We have a lot of eARC’s and we want to promote them a little bit more. So we decided to do some more Bookish Beginnings On Friday. Today I wanted to share the beginning of Once A Villain by Vanessa Len. I recently got an eARC of this final book in the Monsters series. The first two books were favorites of mine so I was incredibly excited. Let’s take a look at the first lines! Be aware, there will be spoilers for the first two books!
The finale in the contemporary fantasy Only a Monster trilogy from Vanessa Len—which New York Times bestselling authors Holly Black, Chloe Gong, and Stephanie Garber called “delightful,” “captivating,” and “unputdownable”—will take Joan into the darkest timeline in the monster world, as she fights to restore the world she remembers.
Joan has failed to stop Eleanor.
Now, Eleanor rules over a cruel new timeline where monsters live openly among humans, preying on them and subjugating them.
Nick – once a hero to humans, and Joan’s first love – is tormented by the choice he made to save her over the timeline itself. And Aaron – the ruthless heir to a powerful monster family – now finds himself a world where monsters have power beyond imagining, while his feelings for Joan grow.
But, wrenched between love and rivalry, the three of them must negotiate their fractured pasts to survive the new world and restore what was lost. Because only they remember that there was once a better timeline.
To save the world they love, they’ll have to outmaneuver an all-seeing queen who controls time itself. Lethal consequences await any failure in this final breathless race against time.
The unstoppable love and high stakes of Divine Rivals meets the intricate worldbuilding and propulsive thrills of This Savage Song in this high-octane, cross-genre finale to the Only a Monster trilogy—where a breathless race against time and an all-knowing enemy is the only chance for Joan, Aaron, and Nick to restore the world they love.
“We have to get out of here”, Joan said. They were all crammed together in a dead-end alley, but they couldn’t linger. A patrolling guard was making his way along the river walk, a gold pin marking him from the scattered people on the path. “There’s a guard-” “I see him,” Nick said grimly. “There are two,” Aaron indicated a slight woman farther up the embankment, a hint of gold glinting at her collar. Joan hadn’t clocked her at all.
I have to admit, I wanted to keep on typing more and more from this first part of the book haha. We jump right back into the action and I wanted to see what the new timeline Eleanor created was like. I couldn’t put the book down and I’m currently 46% in. Hopefully I’ll finish the book in the coming week and I’ll be able to share my review with you all.
It was great seeing my favorite characters mentioned right away. I love Aaron and I have high hopes for him in this final book in the series. While I’m a bit scared there will be a love triangle, I also really hope it will all end up the way I want it to haha. This series has been amazing so far and I wish more people would pick it up. Have you read the first two books? Are you excited for this release? Let me know down below!
