At first I had a hard time with the main character's voice. It was so….pedantic. So juvenile and cliché even for a teenager. It seemed that Bergren was trying too hard to write with the voice of a teenager and having her say things no one ever actually says in real life. Like it was all some sort of b-movie writing.
And yet, I kept reading it. Because I was curious about what happened to her sister. Because the ancient male characters were well written. And by the time I got to the end I was used to the pedantic internal monologue enough that it didn't bother me as much.
I had a hard time also with the characterization of Lady Rossi. I understood when she was the jealous girlfriend. And I understood when she came around to liking Gabi. I have no idea what happened at the end when she seemed to do a 180 again. It seemed contrived by then. And I wasn't entirely on board for the romance, either. Marcello is with someone else, seemingly happy, in an arrangement that is necessary for his family's security. And Gabi didn't seem anything more than something new and shiny, a bit unorthodox so she's intriguing in that way. And they have chemistry. But that wasn't enough for me to want them to be together. Even when Marcello said he'd break his engagement it seemed risky and with Gabi trying to go back I wasn't convinced it should work out. In the end, though, Marcello was so solid and honorable that I trusted him to make a good decision and when he chose Gabi I let myself buy into them.
Despite Gabi's annoying internal monologue, in the end the characters and world were interesting enough to entice me to the next book.