, and when her super cute co-worker Nick asks her on a date, it feels like everything is falling into place.

But she soon learns the truth. Her family aren’t just eccentric: they’re monsters, with terrifying, hidden powers. And Nick isn’t just a cute boy: he’s a legendary monster slayer, who will do anything to bring them down.

As she battles Nick, Joan is forced to work with the beautiful and ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family that hates her own. She’ll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .

. . . she is not the hero.

To say I have mildly conflicting feelings about Only a Monster would be an understatement. I possibly should have waited a while to let those feelings settle before writing this review, but I just have to get them out there now. This book took a little while to hook me in but hoooo boy, when it got me it got me! I was absolutely absorbed and when I had to pause reading for a little while because of Christmas festivities I was just itching to get it back open.

I think for me, the power of this book is in the ending. The start was a slow burn for me, and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to push through. The middle does a lot of set-up and worldbuilding and starts building a lot more on the characters and the lore and the powers in the book. The ending was just fantastic though. Gripping, powerful, romantic, poignant and almost perfectly wrapped up aside from a lot of questions which have me soooo ready for the sequel. Like this book could probably work as a standalone, but I am not upset that there's going to be more. I was just starting to get my head around some things and then woosh more questions and more drama and... gah!

To start with, I didn't really love Joan but she grew on me. Aaron was an immediate winner (I love the rich boy with a secret soft spot trope and Aaron is just a perfect for it). Ruth was rough and ready and a great support. Tom was a fantastic side character and I am so glad that he got extra dimensions and became a big part of the story. I'm conflicted about Nick, which I think I'm meant to be. Vanessa Len manages to build this love triangle that I am already invested in between Joan, Nick and Aaron without it being overbearing. In fact until the last 20% of the book, the romance is very much barely there, but I love the set up for the sequel so I am so onboard with it. I am so hoping the triangle skews in the direction I am supporting but the set up towards the end makes me think I may be a little disappointed on that front.

I can't say this book is the best I've read because there were definite flaws. Obviously the fact that I struggled to get into it at the start is one of them, and I think it's just because while the story and the characters and the world was standout, I didn't feel the same way about Len's writing. It wasn't bad, but at times I found the dialogue a little... unnatural? I also felt that there was a habit of repeating previous character's quotes to push the story forward and remind us of previous conversations and sometimes it just didn't fit for me.

That being said, Only a Monster is definitely a standout book, and one of the best urban fantasy titles that I've had the pleasure of reading in a long time. I love the darker undertones and the world building and I can't wait to dive a lot deeper into that with the two remaining titles in this series. 






Book released february 22nd 2022 by HarperTeen
Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review