Early Review: Never A Hero (Monsters #2)

Never A Hero (Monsters #2)
By Vanessa Len

Published By: Hodder Scape
Publication Date: August 29, 2023
Date Read: August 12, 2023
Genre: YA – Fantasy
Source: eARC from Netgalley and Hodder
Format: E-Book
Pages: 450

From Goodreads:
This sequel to the contemporary fantasy Only a Monster will take Joan deeper into the monster world, where treacherous secrets and even more danger await.

Despite all of the odds, Joan achieved the impossible. She reset the timeline, saved her family – and destroyed the hero, Nick.

But her success has come at a terrible cost.

She alone remembers what happened. Now, Aaron, her hard-won friend – and maybe more – is an enemy, trying to kill her. And Nick, the boy she loved, is a stranger who doesn’t even know her name. Only Joan remembers that there is a ruthless and dangerous enemy still out there.

When a deadly attack forces Joan back into the monster world as a fugitive, she finds herself on the run with Nick – as Aaron closes in.

As the danger rises – and Nick gets perilously closer to discovering the truth of what Joan did to him – Joan discovers a secret of her own. One that threatens everyone she loves.

Torn between love and family and monstrous choices, Joan must find a way to re-gather her old allies to face down the deadliest of enemies, and to save the timeline itself.

Vanessa Len’s stunning Only a Monster trilogy continues with this second instalment, a thrilling journey where a secret past threatens to unravel everyone’s future.

Note: There will be spoilers from the first book in the series, but none that is not present in the above blurb of the book. If you have not read the first book please proceed with caution.

Wow! That is all that is going through my mind right now! I cannot believe just how incredible this book was. I absolutely loved Only A Monster when I read it last year, and I was so excited to see how Vanessa was going to continue this amazing series. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was not this! I could never have imagined the story would go in this direction. I loved every moment of it.

Never A Hero picks up where Only A Monster left off, with Joan remaking the timeline to remove Nick as the hero and to bring back her families. But what were the consequences of such an action? This book follows Joan as she learns how to traverse this new timeline, where there is no hero available to protect humans from the monsters. I absolutely loved this new direction that the author was able to take this story by changing the whole timeline. We have our favourite characters meeting and learning about each other all over again as most of them don’t remember each other. I loved that!

During the first 50% I was really enjoying Never A Hero. It was fast paced and action packed but there was just something missing. I wasn’t loving it quite as much as the first book. Maybe it was because my favourite character, Aaron had reverted back to his cold and hard original self, rather than the sweet and gorgeous man we saw at the end of the first book. But honestly the last 40% of so of this book is mind blowing. It’s honestly quite rare for me to be surprised by books… but this book had me SHOOK!!! There were moments where I was sat mouth agape, shocked, going ‘WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING‘. I could not believe what was happening which just made me absolutely obsessed with this book.

The ending of this book blew my mind. It was epic and amazing and yes… a cliffhanger. And coming from me you know that means something! I have been left absolutely obsessed and reeling. I need book 3 NOW! This is one of the best middle books of a trilogy I have ever read. Usually I feel like middle books are just the building blocks to an epic book 3, but this one is epic in and of itself. If you love books with romance, action, danger and a sprinkle of time travel then this is not a series you want to miss. It is absolutely a must-read.

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