Title: Layla
Author: DaretoDreaminShadow
Genre/Subgenre: YA mystery

Blurb:
Running away from your past isn't easy when it encompasses your entire future.
Layla Edwards is quick to learn this when she escapes hell, only to fall straight into the arms of the Devil.

Being the new girl at school is difficult enough already without the baggage of a singing career. Yet on the path of despondency and isolation, Layla soon finds unlikely allies in the form of friends.

Something sinister is brewing in the quiet shadows of the Academy, something that involves her friends. Deeply woven secrets begin to unravel and Layla is desperate to unearth them- for a price.

Follow the journey of eight teenagers as they find themselves fighting through a complicated world of secrets, heartbreak, tears, laughter, unbridled happiness and broken promises.

Reviewer: 🌹Siluri

Review:

Title: 2/5
It's minimalistic, but using the name of the protagonist feels uninspired and makes for a plain title.

Cover: 4/5
Although it looks a bit busy, the color composition and placement of text are attractive.

Blurb: 4/5
The blurb is brief on the details but is offered in a bite-sized manner that makes it appealing and easy to read.

Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar, and Vocabulary: 15/15
Any mistakes are very few and far between, making this an incredibly smooth read. I would suggest double-checking how the line breaks appear in the word processor, but there's nothing that detracts from the story.

World-building and Descriptions: 10/10
The prose does a great job of showing, and descriptions are plentiful enough to help me imagine but not at all overbearing or overwhelming. The world-building feels rich and makes me want to read on to see how the main character explores this new setting (i.e., the school).

Character Development: 17/20
I'm a bit wary about the amount of people in the cast, and chapter 4 did not assuage my concern. Layla herself is a well-rounded, multidimensional character, but I wonder if there will be enough time and space in the rest of the story to allow the other seven people room to develop into something more than a handful of personality traits and a unique appearance.

Plot Development/Pacing/Chapter Structure: 20/20
The chapters look like they're on the shorter side, but this is well-suited for mobile readers. I can tell that each chapter serves a purpose; the pacing of events that fall within each one makes sense and feels perfectly organic.

Originality: 10/10
The young-artist character has been done, the rich-people-school setting has been done, but wrapping up those ideas in a mystery is something that I wasn't anticipating when I started this story. It feels fresh, exciting, and riveting in a way that reaffirms my belief that tropes have incredible potential when used as a base to work from instead of being the centerpiece that ties a story together.

Enjoyment/Hook: 10/10
Refer to the detailed impression of chapter 1 for an explanation of how well this story hooked me. As for enjoyment, I found myself breezing through the chapters and would have ended up continuing past chapter 5.

Total: 92/100

Overall Impressions:
The understated prose draws the reader in with little effort, and the small curiosities of Layla's lifestyle makes her an interesting protagonist. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this glimpse into a developing mystery and will certainly be coming back for more.

Detailed Impressions:
Chapter 1:
This was a really fascinating start! I like the way that Layla is immediately characterized through her internal monologue, and this first chapter did a great job of introducing the reader to the protagonist in a way that frames her as someone I would want to root for. The ending was a well-placed cliffhanger that left me curious and interested in moving to the next chapter.

Chapter 2:
A few bits of foreshadowing seem to have been dropped in this chapter, effectively piquing my interest. One strong point that stood out to me was the way the school was described, in terms of both system and appearance. Striking the balance between informing and info-dumping can sometimes be a challenge, but it was navigated quite well.

Chapter 3:
More world-building was fleshed out in this chapter, but it was still enjoyable because of how it was introduced through dialogue with a new character and the protagonist. This makes the information feel more organic and palatable, and the ending of this chapter continues with the theme of building suspense, urging the reader onto the next.

Chapter 4:
Many characters are introduced in the beginning, and this is a bit of a risky play because of how unfamiliar they are. Names, appearances, and even personalities may blur together, and the only person who was memorable to me was Rose because of her extended interaction with Layla. Rose is leaning a bit emotionally unrealistic and may start to seem immature or socially inept, but I'll wait to see more of her before casting too much heavy judgment.

Chapter 5:
Conflict is brewing, and the action scene in this chapter builds an air of suspense that leaves me with so many questions I'm invested in finding answers to. I also found it curious how she brought her own experiences out to empathize with the victim in the scene, and it really bolsters her backstory as something of genuine significance to her character.