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persephonefoxx's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Grief
nadiaherondale's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
A bit predictable and juvenile at times, but honestly, it's YA I get it. The last 25% was a bit rushed honestly, and it infuriated me that Elliot and Tess didn't seem to realize what was going on. And it was also infuriating that they spent half of the book not knowing how to communicate with each other. The plot was interesting with a bit of Dark Academia vibe to it. Overall it's not a bad book, but it's not something special
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Vomit, Physical abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Terminal illness and Death
readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Death
Moderate: Self harm, Violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse
anniereads221's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Self harm, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit
Moderate: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, and Terminal illness
Minor: Infidelity
elishasbookreview's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, and Gore
hanarama's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Cw: abuse (physical, emotional), gore, death, fire, possession
The Good:
• Atmospheric
• Lyrical writing
• Strong premise
The Bad:
• Half-realized villain
• Undefined secondary characters
• Magic system poorly defined
You Might Like This if You Like:
• Riverdale
• The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
• Supernatural
While a good attempt, I feel like this book needed another draft or two. As it is, the book feels like an especially long episode of a CW show.
My biggest issue is in how the side characters are handled. They're cardboard cutouts at best, and the relationships between the main characters and them is ill defined. For example, much is mad about Tess hating the dean, Dr. Birch, but little reason is given for her to hate him, and he only rarely figures into the narration in Tess's chapters. She never interacts with him in the story. I really have no idea why Eliot (who gets physically/emotionally abused by Dr. Birch) thinks that Tess hates the man as much, if not more than he does. Other characters like Tess's aunt and little sister exist only as plot devices. The world feels really empty because of how little characters seem to exist outside of Tess and Eliot's limited interactions with them.
This extends to the Devil that begins haunting Tess and Eliot. For whatever reason Bovalino decides to give the devil occasional POV chapters. These chapters are very occasional and don't seem to offer much insight into the entity, or even to enhance the dread of the plot. I think it would have helped the pacing if she had either omitted these chapters, or had committed to building up the character more. As is, the devil is a fairly clichéd demon, and is about as paper thin as the other side characters.
Like the side characters, Eliot's magic is very poorly defined. Despite being a central aspect to his character, magic seems tacked on to the story like an afterthought. I feel like it needed further exploration. It feels like magic doesn't typically exist in this world outside of Eliot and this one demon book.
Another gripe I have is that Tess's backstory comes too late in the book. Without knowing her circumstances, she comes off as abrasive and a little ungrateful. She openly hates her job at the library and complains all the time, acting petty towards patrons and her coworker. I think that sharing her backstory earlier, and giving her more opportunity to spend time with her sister would have allowed me to sympathize with her from the start.
Overall mediocre with some good, spooky scenes. Bolavino has a real talent for prose, with an easy, lyrical style. I'd love to see what she writes in the future as she hones her skill further.
The Good:
• Atmospheric
• Lyrical writing
• Strong premise
The Bad:
• Half-realized villain
• Undefined secondary characters
• Magic system poorly defined
You Might Like This if You Like:
• Riverdale
• The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
• Supernatural
While a good attempt, I feel like this book needed another draft or two. As it is, the book feels like an especially long episode of a CW show.
My biggest issue is in how the side characters are handled. They're cardboard cutouts at best, and the relationships between the main characters and them is ill defined. For example, much is mad about Tess hating the dean, Dr. Birch, but little reason is given for her to hate him, and he only rarely figures into the narration in Tess's chapters. She never interacts with him in the story. I really have no idea why Eliot (who gets physically/emotionally abused by Dr. Birch) thinks that Tess hates the man as much, if not more than he does. Other characters like Tess's aunt and little sister exist only as plot devices. The world feels really empty because of how little characters seem to exist outside of Tess and Eliot's limited interactions with them.
This extends to the Devil that begins haunting Tess and Eliot. For whatever reason Bovalino decides to give the devil occasional POV chapters. These chapters are very occasional and don't seem to offer much insight into the entity, or even to enhance the dread of the plot. I think it would have helped the pacing if she had either omitted these chapters, or had committed to building up the character more. As is, the devil is a fairly clichéd demon, and is about as paper thin as the other side characters.
Like the side characters, Eliot's magic is very poorly defined. Despite being a central aspect to his character, magic seems tacked on to the story like an afterthought. I feel like it needed further exploration. It feels like magic doesn't typically exist in this world outside of Eliot and this one demon book.
Another gripe I have is that Tess's backstory comes too late in the book. Without knowing her circumstances, she comes off as abrasive and a little ungrateful. She openly hates her job at the library and complains all the time, acting petty towards patrons and her coworker. I think that sharing her backstory earlier, and giving her more opportunity to spend time with her sister would have allowed me to sympathize with her from the start.
Overall mediocre with some good, spooky scenes. Bolavino has a real talent for prose, with an easy, lyrical style. I'd love to see what she writes in the future as she hones her skill further.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
sistershelves_fasya's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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? No
4.0
Atmospheric dark academia with demons, witches, and gore!? Heck yeah, sign me up!
This book gave me the creep and delivered gore that I can still handle. No worries it's not in a slasher genre kind of level, but still makes me squeamish yet I like it! There's a scene that gives me chills (stop right here, spoiler ahead) when the 'supposed to be dead and decayed' friend of the MC follows her home (while FLOATING!) and then banging on her dorm room. If that happened to me, I'd die I tell you!
Even though the first third was slow but I still enjoyed it! Especially because both of the MCs are dealing with family issues and they're slowly connecting to each other. I know you like slow burn enemies to lovers!
It may not scare advanced horror readers, but if you're new to the genre and want to dive into a creepy spooky book, I recommend this one!
Trigger warnings: Self-harm, child abuse, parental illness, cheating parent, blood/gore, possession leading to degradation of mental state
PS: pardon my grammar.....
Thanks to NetGalley and Page Street Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book gave me the creep and delivered gore that I can still handle. No worries it's not in a slasher genre kind of level, but still makes me squeamish yet I like it! There's a scene that gives me chills (stop right here, spoiler ahead) when the 'supposed to be dead and decayed' friend of the MC follows her home (while FLOATING!) and then banging on her dorm room. If that happened to me, I'd die I tell you!
Even though the first third was slow but I still enjoyed it! Especially because both of the MCs are dealing with family issues and they're slowly connecting to each other. I know you like slow burn enemies to lovers!
It may not scare advanced horror readers, but if you're new to the genre and want to dive into a creepy spooky book, I recommend this one!
Trigger warnings: Self-harm, child abuse, parental illness, cheating parent, blood/gore, possession leading to degradation of mental state
PS: pardon my grammar.....
Thanks to NetGalley and Page Street Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Gore, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Self harm
katiemack's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is deliciously scary! I won't give away too much, but the way Bovalino describes how the Devil works actually made me shudder. Unlike some authors, Bovalino doesn't let the YA label stop her from including a healthy amount of gore. I usually read these NetGalley eARCs before bed, and I had to stop doing that with this one because it was too frightening. There were a couple of plot points that made me pause (again, don't want to give too much away), but for the most part the plot speeds along like a train about to collide with the side of a mountain.
If you like dark academia but want it in YA form, this is for you.
This is deliciously scary! I won't give away too much, but the way Bovalino describes how the Devil works actually made me shudder. Unlike some authors, Bovalino doesn't let the YA label stop her from including a healthy amount of gore. I usually read these NetGalley eARCs before bed, and I had to stop doing that with this one because it was too frightening. There were a couple of plot points that made me pause (again, don't want to give too much away), but for the most part the plot speeds along like a train about to collide with the side of a mountain.
If you like dark academia but want it in YA form, this is for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Blood
Moderate: Violence and Terminal illness
Minor: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse
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