Honestly probably more of 2.5/5 but I'll round up because I will more than likely read the next book in the series.

First, that cliff hanger was absolutely disrespectful.

okay, to the reviewing.
I went into this book WITHOUT reading Hafsah Faizal's other two books. I'm not sure if that actually affects anything, but they are apparently in the same world so take that as you will.

My biggest problem with this book was the character's romantic relationships. It was just kind of flat and felt super forced. We have characters meeting for the first time that are suppose to outright hate each other and every other sentence from the initial meeting is about them thinking of the other person when they "shouldn't be". I get initial attraction, but this is like full blown infatuation. Also, our main character has PINK HAIR for fucks sake and people somehow don't recognize her when they are going "under cover". I'm sorry WHAT? Are they all just blind ?

Spoiler

AND WE ALL DIDN'T NOTICE ARTHIE BEING THE HULK ?

The first half of the book was rather slow and boring. It was a lot of flexing and drilling into us the main characters personalities. (the personalities were well clarified rather early on and I felt it was overkill) I found myself just wanting to get it over with to the point of putting it down for over a week and avoiding it.

That being said.....
I did end up finishing it though.... and I'm glad I did.

The last 150pages ish were good. I saw some reveals coming, but overall some things were a surprise and I liked how it played out. I found myself a little anxious and cheering for the characters.

I had no problems with the writing and actually found myself enjoying that part of the book.