This review might come across as a bit overly harsh, but I want to say that overall I did enjoy this book. It's just that when it comes down to it, this book fell prey to being too overly ambitious for its own good. 
 But first, the good. 
 There is a lot to like here, such as the not-so-subtle LGBT themes in the work. I think that Chainani is trying to build this up to where Agatha and Sophie will pair off in the final book as each other's destined True Love, which I like. It's a bit bold for a book aimed at middle schoolers, but it'd be nice to have something LGBT friendly that isn't written to be A Very Special Episode. The characters aren't bad either, although the best ones for most readers will likely be the side characters such as Hort, Dot, Kiko, and even Beatrix. There's just something about the way that they're written that you either love to hate them or love to feel sorry for them. What really stands out though, are the descriptive scenes and the illustrations. I feel a little bad for anyone that's only listening to the audiobook, as the illustrations truly do add to the book and give it a little extra oomph. 
 And now for what didn't work. 
 Ultimately what went wrong here is that Chainani tried to fit way, way too much into one book. We have several Big Big Events happen in the book and I can't help but feel that trying to deliver one big event after another made them lose their effectiveness. I guess the best way to explain it would be to say that it kind of felt like what you'd get if you tried to condense the first three books in the Harry Potter series into one abridged book. Yes, it'd still be fun, but it sort of loses a bit of its gusto in the process. It kind of had this "everything and the kitchen sink" aspect to it and I think that this would have been a little better improved by either turning it into several smaller books (which would have allowed for a bit more buildup) or by some selective editing. When we get to the final reveal/hurrah of the book I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed because I'm already exhausted by the time I got there. This is apparently going to be made into a film, but the way the book is set up makes me feel that this would be better served as a television series because it'd work a little better with how many major events and plot the book holds. 
 Now this doesn't mean that the book is awful or that I'm not curious to read the next book. It's not and I am planning on reading the next book. I just hope that it's a bit more restrained than this book was, as its overly ambitious nature takes away from the delicate love story that Chainani is trying to weave around Sophie and Agatha.