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cokester's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
mostlybees's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
While this book is a gothic horror novel, the pace was slower than I’d prefer for that genre. It’s a good book, but it took me a while to get through. This book has a very interesting take on what the consequences of magic are.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Medical content, and Miscarriage
peregrinwho's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It's been a few weeks since I finished this, and I haven't stopped thinking about this book since picking it up. Immediate new favorite. The romance is instantly believable and blush-inducing, the characters are perfect manifestations/carriers of the themes, and the layers of mystery kept getting unfolded like pulling back sheets on the bed knowing you'll end up feeling cold and helpless but you have to in order to release the uncomfortable heat.
Fantastic pacing, harrowing imagery, enchanting insights, and one of the most horrifically perfect endings I've ever read.
I really saw a lot of myself in Jane, and like to think she's autistic. To see a protagonist so complex and full as her who thinks and sees the world as I do is so precious to me since it's rarely represented in a positive light (or at all). Every time she stood up for herself I was so happy. I also saw parts of myself in Augustine, and have since started a paradigm shift after reading how him blaming himself for everything was arrongance. Time to re-evaluate some things boys😅. And the way the time loop was closed??? My friend and I discussed it for hours. I'm so in love with the tragedy of the ending even though I cried and had nightmares afterwards, because I understood all the themes and elements had come together so perfectly. I now also understand body horror is the type of horror that will actually freak me out, so that's knowledge!🙃 There's more I could say but this is long enough. Suffice it to say, overall this book devestated me, and I will be recommending it to anyone who will listen to me.
Fantastic pacing, harrowing imagery, enchanting insights, and one of the most horrifically perfect endings I've ever read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Medical trauma, and Vomit
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Death of parent
bethboo's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
I went into this book blind, and ended up scolding myself for not doing it sooner. I worked at a bookstore when this novel released and I remember the hype around it and dismissed it and now I feel like a FOOL.
We follow a practical and clever woman, Jane, in her quest to obtain a husband, so not to burden her adoptive parents. Once she brokers a deal with an accomplished and genuine docter, she realizes that this marriage might not be simply business like she thought. He offers much more than financial security, but seems to have more skeletons in the closets than she anticipated. As clever as she is, Jane might not make it through with reason and will alone. A gothic tale that felt real and confusing and startling, almost as if the reader was the main character. Normal life gets shattered by secrets and madness and magic and death and darkness and emotion.
The characters were perfectly flawed. They all felt like real people doing the best they could with what they had been given. I was eager to get any information I could on the confusing secrets Jane was given, making the book hard to put down. Because while they were weird, it wasn't outright suspicious, so it gave me pause and sympathy. This author did a wonderful job with the main voice and presenting us with just enough details without making it blatantly obvious or mind-bendingly confusing. I've already added her other works to my TBR pile and will definitely enjoy them.
You HAVE to read this book. It was spooky and creepy and real and made me feel like I was losing my mind.
Jane was a brilliant main character. Yes there were times where I wanted to shove her face into her husband's and scream at them to kiss and make up, but the plot must proceed. I was rooting for her the entire time, even though it got hard to once she kinda started losing it. But I just wanted her and Augustine to be happy so badly! I didn't really see the ending coming and I'm not sure how you could, with how unique the author's magic system is. And while its definitely weird, it's not too weird. I did kind of like how confusing the magic was, because it felt like it was that way for the users too. It definitely gave the vibes of the ending of The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix Series, not the book). How Elenore was her own haunting in the end. Like Ellie was the Broken-Neck Lady and Jane was Ellidy, Augustine's dead wife's ghost.
We follow a practical and clever woman, Jane, in her quest to obtain a husband, so not to burden her adoptive parents. Once she brokers a deal with an accomplished and genuine docter, she realizes that this marriage might not be simply business like she thought. He offers much more than financial security, but seems to have more skeletons in the closets than she anticipated. As clever as she is, Jane might not make it through with reason and will alone. A gothic tale that felt real and confusing and startling, almost as if the reader was the main character. Normal life gets shattered by secrets and madness and magic and death and darkness and emotion.
The characters were perfectly flawed. They all felt like real people doing the best they could with what they had been given. I was eager to get any information I could on the confusing secrets Jane was given, making the book hard to put down. Because while they were weird, it wasn't outright suspicious, so it gave me pause and sympathy. This author did a wonderful job with the main voice and presenting us with just enough details without making it blatantly obvious or mind-bendingly confusing. I've already added her other works to my TBR pile and will definitely enjoy them.
You HAVE to read this book. It was spooky and creepy and real and made me feel like I was losing my mind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Medical content, and Terminal illness
animafeline's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Body horror, and Gore
Minor: Addiction, War, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Child death, and Drug use
smylieman's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Medical trauma, Blood, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Medical content
Moderate: Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy
stbyleth's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I enjoyed this book overall, I think. The prose was extremely well-written and the author did her research into the time period. I had started off with the audiobook and found it was not going as fast as I wanted (even though the audiobook was EXTREMELY well acted and well worth it), so I ended up buying a copy since I can read faster than listen.
I was put off by the magic at first but after suspending my disbelief it made sense in the narrative. That's what I get for not fully reading the summary.
The pacing is rather fast. Jane falls in love with Augustine and he, with her, in a matter of a week. I suppose that's par for the course for these types of novels but I think it would have been better if it had leaned more into her wanting to keep it a business relationship strictly (him falling in love with her, however, would still make sense to me; he is very controlled by his emotions, whereas she is very logical and cunning).
Rest of the review is spoilers.
"Chapter Zero" was odd, to me. Somehow I still hoped that Elodie was the real Elodie (I was guessing that Jane would offer up her life so that Elodie could live as Jane or perhaps they mix together, and that was what the title meant (the death of the "true" Jane)). I had assumed the rest of the ghosts were not who they said they were from the start, and it only became more apparent when it was shown that Augustine and Jane saw different things out of the same shadows. But the time travel plot seemed very... off, in a way. Perhaps that was the intention. It certainly pulled the narrative together but that was it. I will say, though, that the author was good at giving small hints that, upon looking back, make more sense knowing what we know now. Also, for the longest time, I assumed that it would actually not be any ghosts whatsoever and that there was actually a gas leak of some sort since there was a LOT of focus on the house being piped with gas. But then nothing came of it.
I think it would have been more fun if the concept of the mirror world was played with more. When "Elodie" showed up in the mirror I got excited because for some time I had been thinking that this was a mirrored version of our world, with some key differences, like the names of the locations and outcome of the war. I still don't know why it was set in an alternate reality if this was not the case.
Overall, good book that could have used some fine tuning, but I still think it was worth it.
I was put off by the magic at first but after suspending my disbelief it made sense in the narrative. That's what I get for not fully reading the summary.
The pacing is rather fast. Jane falls in love with Augustine and he, with her, in a matter of a week. I suppose that's par for the course for these types of novels but I think it would have been better if it had leaned more into her wanting to keep it a business relationship strictly (him falling in love with her, however, would still make sense to me; he is very controlled by his emotions, whereas she is very logical and cunning).
Rest of the review is spoilers.
Overall, good book that could have used some fine tuning, but I still think it was worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Gore, and Medical content
Moderate: Miscarriage
enchantressreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death, and Medical content
Moderate: Miscarriage, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, War, and Child death
loujanae's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
A gothic horror? A gothic romance? A gothic anything should be dripping in atmosphere. It should be flooded with tension and a living, breathing setting. I should have felt dread from the escalating tension of the romance, the mystery, the occult. This didn't have anything in common with a gothic novel. It was all tell, no show. Characters showing up to info dump a plot, and disappearing when no longer relevant and useful to the author. Every chapter sat us down and explained more and more without actually saying anything of note. Overexplained, underdeveloped. I think I'm one of the few people who actually "understood" what was going on in chapter zero, (if it can truly be understood at all, no shade at all to everyone who couldn't grasp what was going on, I don't blame you!) and that ending was still a confusing and convoluted mess. There were so many ideas here that were SO interesting. But there was absolutely zero follow through on those interesting ideas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Gore, Pregnancy, Death, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: War and Death of parent
threeundertwopnw's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Abortion, and Self harm