World building is really good. Writing is pretty good as well, HOWEVER I do not care for the narrator. I'm not sure exactly what it is that puts me off. It might all the emphasis on how pretty and fashionable she's meant to be or her general attitude. 
 One of my largest complaints is how the narrator draws attention the past tense of the story like she's literally telling a bedtime story to a child -- e.g. "I would discover later that my gut instinct was right; there'd been no dog that night." This happens several times and only one of these instances is addressed at the end of book 1 (she mentions early on about how she's going to avoid the alley her sister was found in until later.) I'm not a big fan of breaking the fourth wall like that. Unless there's a very good reason for it -- re: Interview with the Vampire. 
 The book ended at what seemed like an odd spot. So many questions were raised and the only one answered was who the sister's boyfriend was. The pace of the story made it seem like she was going to find the damn book at the end. That totally didn't happen. 
 And now Barrens is doing her nails? What? Like he'd ever do that! 
 I give it 3 stars because Good Reads marks that as "I Like it" -- I can say I liked it because of the clever world building, but I can't say I REALLY liked it. 
 I'll probably read more in the series, eventually, but not right now.