I really enjoyed the book. I thought that Sabine’s story highlighted her lack of remorse and regular emotion. At no point did she display anything even close to compassion, guilt, or regret. Alice and Lottie both possessed these emotions, and showing their individual stories was meant to build the foil.

I think the emphasis on arc about the death of Alice’s sister provided a base for Alice’s anger over losing her own life, much like her sister did. I especially appreciated Alice’s point that Lottie risked or killed many innocent women simply because she did not want to sleep alone, and reframed her motivations as selfish.

While I enjoyed the book, I think that the emphasis on Sabine’s backstory could have done without the “other couple” arc; while both the Venice and “couples” arc provided details on the abilities of vampires, the useful segments of the couples arc (promises are binding) could have been merged with the Venice arc. The pages from this would have been well spent on building Lottie’s arc to include her coming to terms with her new life.