Overall: 3.5/5I bought this book for myself as a Christmas present, cuz the cover's so pretty and the plot seems interesting. I'm not really into science fiction, but when I find a decent sci-fi story I easily get hooked with it (I'm looking at you, Bioshock multiverse). Anyway, because of those reasons I bought it, wrapped it up in wrapping paper, placed it under the Christmas tree and told myself not to open it til Christmas mornoing. Come December 25th I unwrapped it, sat on my bed and began to read...Until I stopped at the first 30 pages or so. I dunno why, but I didn't connect with it. Not like the way I usually do when I'm interested with a story, and initially, I was. So I held finishing it off until a few days later I picked it up again. That's when I realized why I didn't immediately like it.It's the romance that drove me away. Sure, Marguerite (pretty name, reminds me of Meg from Phantom of the Opera) and Paul have a really cute lovestory, but it kind of overtook the story the moment they spent more time together. I expected to read a YA novel with an interesting plot and nice romance, but I expected too much. Honestly, the only YA novels I read recently are the Hunger Games and Divergent trilogies, both series having more to them than just love stories. Now I realize that not all YAs are just as balanced as those two series, and well, thank you very much Ms. Gray for teaching me. Writing: I though the writing was super entertaining and gripping but not to the point where i couldn't put the book down. The writing wasn't special or lyrical in any way but there were some quotable parts.Characters: I really enjoyed Paul especially the Paul in Russia he was so sweet and i went awww a couple of times. I would have enjoyed more backstory on him and Theo so i could feel a closer connection to them. Now on to the main character, Marguerite she was soooo annoying. The way that she would reject Paul because she felt that by kissing him she was cheating him???! Are you kidding me? Also in the beginning she got drunk like what was the point of that? It was so stupid. Some of the decisions she would make the things that she would do were so stupid. The girl also didn't know how to keep her priorities straight it was so annoying. Romance: As for the romance between her and Paul in Russia i wanted more time getting to know him and i really liked his character i wanted more of him and i wanted to see more of his personality to make the romance seem more real. Now i know to some that might sound crazy because a lot of people complained about the fact the romance took center stage in this book. But i love romance so i thought there wasn't enough romance i wanted more bonding time between Paul and Meg.Plot: I predicted a lot of the twists and "Shockers" that were in the story if i hadn't suspected them think i would have enjoyed this more. As for the plot it had a decent enough pace but i definitely wanted to see more parallel universes and i wish the ones we did see were more intricate and imaginative. Also while reading at times i found myself not really caring about what would happen to the characters and not really on the edge of my seat. Scifi: I enjoyed the jumping into each parallel universe but i wanted more explanations on how the firebird worked and also how all the universes co existed. We needed more of that also something i forgot to add was how confusing this book was at times like i never knew why the characters were going here i never understood their plans. That was frustrating.Overall, i enjoyed this book but i was a little disappointed it was entertaining and I'm interested in the world i will definitely read the sequel because i am curious as to what will happen next.
