Nach Nicks fatalen Entscheidung schafften es Joan, Nick, Aaron, Ruth und Jamie in die neue Zeitlinie, die Joans Schwester Eleanor erschaffen hat. In dieser Zeitlinie leben die Monster nicht nur offen und für alle sichtbar, sondern haben die Menschen unterdrückt. Alle Menschen müssen ein Halsband tragen um ihre Dienstzeit und ihre Zugehörigkeit klar zu kennzeichnen. Als sie erst einmal einen sicheren Unterschlupf suchen wollen, finden sie heraus, dass Joan sogar per Flugblatt gesucht wird. Die Schlinge zieht sich immer mehr zu und als sie schließlich erwischt werden, finden sie heraus, dass wohl Aaron das Oberhaupt der Oliver Familie ist und Nick als ein erfolgreicher Gladiator für die Olivers kämpfte und eine Rebellion anzettelte. Aber es bleibt keine Zeit durchzuatmen, denn inmitten der neuen Weltordnung zerfällt die Zeitlinie immer mehr und Joans Gefühle könnten chaotischer nicht mehr sein. Während sie also versuchen zurechtzukommen steht eins fest: sie müssen Eleanor töten um eine neue Welt und eine neue Zeitlinie zu erschaffen. Endlich der dritte Teil! Nachdem der zweite Teil weit hinter dem ersten Teil blieb, hatte ich wieder große Hoffnungen für den Abschluss der Reihe. Aaron ist wieder von Anfang an dabei und er und Nick haben eine witzige Dynamik, die viel Hoffnung macht. Glücklicherweise liefert der Roman größtenteils wie der erste Band. Da verziehen ich auch Joans ständiges hin und her zwischen Aaron und Nick. Ich bin gerne in diese "Neue Zeitlinie" eingeraucht und fand es jedesmal spannend mehr vok dieser Welt zu lernen. Auch wenn später das Sterben und wieder Leben etwas überreizt wurde. Leider gefiel mir das Ende so gar nicht... ich hätte Aarons Tod akzeptiert und damit das Joan-Nick-Pärchen, auch wenn ich immer Team Aaron war, aber eine Dreierbeziehung? Da hätte ich sogar das Aaron-Nick-Pärchen origineller gefunden. Aber dass diese Dreierbeziehung auch noch durch die Wahre Zeitlinie begründet wurde? Schade ... diese außergewöhnliche Romanidee und diese Welt hätten ein besseres Ende verdient ... Ein fast perfekter Abschluss einer außergewöhnlichen Reihe.

4,75* This series was so much fun. I absolutely enjoyed the time traveling story and the world itself with all the different families and family powers. But most of all, I really loved the characters. Joan, Aaron and Nick were a great trio; even better with Jamie, Tom anf Ruth to complete the group. I don’t feel like this series is very popular in Germany yet - even though the first book got translated - but I definitely hope it’ll get more attention because it deserves it! Excited to see what Vanessa Len will publish in the future.

4.25 By the time “Once a Villain” will be released, it will be around 2 years since the release of book two, “Never a Hero”, and I highly, highly, highly recommend reading book two and three back to back or to freshen up your knowledge in general, but especially how book two ended, before you start book three. If you know what happened at the end of “Never a Hero”, then you can probably guess that there’s a bit of world building needed at the beginning of this book. I actually really like the world, which does reflect Eleanor and her personality, at least the Eleanor we met in “Never a Hero”, in my opinion really well. Compared to book one and two, book three is more romance heavy and this might be controversial, but I do like the direction the author went with the characters and their relationship with each other. I can see people being confused and maybe not liking this, but let’s be real: if you paid a bit of attention, at least some of that shouldn’t be a surprise. There were also some nice and unexpected, as well as emotional plot twists throughout the book, which I thought were well placed. We were introduced to some new-ish characters and I would have loved to have them be more present in the book, but I understand how and why this wasn’t exactly possible. Overall, I did find myself enjoying the second half of the book more than the first. Now, this book is by any means not without its flaws. As I mentioned before, I think people will have certain feelings over the direction of the characters. There were a fair amount of repetitive thoughts, especially in the second half, from Joan over things that happened not only in this book but also connected to the events of this whole series. The side characters (Ruth & co) were, noticeably often enough, conveniently left somewhere behind (ex. waiting in a hotel) while the main characters went on their adventure. To be very honest, I would lean towards describing the ending also as kinda easy and convenient. Final thoughts on the series as a whole: I really liked this series and that’s maybe because I just really like the whole time travel aspect. The characters were great, as was the general plot. I will say, this is a YA series and the characters (main characters are between 16 and 18 years old) are 100% going to act like their age. I personally would have loved more insight on the Monster Court, though I also recognize that this wasn’t the main focus of the series. During book two & three I had this “something is not really adding up here”-feeling and I don’t know why. Might also just be a me-thing. I can see myself rereading these books in a couple of years. "Once a Villain" is a nice conclusion to the series. I’m finishing the book, and the series, on a mostly satisfying note and will definitely read more from this author! Thank you to HarperCollins US for providing this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I can tell you - all these questions will be answered in a very satisfying way. At least to my taste. After the timeline and the world have changed for the very worst, Joan and her team must fight - and then fight some more. Evil Eleanor is now in control, and so are the monsters. Heroes had become villains, and monsters and humans might just be two sides of the same coin. I can't write about the plot without giving anything away, but let me assure you: there are plot twists, struggles, heartbreak, deaths, endings and new beginnings. In my eyes it's a perfect conclusion to this series - but let me know what you thought about it. 4,5/5 stars Thank you @netgalley and @harpercollins for the eARC! #OnceAVillain #Netgalley #Bookstagram