Started as a 5-star read, dwindled to 2-star and then finally redeemed itself to stand at solid 3-star.

In other long words, the book showed a LOT of promise, the plot was well-thought out, the intricacies, the powers of all the monster-families and it served as a good launch-pad for future sequels (I am told two more are planned by the way, Can't Wait!)

But! Where it all came crashing down was the execution. The way there was NO clever foreshadowing, and everything just seem to FALL into our heroine's lap. Plot points were introduced at the convenience willy-nilly and the CONSTANT REPITITION of what has happened through narration, made surviving the mid-point of novel a VERY drudgery task.

BUT...in the end, some things happened, and the resolve was good (if not forced). Hence it KINDA redeemed itself, enough that if a sequel arrives, I would be compelled to read it.

Firstly this is a great new concept for a new young adult fantasy.



An imaginative and exciting read.



Joan has been brought up being told she is a monster… but never truly believes she is. Until Joan arrives for a date and one moment she is waiting and the next? 
She’s missed the entire day.



When Joan goes home to her family, her life starts to unravel…

Love, loss and a little bit of monster magic.. I loved this book and the twists and turns.

The very natural LGBTQ+ characters in this melted my heart. I am eager to read the next book!



I am so grateful to have been able to read this one early. A big thank you to NetGalley, Vanessa Len and Hodder and Stoughton for sharing the E-arc and allowing me to read it.



Make sure to read this book as soon as you can.
Available on: 17 February 2022

Vanessa Len woke up one day and thought, Hey, you know what YA fantasy needs? a mass murdering love interest who wants to kill the heroine’s family and another love interest who left her to die one time, as a little treat. And she was RIGHT. This book took me by complete surprise and I loved every minute of it. Although the beginning starts out as your typical cliché YA fantasy with the heroine finding out that all along they were secretly special and the life they have known is a lie, it very quickly does a complete u-turn and starts throwing in plot twists galore. The whole thing is just so exciting to read, and my favourite thing about it was probably just how much it reminded me of being a teenager reading YA fantasy for the first time again.

The main draw of Only a Monster is the new perspective of ‘monsters’ within a fantasy story and the time travel. Because everyone loves a bit of time travel, right? Vanessa has crafted a world that sits upon the one we already know and brought it alive with a fast-paced plot and intriguing characters you can’t help but root for. Urban fantasy is so compelling when done right, the magical sitting prettily beside the mundane, and Only a Monster does it so right. In urban fantasy more than any other type of fantasy, the story really suffers when the details aren’t quite right. For instance, if your main character is walking along a street that actually exists and people in the real world have walked the same steps, seen the same sights, physically experienced that world and then what you’ve written gives a completely different impression? It’s going to be weird and, to be honest, probably bad. But Vanessa’s descriptions of London are so vibrant without bogging us down with too many details. It feels like the city I’ve wandered and, even better, the fantasy elements are incorporated beautifully.

A lot of the success can be attributed to the writing, balancing a fast pace with enough information to keep me intrigued. Everything that started out stereotypical to the genre was turned upside down and twisted, played with in a way that really made the main character’s journey feel deeply fulfilling. Vanessa gave a witty and interesting voice to Joan, who is so headstrong and out of her depth that she very easily could have veered into annoying territory, but instead she’s loveable, tenacious and funny, especially when interacting with Aaron, the boy from a rival family that she’s forced to work with.

There’s a really strong supporting cast and they offered a lot more to the table in terms of how invested I found I could get in them than I first anticipated. Additionally, there are achillean side characters who I love so much I could read a whole book series just about them. The secondary characters are diverse in a way that made the real-world part of the urban fantasy feel even more believable, and they were all developed well within just this one book so I can’t wait to see what’s in store for them in book two (also kind of terrified – who knows how Vanessa will hurt me with that one).

My favourite part of the whole thing though is how it deconstructs the idea of the monster and the hero within fantasy stories, flipping the roles, making us root for the ‘monster’ character. I always love when a fantasy pushes itself beyond the ideas of good and evil, and without giving anything away, we really got to see that from Only a Monster. I’m looking forward to seeing what the sequel does with this too, building upon the questions and foundations laid in this first book to really get to the beating heart of Joan’s moral dilemmas. There’s also some interesting parallels made between Joan’s identity as both half-monster/half-human and half-Chinese/half-English, and I thought Vanessa’s writing on Joan’s experiences of cultures that belong to her but she doesn’t understand in the exact same way someone raised totally immersed within those cultures would be was interesting and I loved that it was included, especially as an ownvoices story.

Only a Monster is not without its flaws, however. It’s just that I loved it so much I didn’t really care about any of them. There were some plot-related questions that I had that didn’t really make much sense when held under scrutiny, especially in regards to the time travel, and it has a tendency to flit around a bit too quickly from scene to scene in some cases but you know what? It was so, so, so much fun.

Both of the main potential relationships are enemies/rivals to lovers and I don’t know what I did to deserve this but here I am. Personally I’m rooting for the romance that I don’t think is going to be endgame and I’m still obsessed, although who knows, maybe I’ll be surprised and my ship will sail off into the sunset by book three.

I’m just sad I finished so quickly and can’t believe I now have to wait for the sequel, especially after an absolutely amazing ending. If you love urban fantasy, messy romances and reading about rude, snobby boys and complicated, mass-murdering love interests, be sure to pick up Only a Monster.

Wow. it takes a lot for something to make me cry but wow this one got me in the feels!!

The world building, the plot, the characters, everything was just perfect. This book kept me engaged through the whole read and i enjoyed every second of it.

Not sure how im going to survive the rest of the series after that ending though!

Thank you Vanessa and NetGalley for this eARC. So... I inhaled this amazing book. It is fast paced, action packed, kept me on the edge of my seat, and an absolute page turner. The plot is unique but the execution just brings it to a whole other level. The writing was descriptive and I loved the concept of a multi-verse, monsters with magic, time-travel, with the star-crossed lovers trope. There is also a diverse cast - biracial main character and LGBTQ+ rep. I was fully immersed in the world and when it came to end… I went “OMG that’s it? I need more!!” This is an amazing debut and a great start t o the trilogy. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and I can’t wait to have a hard copy in my hands - the cover is absolutely stunning!

I am now very invested in Joan’s journey and would like to delve deeper into the Monster Court and meet the beloved characters once again in Book 2. I’m Book 2, am wondering if there will be a love triangle, will we meet the king? Is her gran going to teach her now? What about Nick and Aaron?

It’s tricky to do a full review of this without throwing in some spoilers so I’ll try to keep it relatively brief. This book is great, and if you’re a fan of the enemy soul mate trope, you’re gonna love this.

The premise is that the protagonist Joan is from a long line of “monsters” who steal time from humans, which shortens their lifespan, in order for them to time travel. Each monster family also has their own unique set of powers. Joan is half human and has grown up ignorant of what she is, and what her family can do. When a bedtime story about a hero prophesied to destroy all monsters turns out to be real, she literally races against and through time in order to change the future and set things right, trying to decipher what her Gran’s cryptic message about Joan being the only one who can stop the hero means along the way. The trouble is, the hero is a lot closer to her than Joan realises.

I loved that the author didn’t try to romanticise the monsters or make out that they were the good guys worthy of redemption. Stealing time from humans, and harming them is clearly wrong but other than Joan, none of the monsters seemed to care, but you still like them despite this. It’s never explicitly explained why they are called monsters or why they consider themselves as such, which I found interesting. The magic system is unique and I liked the writing style. The beginning was a little awkward and clunky but it didn’t take long for her to get into her swing.

This was a really easy, enjoyable read and that ending…. chef’s kiss! That ending fucked shit up in the best way possible! This isn’t a standalone (I hope!) as there as so many unanswered questions and loose endings, especially around Aaron, so I can’t wait to join Joan and Co again in the next adventure. Write faster Vanessa!

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the advance copy in return for an honest, unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

A DNF about 30% in.


Thank you to netgalley and publishers for giving me this arc.

Honestly I requested this book purely off the stunning cover. But personally that was a mistake.

I found the book very jumpy and random. Things were never fully explained or made clear. So many things happened so close together. And it was giving me whiplash to try and figure out what was going on.

I do think if things weren’t so action packed. And paced better the book will ups have been good. But I was just getting confused.

Joan loves her family and when they are attacked, she turns everything she knows upside down to make things right. Although they are monsters, she knows they are good people, worth saving. Joan follows her heart, travelling through London in different time zones to run from the 'hero ' intent on killing her to save herself and those she loves.

This book was really pacey. It had some interesting ideas and I couldn't put it down. The world, the rules of monster families, the characters and London in different times all worked to make a gripping read. Very enjoyable and a bit different. Glad I read it.

I would like start by thanking Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy in return for an honest review of this book.

The novel is set in a universe of Monsters who look like humans, and coexist with them in a shadow world. It's a YA fantasy (to a large extent), and has the typical romance stream (a la Romeo & Juliette), as well as broken families, long standing feuds, mysterious governing powers, and a magical underpinning that envelops it all, with a healthy dose of time travel (because - why not?!).

For a YA novel, this is fine. It is a captivating read, the characters are alive and vibrant, the story has solid internal consistency, and the worldbuilding is interesting enough. While not young anymore, I found it difficult to put the book down, and it's saying something. Definitely would recommend it to teens who like fantasy.

That being said, this novel is not without its flaws, some quite glaring. First and foremost, it is permeated by deus ex machina. Every little challenge or struggle is solved by a sudden emergence of new power, or by a hair pin that is somehow forgotten, or a skill that is somehow improvised from scratch, or a safe house that conveniently appears at the right place at the right time. It's find and might fly over the head of some, but I just find it infuriating and lazy.

Second, the novel's dealing with time travel and parallel timelines is just lazy. While the over arching story somehow still holds water, when it comes to details if falls apart. There are too many to discuss here, and I'd like to avoid spoilers, but I found it also quite lazy. Perhaps I've been spoilt by other great time travel stories, but this one feels a bit amateurish in dealing with the various related paradoxes.

Finally, the characters are quite impulsive, unstructured, and overly emotional. Their actions don't always have internal logic, they don't think two steps ahead, and they are overly simplistic. I admit - this might be how teenagers think of the world, and I'm too old to relate, but I can't help not liking it.

May contain spoilers.....
First things first, when are you ever on the monsters side? Today, tonight and now, that's when.
When the hero is the villian and the monster is the main character that you want to get the happy ending, it should be wrong. But for this book it sits just right.

I was gripped from the first page, need this book to be released to make all my book friends read this. I did not want this story to end

If you want to imagine a tv show or movie, think Jumper, or Fringe, but with monsters, magic, and the multi verse.

I so wanted Joan to change the timeline, wanted her to get her happy ending but the ending crushed me. She flipped a coin, became the hero and was so lonely.

I am hopefully for a book two. This book was emmence

This book was So Addictively good. It was fast paced and anxiety inducing that I had to put the book down at times, even though I didn’t want to put it down, because I was scared for Joan.
The stakes were high and felt genuine. The characters all felt fleshed out, and the different family powers were so interesting, I hope we learn more and see more of this in future books.
The plot was a wild ride, I did not guess what was going to happen or where it was going, which is always a bonus.
And time travelling what? Did not expect that, I love time travelling in books. So this was just another element to this book that I loved. I’m definitely planing on continuing this series! Because I wanna see what’s happened to some of the other characters, cough, Aaron.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving mea copy of the book in exchange of an honest review.

We follow Joan who loves history and works as a volunteer in a museam. Turns out bam she is a monster and monsters can steal time and time travel with it. Problem is, her crush hunts monster.
It was a little bit of a let down for me. I like Joan but not enough. The author gave us characters and tried to make them important just to stop being important in a moment and stop thibking about them. It felt like she didnt know what to do with them anymore.
I liked Gran and i wish we knew more of her. The thing is that it was enjoyable but i had so many problems with it. Like, there is no explenation of her powers, and if they will be explained in the next book i didnt found any hint of it I didnt understand certain decitions the characters made and there were too many secrets like even as a reder i couldnt decipher and it made it a little wierd.. Nick we like know his past but the problem is that when we get to know it its just like yes this character show us, how do they show it???Like ther is no explanation of it. Also, there is no explanation on ow for some people 3 years passed but for others 2 days passed. its just mentioned.

I dont like how the author trated Aaron, she made him look like something and tried to give him a storyline that felt like se didn know what to do with and that when she didnt have enough to write about him just made him fade. Like cmon,really??


It feels weird to say that i enjoyed it when i talk about this, but i did. It was not the best and there were so many things that needed to be changed, but it has so much potential.
There are so many questions that have to be answered that it made me so confused and mad.

As a fantasy lover who always enjoys seeing what authors make of London I was pretty excited to get into this book, I'm also a big fan of discovering magical powers and complicated hero/villain ideas so this seemed like a pretty interesting book to dig into.
I will say that I am glad I finished this book as I would say the last third is some really wonderful writing and exploration of magic and time travel and all of the above, and I would certainly be interested to read more books in and around this world that Len has created. I liked the 'hard' magic system that is put into place and the ways in which the characters bend and even break those rules.
However, if you are planning on picking this up I must warn you that the opening third to a half of this book does contain one of my least favourite elements of this kind of story - now you might personally love this but for me it is so bothersome that I did almost put this down - and I would have missed out on that great writing towards the end.
In this story our main character, Joan, discovers she has powers she never knew she had, she is totally new to this and a character who is aware she is new for some reason instead of just politely filling her in on the basics instead watches her stumble about making error after error and then gets annoyed when she makes mistakes? Maybe this is a personal peeve - I cannot abide gatekeeping - and I can see how that annoyance is at least in character but I found it very difficult to get past it. I suppose the alternative might have been an info dump which would have been worse but I'm sure there must have been a way? I mainly mention this as a warning to PUSH THROUGH because the latter part of this book is so excellent.
I mentioned London and I think this book does a good job of capturing the city in various time points which is something not often achieved so kudos to Len for that, there are also queer characters in this story which I appreciated (I'll be crying over them for some time I think).
Overall I thought this book was very good and I'll be interested to read later books from Len but maybe I'll be on the look out for tropes that I personally don't enjoy.
I received a free digital review copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I received this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

I’m still trying to recover from this book to be honest but will do my best to give it a review.

This book focuses on the main character of Joan, half of her family are monsters and half human. However, in fairy tales the mo stars are always defeated by the hero… monsters are seen as all bad and heroes all good… that is until you read this book. A magnificent time travelling, tense and mysterious adventure that has wonderful work building and flash backs to the 90s … but also explores the idea of morality, the grey areas that are between the black and white fairy tale caricatures we are taught as a child. It explores the idea of sacrifice, but also what it means to really be a monster or a hero.

The book feature really dark themes and leaves you constantly on the edge of your seat wanting to read more. The ending… devastating and shocking! But I don’t think I wanted this to end, an amazing book and can’t wait to read more from this author!

Only a monster can kill a hero...

I absolutely loved this book, I love the way Vanessa Len's gorgeous writing blurs the line between good and evil, hero and villain, monster and slayer, it had me back and forth so much on who's side I'm on. The time travel theme is absolutely magical, it reminds me of why I fell in love with reading in the first place and brought back the excitement and nostalgia of discovering a really good adventure story, I didn't want it to end. One scene in particular felt like a gentle nod to The Chronicles of Narnia, I'm not sure if it's intentional but it made me so happy! I really like these characters, the unlikely allegiances made for some humourous moments and the gorgeous mix of urban and magical settings is perfect, I can't wait for the next book.

Thank you for Netgalley and the Publisher for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I should start with saying that the time-travel trope is not my favourite by any means. So I am really happy that my brain processed the blurb only as in going back in time and getting stuck there, sort of. Otherwise I might've skipped this book and I would've robbed myself of reading this amazing story.

I will try to keep this review completely spoiler free and talk about my feelings more than the storyline.
The story started out with a B A N G, and was very fast paced. I was in somewhat of a shock because of what I read. As more of the truth about Joan's heritage comes out we get to understand more and more about the very complex, multilayered world of monsters and the rules they have to abide by. I loved that Joan and us readers went through this unveiling simultaniously, because Joan had zero knowledge herself. It really made me feel as if I was part of this journey.
The characters were spot on and most of them were morally questionable at times (yay!) like they should be as monsters. Also because their characters were so multifaceted it left room to be surprised by their actions and intents.

I do however had a few (minor, but present) issues. One of the rules of the monster world and time travel just didn't add up with the storyline, at least for me and it could very well be that I misunderstood something, but it bugged me. The other one was the uneven pacing, the book starts out strong and slows down too much for too long. Also the hidden power/ending, it was a teeny-tiny bit predictable. But I am unsure if it was supposed to be something we should not figure out.

Still the ending came for us with a vengeance, I loved it and it made me want to read more asap.
Hats down to the author because this was a great debut!

4.5/5 stars

This book was really original and showed the major grey areas for life, how a hero can seem to do evil and a monster good all depending on what side you are standing on. The ending was kind of heartbreaking but I was kinda more interested in the second male lead rather than the 'hero' so I wasn't overly distraught by it. The ideas were good and really well played out, I would've liked to have explored this unknown power more but it will hopefully happen in a 2nd book

Thank you Netgalley and Hodder&Stoughton for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

What a treat. I devoured this in just a few hours - couldn't put it down!

Sixteen year old Joan is staying with her late mother's family in London for the summer; she has a great job at a local museum and her handsome co-worker Nick has just asked her out on a date - everything is perfect. Until it isn't. Trying to do a good deed, Joan is unintentionally sent hurtling through time and life as she knows it begins to come apart at the seams. Her family are not who they appear to be; they wield terrifying powers - they're monsters. And Nick is a monster slayer. Joan is forced to battle Nick and has no choice but to align herself with Aaron Oliver, a heir to a rival monster family in order to survive and save those she loves.

What I loved:
- The whole concept is superb. This is a great urban fantasy. We have time travel, magical beings, unique magical lore/history.
- The relationship Joan has with her family was just so realistic - particularly the conversations with her Grandmother and cousin.
- The banter between Joan and Aaron is brilliantly executed. Aaron Oliver has my heart!
- The fact that I had no clue how this was going to end or that it was the beginning of a series; I am so excited for the next instalment!

What could have been better:
- In some parts it was a little hazy as to what Joan actually knew of her family's magical history and this could have been a bit tidier, but it's not a game changer by any means.
- That I have to wait for the next book!

Read if you like:
- Enemies to lovers and lovers to enemies
- Found family
- TV shows like: Doctor Who/ Timeless/ Charmed
- Books like: Lore, Addie LaRue, Legendborn, Percy Jackson

[actual rating - 4.5/5]

(Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the eARC in exchange for an honest review)

This book had me hooked from the start. It was fast paced and had a great plot full of high stakes, tension and plot twists that i didn’t see coming. In London, there are different monster families who each have a unique power and i loved learning about them all. In fact, i thought the whole magic system was really cool and unique. The monsters themselves are not beast like and actually look like humans, but with cool powers.

I really liked the protagonist Joan. She was kind and caring whilst also torn between the two half’s of herself (monster and human) and, because of this, she has this inner conflict over what’s right or wrong. The banter between her and Aaron (who is part of a family who hates Joan’s) was amazing. Aaron was morally grey, slightly self-absorbed and has a love for sarcasm but i really liked his character.

The romance wasn’t as in your face as i though it was going to be (based on the synopsis) and only really comes into play near the end. I can sense the beginnings of a love triangle and have the feeling that there will be a bigger focus on the romance in the rest of the series.

I genuinely can’t think I of any negative for this book. I really enjoyed my time reading it and am excited to see what happened in the rest of the series.

Wow this book blew me away. It has such a unique magic/power system, I loved our main character, even if she is a monster. I read this book over 2 days and couldn’t put it down. I’m obsessed with Aaron so Joan better find him again!

The romance was amazing and I didn’t expect Joan to do what she did in the end, it was a huge sacrifice. The monster court was fascinating and I could picture every part of it. Loved it!!!