I was really interested in this book. I liked Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy and I hadn't read anything else by her. I was even more pleased to learn that it was a stand alone novel and not going to be part of a series. I'm reading so many series books right now that it's kind of nice to take a break with a book where I can finish with the world and characters and move on. 
 I didn't immediately love the book but in no way did I dislike the book either, hence the three stars. I liked the characters enough. I thought that there were a lot of similarities between Puck and Grace from Mercy Falls. They are both strong-willed female characters who more than other girls their age have needed to mature quicker and take care of themselves with little to no parent intervention. I liked Puck more than I liked Grace though so the comparisons will stop there. Puck was a smart character. Even though she entered the Scorpio Races (a race where countless die every year) to essentially keep her brother from leaving, this doesn't make her impulsive. Just from reading and finishing this book I would say joining the races was the most impulsive thing she's ever done. It turns out that the races will account for far more than keeping her brother on the island a little longer. 
 I liked that even though the odds were very much against her, Puck never backed down. She didn't let anyone get to her and she seemed more inclined to brush off whatever insults were thrown her way instead of letting the haters bait her. I did feel bad for her situation. Feeling like she was the one who had to take everything on her shoulders shouldn't have been her responsibility. But she took it, and she didn't complain about it. That was just her situation and she was going to fix it. 
 Sean Kendrick was our male lead in this book. He was on odd character for me because I felt that there was such little detail given as to how he felt. But I think it was intentional on Stiefvater's part because I believe Sean had never felt for anyone / anything else besides that horses and then Puck comes along and it's a different experience for him. I wish there had been more. Their scenes together seemed to be filled with heavy silences where a lot happens in a look or an expression and we, the reader, are supposed to understand the true impact of what is passing between these two characters. I just would have liked more between these two characters. Sometimes Stiefvater would be getting it right and then the scene would end and I would just want to go back to the scene and expand it. 
 I really liked how we were given as little as possible about the place / time in which this story is set. We know that it's on the island of Thisby (a fictional place) and we know that there are cars, people on the island primarily ride horses, and that's about it. We don't know that time period. There's no mention of telephones or cell phones and definitely not computers, but it doesn't seem dated. Stiefvater did a great job of kind of making the setting neutral so anyone could pick up the book at any point in time and it won't be dated. Too much nowadays some authors name drop or talk about current entertainment goings on in their books and the world moves so fast that a year later the comments are already out dated. 
 Again, I'm glad that this book was a stand alone. I look forward to reading more stories by Maggie Stievfater now that her series is over. I'm not sure if this is a book that I would read again, but there's definite possibility.