This is such a wholesome story!!!

If I had to describe the entire book in one word, I would say 'SEEN'. The characters were so diverse but not even one of them was overlooked or unheard. It felt like everyone is important and that no matter how good or flawed you are, YOU MATTER! This is my major takeaway from the book.

The book has a fictional world with beautifully written characters, a terrorist organization threatening to overtake and rule the world, secret agents working to figure out how to stop them, love, jealousy, beautiful friendships, loss, grief, and superpowers. The only thing I missed was a map.

I feel like some parts of the book felt predictable but were not while others were complete surprises. I had such a great time reading it and I just wanted to reach the end to understand how all the moving pieces fit together. It felt so familiar (maybe like a Bollywood movie) yet pleasantly surprising. I absolutely loved the camaraderie between Hayden and Lowell, and I was so invested in their dynamic that I found myself yelling at them to just be honest and see how much they mean to each other.

The found family trope is always so endearing to read! AILENE does great justice to this trope.

However, I was confused as to the dynamics between the characters for the first quarter of the story and even now, I am unsure of how I feel about council members falling for interns. I mean, it is a fictional universe and even though this part irked me, I am totally fine to overlook this because of the other wonderful aspects. I also had a very hard and impatient time waiting to know what Devarian wants to confess to Hayden. The author does a brilliant job with keeping the readers hooked and leaving them eager to finish the story but after reading on for so long, I felt like the confession was not so exciting. I would have also loved to see if Lowell and Lena had a future in any way.

BROWNIE POINT FOR THE MOST ADORABLE SURI!! I WANT A PET NOW, like ASAP.

Also, the epilogue, OMG I SHED SO MANY TEARSSSS!!!

Thank you to the author and Pride Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review the book. ( )