Only a Monster (Only a Monster, 1)

What I loved:
Only A Monster pleasantly surprised me with how much it sucked me in. It was thrilling, with high stakes, potentially catastrophic losses, and exciting secrets. It contains the general tropes of a YA Urban Fantasy-teen girl with newfound powers, hints of a love triangle, and hero vs. villains but a surprising twist with the main character being on the side of "monsters."
Final Verdict:
The world is building, and the magic system is unique in monsters that can time travel. Also, the uniqueness that each Monster family has its special powers, and seeing how those played out was exciting to read. I also like that since we travel in time, we see places in different years, and it was fun to follow the clues as to what time there had arrived and what the clothes said about that year. I am excited to see how things play out in the following books.

What I Loved: Only a Monster warned us that Joan was not the hero of this story. She was the monster, yet it was the hero that massacred her whole family. The Oliver family captures her and Nick when they stay late after work at the museum. They looked into her eyes and saw a monster that shouldn’t live. She tries to save her human crush, Nick, who turns out to be the fabled Monster hunter. His people have orchestrated a massacre of all monster families, including hers.
She had tried to save him from the Olivers, so he lets her go with a promise to kill her if she ever uses her powers. With her family dead, how can she not try altering the timeline and try to save them?
She saves Aaron Oliver’s life during the fight. As they hide in 1993, he tries to teach her to be a monster. She meets up with her cousin, Ruth, who survived the massacre and has searched for two years to find her. She should be enemies with Aaron, but feelings emerge as they try to survive being hunted by Nick. Her heart aches for Nick whom she feels a soul-deep love connection that she doesn’t understand.
It is common knowledge among monsters that the timeline will protect itself from interference. Aaron wearily helps her try anyways because every monster goes through the temptation. Then they hear rumors that the Liu family has the power to remember. They have family stories of an alternate timeline. What should be impossible leads them to uncover terrible secrets about how the hero was made into the Monster hunter. Joan is the key to stopping him. They say the timeline will try to repair any anomalies. Joan wonders if that is why Nick and her keep crossing paths. How can they ever be together when her family’s deaths lay at his feet?
What Left Me Wanting More: As events unfold, we learn of a woman in the shadows whose intentions are terrible. The reason she orchestrated these events is unknown. I also want more about Aaron at the end and to find out the trouble in his past.
Final Verdict: The ending was gripping and heart-wrenching. It was terribly perfect, yet I hope there is a sequel and this is not how she has to live her life now. It is easy to forget who the monster in the story truly is. It was unique and hard to put down from beginning to end.