Spoiler alert: this post touches on key plot points and twists. If you’re planning to read the book, save this for later and come back once you’re done—I’d really love to hear if you saw things the same way I did.
Before I get into it: I rated this book 4 out of 5 on Goodreads. I genuinely enjoyed reading it. It’s the kind of story that keeps you turning pages late into the night, even when you know you’ll regret it the next morning.
And yet… something felt slightly off.
Not enough to stop me from enjoying it—but enough to keep it from being a full five stars.
The title
I’m not fully convinced by the title. Yes, paper flowers are part of the story—but they didn’t feel central enough to carry the entire book. I kept waiting for them to hold more meaning, more weight.
They never quite did.
A question I couldn’t shake
There’s one part of the plot that genuinely confused me—and I’d love someone else’s take on this.
When Ivy sees the photo of Jack and Ruby’s family in the newspaper, she immediately packs up and leaves Stackville. But… when did she kidnap Mason?
If she already knew where they lived and had taken Mason earlier, why does the newspaper suddenly trigger this urgency? Why Dallas, and why then?
Maybe I missed something. Or maybe this is one of those moments where the story asks you not to look too closely.
A slow beginning
I’ll be honest—starting this book felt like work.
That early phase of getting to know the characters, settling into the writing style… it didn’t pull me in right away. And I’ve realized I really value books that start with momentum.
This one didn’t.
But I’m glad I stayed with it, because once it picked up, it became gripping. Twisty, fast, hard to put down.
Too many twists?
There’s a fine balance between “unpredictable” and “overloaded.”
This book leans a little too far into the latter.
The twists kept coming—sometimes to the point where I could feel the author trying to surprise me. And that awareness pulled me out of the story just a bit.
The best plots, for me, don’t just shock—they feel inevitable in hindsight. Here, it was more like: wait, another one?
When everything goes wrong
One thing that made the story feel heavy was just how much hardship was packed into it.
At some point, I caught myself wondering: how many things can realistically go wrong in one person’s life?
It started to feel less like a story unfolding, and more like a series of escalating misfortunes.
Final thoughts
Despite all of this—I really did enjoy the experience of reading it.
It’s compelling. It pulls you in. It keeps you up at night.
For me, it just needed a little more restraint, a little more balance. Fewer twists, more breathing room.
But maybe that’s just me.
If you’ve read it—did the twists work for you, or did they start to feel like too much?