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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I like the premise- spending two nights in a very haunted house to win enough money to save your own house. But, the story has been written...many times....in many YA books. Ophelia is a strong main character who struggles to believe in herself, a great character motivation for the YA reader. I didn't care for the continual use of 'they' as a singular pronoun- sounds too much like Legion. No thanks.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the romance and spice and characters were soooo
good and the goth vibe was perfect although i just don’t like trials in books but i can appreciate how well it was !!
good and the goth vibe was perfect although i just don’t like trials in books but i can appreciate how well it was !!
4.25 ⭐
This was so much fun!!
I loved the concept of it, and the spooky vibes - I kind wished I’d read it in October for the atmosphere but I enjoyed it so much, I’d be tempted to pick up Enchantra sooner rather than later.
Ophelia was such a cool combination of being a strong, mouthy, FMC but we saw her struggle with her inner demons through the representation of OCD.
Blackwell was a fun combination of golden retriever energy, in emo style package, he was so considerate and funny and down baaaad for this girl.
I really enjoyed the games & trials and the premise of Phantasma, and even though there were a few too many spicy scenes for me personally, I could not stop reading this book!
AND the audiobook narrator sounded like Meg from Hercules, so I loved that
This was so much fun!!
I loved the concept of it, and the spooky vibes - I kind wished I’d read it in October for the atmosphere but I enjoyed it so much, I’d be tempted to pick up Enchantra sooner rather than later.
Ophelia was such a cool combination of being a strong, mouthy, FMC but we saw her struggle with her inner demons through the representation of OCD.
Blackwell was a fun combination of golden retriever energy, in emo style package, he was so considerate and funny and down baaaad for this girl.
I really enjoyed the games & trials and the premise of Phantasma, and even though there were a few too many spicy scenes for me personally, I could not stop reading this book!
AND the audiobook narrator sounded like Meg from Hercules, so I loved that
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Oh man, did I want to love this book more than I did. On the surface, it gives everything I want from a romantasy novel. A kickass FMC, a dark-brooding love interest, some spice, and a good plot to boot.
Underneath the surface, I had some struggles.
Before I talk about those struggles, I will give props to the author for one thing first and foremost, and that's the OCD representation.
While I don't personally live with OCD, I appreciated the way it was included in this book. The author managed to highlight the everyday reality of living with OCD, without detracting from the magical, fantasy elements of the book. Seriously, hats off.
Now, let's get back to those struggles I previously mentioned...
This entire book takes place within the span of about a week, and you are reminded of that several times. I've read a lot of romance that has developed quickly, but this one almost harkened back to the days when I was constantly getting frustrated with YA insta-love.
This book is definitely not YA - or at least it's not meant to be. Personally, however, it felt like if you took away the spice and had those scenes "fade to black" instead, nothing much else about the book would have to change in order to market it as YA.
That wouldn't normally bother me, but when a book is advertised as a dark fantasy romance, I expect more than a slightly broody MMC, and some horror elements that felt like they could have been pulled straight from a Saw movie.
I'd say this book is basically Caraval meets Kingdom Of The Wicked, with some generic romantasy tropes thrown in for good measure. As much as I loved both of those series', this one just fell a bit flat for me.
I will say that the dark, eerie vibes at the start of the book really sucked me in, but the writing just seemed to get messy and repetitive the more I read. I also don't think the stakes felt high enough for me to really believe anything terrible was going to happen.
This book had so much potential, but it just fell a bit flat. The twist was predictable, and the characters were fairly generic. Will I read the sequel? One day, maybe, but I'm in no rush.
Underneath the surface, I had some struggles.
Before I talk about those struggles, I will give props to the author for one thing first and foremost, and that's the OCD representation.
While I don't personally live with OCD, I appreciated the way it was included in this book. The author managed to highlight the everyday reality of living with OCD, without detracting from the magical, fantasy elements of the book. Seriously, hats off.
Now, let's get back to those struggles I previously mentioned...
This entire book takes place within the span of about a week, and you are reminded of that several times. I've read a lot of romance that has developed quickly, but this one almost harkened back to the days when I was constantly getting frustrated with YA insta-love.
This book is definitely not YA - or at least it's not meant to be. Personally, however, it felt like if you took away the spice and had those scenes "fade to black" instead, nothing much else about the book would have to change in order to market it as YA.
That wouldn't normally bother me, but when a book is advertised as a dark fantasy romance, I expect more than a slightly broody MMC, and some horror elements that felt like they could have been pulled straight from a Saw movie.
I'd say this book is basically Caraval meets Kingdom Of The Wicked, with some generic romantasy tropes thrown in for good measure. As much as I loved both of those series', this one just fell a bit flat for me.
I will say that the dark, eerie vibes at the start of the book really sucked me in, but the writing just seemed to get messy and repetitive the more I read. I also don't think the stakes felt high enough for me to really believe anything terrible was going to happen.
This book had so much potential, but it just fell a bit flat. The twist was predictable, and the characters were fairly generic. Will I read the sequel? One day, maybe, but I'm in no rush.