Charlie poured a shot of Four Roses for a tweedy guy in dirty glasses who looked like he’d been sleeping in his clothes and told her he didn’t like his bourbon too sweet. Then she crossed to the other end of the bar, pausing to make a whiskey-and-ginger for Balthazar himself when he waved her over. Charlie Hall is an (allegedly) retired con-artist and current bartender who’s trying to scrape by. She lives with her sister Posey and her boyfriend Vince, and really just wants to bide her time in relative obscurity. But once a thief, always a thief, and Charlie can’t seem to resist the urge to investigate when things start to go awry. Because there’s been a change in Charlie’s world over the past several decades. Gloamists, once designated to the shadows that they control, have reached a popular consciousness. It turns out people’s shadows have power, and gloamists aren’t the only ones looking to capitalize on this new dominion.

Just one last note. The story ends on a cliffhanger that clearly sets up for a sequel. I'm not a fan of books that pretend to be standalones, but actually turn out to be the first in a series. And especially when I didn't enjoy the book, it means I don't even get the satisfaction of having reached a real conclusion. So there's that. The most richly accomplished of the brothers’ pairings to date—and given Connelly’s high standards, that’s saying a lot. I absolutely adored Charlie. She’s an ex-thief, ex-conperson, trying (and failing) to stay on the straight and narrow by bartending since her last job got her shot and the boyfriend who betrayed her killed. She has a new live-in boyfriend, a slightly mysterious fellow called Vince who doesn’t ask questions of her on the understanding she doesn’t ask questions of him—although maybe she should—and is trying to get together enough money for her younger sister to give up an obsession with magic and go to college. Except Charlie is irredeemably self-destructive: when it comes to men, when it comes to decisions, when it comes to not getting involved in the high-profile theft of a book called the Liber Noctis that might be connected not only to a bunch of murders but a conspiracy involving a ruthless billionaire called Lionel Salt. I have to be honest: I could give additional star just for the last line Charlie said: I sighed so many times and hugged my e-reader as if I was hugging Charlie. ( you’ll understand me when you read it) Determined to survive, she's up against a cast of doppelgängers, mercurial billionaires, gloamists, and the people she loves best in the world - all trying to steal a secret that will allow them control of the shadow world and more.Determined to survive, she’s up against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, gloamists, and the people she loves best in the world―all trying to steal a secret that will give them vast and terrible power If her shadow had been one of those magic ones, she was pretty sure even that thing would have run away. Charlie Hall, at her best when doing her worst. Whenever she tried to create something, it broke apart in her hands. But blowing something up? There, Charlie had an unerring instinct for greatness." But for me, the biggest issue is that the story just doesn't make sense. The different parts of the magical world felt randomly tossed together without really blending into a cohesive whole. And the characters' actions don't really ring true for me either. Charlie, in particular, did so many things for no reason other than that she "makes bad decision," which is literally the explanation given. I did enjoy how morally grey the characters, especially Charlie. I thought she was a solid main and I look forward to learning more about her.

Well, if you're going into this expecting it to be like, The Cruel Prince, then, yeah, you might be disappointed. It's no Folk of Air. But is that really a fair comparison? That's like if you're disappointed that 10 million dollars isn't 50 million dollars. It's still 10 million dollars. A delicious, dark, adrenaline rush of a book. I'm already dying to see Charlie Hall's next con." - New York Times bestselling author, Alix E. Harrow Determined to survive, she’s up against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, gloamists, and the people she loves best in the world—all trying to steal a secret that will give them vast and terrible power. Apart from this novel series, author Holly has written a few other successful novel series’ in her writing career. One of them is the Modern Tale of Faerie series, which is based on the young adult genre. Holly was born on November 10, 1971 in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States. but i do still have lingering questions... the main one being what is the point? i guess once we find out how shadow manipulation gone wrong works i was compelled. but the idea of manipulating your shadow to have horns/wings or to like do some tasks for you? i didn't understand the point unless it's supposed to be a power for power's sake/the rich can have it and you can't thing. felt like a weak reason for this magic to exist in the first place.

Like I said though, it's no Cruel Prince. My main complaints are that, 1. I guessed the ending. 2. The magic world was interesting but CONFUSING and as a world that really only has like one magical thing and shouldn't be that complicated, I felt like it took me a lot longer to grasp than it should have. 3. I NEEDED MORE ROMANCE, maybe I have a problem (I high key can't make it through 80% of books if they don't have sufficient amounts of romance in them) but I felt like I could've used a little bit more umph in that department. Love was a family religion, passed down to her when she'd been too young to protect herself from belief."