I really struggled with the first book in the series, mainly because of how all over the place the story was and how much of the word building I didn't understand. Still, I loved the characters and wanted to read the next installment in the series, so I gave this book a good. Where "Nameless" had at least left my brain intact after finishing it, "Wayfarer" melted it into a total mess.

If I was at least able to enjoy the characters in the previous book, "Wayfarer" destroyed even that for me, especially when it came to Ellie. In "Nameless" she came off as a very intelligent, albeit troubled, girl, understandable considering the kind of stepmother she has. The only bright spot in this whole story was Avery, the voice of reason whereas Ellie was impulsive, at times illogical, and simply frustrating to follow along. I didn't understand her visions that she kept having, or what part Rita had in this entire story, and forget about the concept of 'charming' and 'sigiling' - that flew right over my head. So you have a main character that makes you wanna grab and shake her, and a lovely boy who likes her who you wish would shake some sense into her.

The plot is just all over. The part with Auntie actually made me think of Beauty and the Beast rather than Cinderella, so the moment of Ellie needing to come home before midnight didn't feel right. It was like there was a crossbreed of stories here that ended up losing the charm of the original. I did, however, like some of the spins on elements from the original story, but overall "Nameless" was much better done that this. I at least liked Cami and didn't struggle with her as a lead character, whereas the only thing that kept Ellie somewhat grounded was Avery, and even then we don't get to see much of him.

Will I read the next book? Yup. I know it's been a really difficult series to follow but heck I wanna know just what kind of story Ruby will have and see the spin on Little Red Riding Hood. As for Cinderella, I always couldn't really get into the story and this book brought to light some of the issues I always had with it. The main problem with the series is that constant dropping of the fictitious history but no clear layout, and adding in an all-over-the-place plot and not quite pleasant main character doesn't do much help either.

Dru is a teen girl who's use to moving from place to place with her dad, kicking butt an taking names. When Dru moves to a new town, she thought it would be the same as always, do their business and move on, but not this time. Dru's being tracked by someone or something and needs all the help she can get. Secrets about who and what she is start to change her world. Dru has always been into the "supernatural world" hunting with her dad and knowing things exist, but now she's one of them. For the first time she needs to be rescued, even if she doesn't wanna admit it. 

This is a great book, it has vampires, dhampirs and werewolves, among other things. It's an original idea for sure, specially for the YA genre. Dru isn't a girly girl and she's not a weakling, she's a serious butt kicker for sure. Definitely a book to read if your into vampires but don't want a silly heroine. 

This is one of those books that I've been wanting, no - DYING, to read. The title, the cover, the summary, it all sounded so juicy and amazing and I just needed to read it.

At the same time it also ended up falling into another category - books that ended up disappointing me and confusing the heck out of me as well. Already about a quarter of the way in I could feel that this book and I weren't working the way I thought we would and I kept asking "WHY?"

The one plus side of this one was its cast of characters, namely Cami, Ruby, and Ellie. I loved their personalities and the plot that surrounded Cami - at least, I loved it until the "big reveal", which wasn't as big as I anticipated it to be. Ruby and Ellie were also rewritten versions of two fairy tale characters and their personalities were spot on, I think, compared to the original ones, and it's so pleasant to see an author breath a breath of fresh air into some well loved and familiar characters. Nico I was somewhat iffy about, and most of the other characters I didn't develop much of an opinion of, while some like the Seven I didn't understand even when I finished reading, which brings me to the one big downfall of this book:

THE WORLD-BUILDING. It wouldn't be fair to say it was non-existent, but it was rather limited. I barely got my head around the concepts of Twists, Charmers, and jacks, after they came up several times throughout the story. Other terms, like The Kiss, or Borrowing, or what exactly happened to leaders of the Family when they passed on and became Elders/the Seven, or even what the heck was this "whiskey and calf" that kept appearing several times as a small detail. The geography of this dystopian world was the one thing I'd say was non-existent. Yes, you have the rich areas and the Twisted areas where the poor layer lived, but beyond that I had no understanding of the concept the author was pushing forward. The same goes with the history of this world and what was known as "The Reeve" that occurred, from what I understood, after the First World War and was sparked by Tesla. I'm not surprised though if what I understood was, in fact, wrong, but that just goes to show how poorly these concepts were laid out for the reader's understanding.

Another thing though that I enjoyed was the twist that was put on the original story and that, in fact, this was a dystopian version of THE ORIGINAL tale, where there was also the hairpin and the satin ribbon/choker, both of which are commonly omitted from retellings of Snow White. The concept was by far the most original and interesting one that I've seen, and it saddens me that the world building and high level of confusion I felt while reading prevented me from enjoying this book as much as I thought I would. I mean you have an emotional ending, a main character that has a dark past and pains and does break down at times but at the same time also has a backbone and strength of will and the heart.

I will be reading the next book in the series - "Wayfarer" - to see if (hopefully) the level of confusion will decrease and if the wonderful personalities of the characters will be preserved. I also want to find out more about Ellie and Ruby as characters and for that I will persevere. This one, however, ended up to be much duller than the gem I hoped to find.

DNF at around 50%.

I remember I wasn't too fussed about the first book, just that it got better near the end. Considering I read it over a year ago I can't remember a thing about what happened but when I saw this in the window of the charity shop I thought, "why not?"

Unless you read this more or less straight after the first book--which I don't have anymore--like me you might find it a little hard to figure out what's going on and be confused.