Effy knew it would not always be so simple. She would need one pill or another. She would hear the siren song of an oblivious, dreamless slumber. She would need books and fairy tales to build a seawall around her, to hold against the vicious, rising tide. And she would need a hand, a voice, a promise— something from the outside to pull her from the darkness.

If you know me, I am a believer of "the right book will find you at the right time" and this duology truly did. Didn't think I'd cry reading this book, but here I am, crying at almost 11pm on a saturday night (who am I kidding, every single book that I finished in 2025 made me cry at some point). From now on, this duology will have a special place in my heart and will definitely be one of my comfort read. I found comfort seeing pieces of myself in Effy as someone who found strength to navigate the real life through fiction. My heart hurts reading this book seeing how out of place Effy feels now that Angharad is "tainted", add to that the harrassment she receives as an aftermath from ASID's ending. I just want to wrap her in a big hug and tell her that she is not a burden to the people who love her.

Effy and Preston's dynamic in this book reminds me so much of the quote "I'll take care of you"/ "It's rotten work"/ "Not to me. Not if it's you." which has been one of my favorite quote since a certain movie changed the trajectory of my life back in November 2021. I've been looking everywhere for the same dynamic and I found it in EffyPreston. Throughout the story, you can see how much Preston wanted to help Effy, but if she doesn't want that help and would rather hid it because she doesn't want to burden him, he wouldn't be able to. In this book, we see Preston's struggle just like Effy did in the first book to make sense of his "new ability" as it was established from the first book that he didn't believe in these kinds of stuff. Oh how the table has turned....

I wished that there's a chapter or two before the epilogue just for Effy and Preston to talk about their respective experience because they really really need to talk about it. I hope there will be more works from this universe because I simply demand to see more EffyPreston. More of them communicating, more of them living their hard earned happily ever after. Please with a cherry on top?

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books | HarperCollins and NetGalley for this gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review.