Only A Monster Review: This book is one of my surprise favorites of this year.
Only A Monster by Vanessa Len tells the story of sixteen-year-old Joan, who learns the truth of her family: they’re secretly all monsters. After uncovering her own terrifying, hidden powers one day, she soon learns that the boy she likes–Nick–also has a hidden secret: he’s a legendary monster slayer who has vowed to hunt down and kill every single one of her kind that he can find. Even worse is that, in order to save her family, she’s forced to team up with the heir to an enemy monster family, the ruthless yet beautiful Aaron Oliver, whom she absolutely cannot stand.
Only A Monster Review
A lover of epic fantasy series, I must admit that I do not have as much interest in urban fantasy books, so I didn’t expect to fall in love with this book as much as I did.
I was actually taken by surprise. The majority of this book is set in the “monster world,” which deferred from the real world, however, so that is likely why and how it kept me so enthralled. In that sense, it made it feel a lot more similar to a high fantasy setting, even though it was not. I really enjoyed learning about this secret world. The worldbuilding was a lot of fun, and the entire premise for the novel was just a really unique and creative concept.
I also love the idea of a story about a girl who is NOT the hero.
I really loved Aaron. He reminded me a bit of the Aaron from the Shatter Me series—partly because he shared the same name and blond hair—but also because he had similar “my dad is an asshole and he’s the one who made me this way” brooding, misunderstood villain vibes.
There was also a lot of funny banter between Aaron and Joan that kept me grinning throughout the earlier chapters of the book.
Although I adore angsty love stories (typically the more angst, the better), I actually didn’t care for Nick or the romance between him and Joan at all. It was just rather bland to me (although I did enjoy their final moments of the book together and what the author chose to do with that scene.)
I’m suspecting that the author is setting things up so that Aaron can be end-game. At least that is my hope. Although Nick is portrayed as the soulmate type and one she’s destined to be with, it would completely match the whole “you can change the timeline” theme of this book if Joan were to realize that even destiny and soulmates and fated love can be changed. So it’s just my guess that the author has purposely painted Nick as the one Joan’s supposed to be with specifically so that she can subvert that in book 2 and have her end up with Aaron. I really hope I’m right because Aaron is the one I’m rooting for!
Also—this has no affect on my star rating, but the author dropped a Dr Who reference in this book, and while I don’t typically like pop culture references in fantasy novels, I was actually kinda excited to learn she’s a fellow Dr Who fan (or at least I’m assuming she is)!
I also read the acknowledgements section at the end of the book and found out she’s writing buddies with CS Pacat, who is one of my favorite authors, so that was a happy surprise as well.
I’ll definitely be reading more from this author and checking out Never a Hero as soon as it’s released later this year.
It was a quick and entertaining read, worthy of the 3.75 stars I’m giving it just for how easily it kept my attention, despite some of its flaws.
Read this book if you’re a fan of enemies to lovers stories, YA fantasy, angsty boys, unique worlds, and metaphors about how monsters exist inside us all.
Only A Monster Review Originally Written on May 4, 2023
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