This is a vast improvement over Pearson’s earlier novel We Ate the Dark. There’s only one viewpoint character this time (instead of seven which sometimes caused confusion). The main characters are all art students living together in a dorm instead of young adults with various responsibilities, so it made sense for them to hang out together all the time.

The male character in this book actually does something bad. In the previous book, we’re told the male character was evil, but never actually saw him do anything bad. (However, I do think the male character’s punishment in this book is disproportionate compared to what he did.) The author does a better job with the passage of time as well. (In the previous book, it takes months for things to happen which should have happened much sooner.) It’s not slow-paced or full of filler like We Ate the Dark was.

It’s similar the the author’s previous book in that it’s also about a group of extremely close female friends who are all somewhat in love with each other. However, there’s more tension because the five of them are competing against each other for a solo gallery show and they learn that no one can hurt you more than those closest to you.

This book reminded me somewhat of Little Women since they both feature a tight knit group of young women, one of them is a tomboy named Jo, and the main theme is that things change no matter how much you want them to stay the same.

I couldn’t put this one down. It held my interest throughout and I kept wanting to find out what happened next.