To be entirely honest, as I generally aim to be, I hated this book for the first few chapters. The only reason I kept reading was determination to finish the ARC, which I had gone to the trouble of requesting. The writing disgusted me, the characters were awful and the story inane. I liked nothing about it. I had had a similarly disappointing experience with the first book in Tiernan's Sweep series (I only read part of book one). Nonetheless, I determined to stick with it and finish it to write a delightfully scathing review.

Much to my surprise, at some juncture in the novel, I suddenly found myself enjoying the story. The pages went by much faster and I actually became somewhat engaged in the plot. The writing did not improve much, but the diction got better when Nastasya began hanging out with smarter people. When she quits the wastrel lifestyle, the book becomes less Gossip Girl with eternal life and more about how to live a good life. The values espoused are actually honorable without being annoyingly preachy.