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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I finished reading Cottingham’s This Delicious Death a couple days ago and decided to pick this one up, too, to see if I would enjoy it more and I did! The gothic vibes of the setting hooked me immediately and the first chapter already leaves the reader with so many questions. It was easy to fly through this, especially with the horror elements and the sapphic representation and relationship (which I adored!). It was a perfect read as fall is quickly approaching!
this book was such a quick read. very different than what i usually am into but it was overall really good! it was very unique and not a story i’ve heard before… mysterious, engaging, easy
I was under the impression that My Dearest Darkest would be a bit more horror and a bit more dark academia then it ended up being. The horror was there, sometimes, but it was ineffective because the atmosphere was so lacking. While the setting was technically a school, they were pretty much never in class, and there are no teachers (or any adult characters) present in the story at any point.
My Dearest Darkest is almost exclusively character dialogue, and emphasizes the characters’ relationships. If you like books with lots of dialogue, you may like this one! I really did like the queer rep present in this book, and the relationships felt realistic to me. I got the feeling throughout that Kayla Cottingham would write a fantastic YA contemporary romance novel, because her strength is so clearly dialogue, and if she wrote a book in that vein I would definitely read it! But this feels like a miss, to me, with explanations in the plot that feel conveniently tacked on, an ending that bored rather than horrified me, and a massive missed opportunity to lean into the atmosphere that should be present in a solid horror/dark academia book.
My Dearest Darkest is almost exclusively character dialogue, and emphasizes the characters’ relationships. If you like books with lots of dialogue, you may like this one! I really did like the queer rep present in this book, and the relationships felt realistic to me. I got the feeling throughout that Kayla Cottingham would write a fantastic YA contemporary romance novel, because her strength is so clearly dialogue, and if she wrote a book in that vein I would definitely read it! But this feels like a miss, to me, with explanations in the plot that feel conveniently tacked on, an ending that bored rather than horrified me, and a massive missed opportunity to lean into the atmosphere that should be present in a solid horror/dark academia book.
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
[3.75] tbh at first i wanted to give this book 3 stars bc to me it felt like some things weren’t 100% mapped out but alas we all make mistakes and i js decided i rlly dgaf as long as selena was mentioned
This was a super fun YA horror that was a perfect start into spooky season. There’s supernatural happenings and a dark academia setting with a grumpy ballerina gf with a sunshine pianist gf?! Say less. I would say it was more creepy or unsettling than true horror, but that’s to be expected with it being YA.
The self discovery and romance plot for Finch with Selena was really sweet. Selena finding songs that made her think of Finch when she “didn’t even like her” … stop it right now. I love a bitchy ice queen who secretly has a heart of gold especially with her crush.
I enjoyed this book a lot, the ending was a bit predictable and cliche but the journey there was still worth it.
The self discovery and romance plot for Finch with Selena was really sweet. Selena finding songs that made her think of Finch when she “didn’t even like her” … stop it right now. I love a bitchy ice queen who secretly has a heart of gold especially with her crush.
I enjoyed this book a lot, the ending was a bit predictable and cliche but the journey there was still worth it.
First off, what a debut novel! I absolutely loved it!
The perfect lesbian, spooky-ish story with Stranger Things vibes. I couldn’t put it down! Now, this is movie worthy! I’ll definitely be checking out Kayla Cottingham’s other books.
The perfect lesbian, spooky-ish story with Stranger Things vibes. I couldn’t put it down! Now, this is movie worthy! I’ll definitely be checking out Kayla Cottingham’s other books.
3.5
Where do i even start…
I want to say first and foremost that the story on itself was very interesting, i loved Selena and Finch together, they are absolutely lovely. I think Finch discovering her identity was very important and a good addition to the story.
HOWEVER, everything else about this book was just so.. cliché, it makes me feel sick. Especially the ending, i could predict almost every other sentence before it was spoken. “You don’t have to do this, i’ll hold them back, you need a shower, this is for calling me an idiot, i believe in you, oh no i’m gonna die but i have to help my girlfriend to use her superpowers” My GOD that was SO painful, if 15 year old me wrote a fight scene that is exactly what i would’ve written. How hard was it to come up with something slightly more original???
And three months later??? After they’ve seemingly broken every bone in their body they are all somehow jumping and cheering all together, getting accepted into colleges (of fucking course) And oh guess what! Selena looks at Kyra’s empty room, someone’s missing…
I shouldn’t have even read the ending because it was literally the most predictable thing i could ever imagine.
The things i love most about paranormal/ mystery books are the parts with investigations in them. Where the characters gather all the information they have together and come up with a plan.
In this book, all the fact were quite literally handed to them on a silver platter by the librarian. Besides that little 3 page quest of Selena and Simon going to the abandoned building on campus to see the conveniently written journals, there was absolutely nothing to investigate.
The story was interesting up until the point where it became painfully obvious that the villain was disney channel worthy.
Also what’s up with the stag? How was she connected to it? Where did it come from? Why did it have 8 eyes???
I want to say that this book kept me entertained, but i only finished it because i went too far to actually give it up. I wanted some good lesbian horror, but instead i got this low budget netflix show for 12 year olds.
Where do i even start…
I want to say first and foremost that the story on itself was very interesting, i loved Selena and Finch together, they are absolutely lovely. I think Finch discovering her identity was very important and a good addition to the story.
HOWEVER, everything else about this book was just so.. cliché, it makes me feel sick. Especially the ending, i could predict almost every other sentence before it was spoken. “You don’t have to do this, i’ll hold them back, you need a shower, this is for calling me an idiot, i believe in you, oh no i’m gonna die but i have to help my girlfriend to use her superpowers” My GOD that was SO painful, if 15 year old me wrote a fight scene that is exactly what i would’ve written. How hard was it to come up with something slightly more original???
And three months later??? After they’ve seemingly broken every bone in their body they are all somehow jumping and cheering all together, getting accepted into colleges (of fucking course) And oh guess what! Selena looks at Kyra’s empty room, someone’s missing…
I shouldn’t have even read the ending because it was literally the most predictable thing i could ever imagine.
The things i love most about paranormal/ mystery books are the parts with investigations in them. Where the characters gather all the information they have together and come up with a plan.
In this book, all the fact were quite literally handed to them on a silver platter by the librarian. Besides that little 3 page quest of Selena and Simon going to the abandoned building on campus to see the conveniently written journals, there was absolutely nothing to investigate.
The story was interesting up until the point where it became painfully obvious that the villain was disney channel worthy.
Also what’s up with the stag? How was she connected to it? Where did it come from? Why did it have 8 eyes???
I want to say that this book kept me entertained, but i only finished it because i went too far to actually give it up. I wanted some good lesbian horror, but instead i got this low budget netflix show for 12 year olds.