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adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Murder
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
❗️SPOILERS❗️
Ok the romance… 10/10 Ms. Smith never misses with the spicy scenes. Ugh and I love that we have clear consent!!!
As far as the story goes, I had a great time! I thought the concept was super cool. Loved getting to know the whole family and the fake relationship trope was so much fun. Unfortunately I did not find myself not as hooked to this story as I was with Phantasma. I just felt like I didn’t know Genevieve’s background as well as Ophelia and therefore didn’t really feel as invested in her journey in Enchantra (and maybe that’s because I’m an oldest daughter so I just related to Ophelia more idk). But regardless I still had a GREAT time. LOVED the ending and can’t wait for more from Ms Smith ;)
Ok the romance… 10/10 Ms. Smith never misses with the spicy scenes. Ugh and I love that we have clear consent!!!
As far as the story goes, I had a great time! I thought the concept was super cool. Loved getting to know the whole family and the fake relationship trope was so much fun. Unfortunately I did not find myself not as hooked to this story as I was with Phantasma. I just felt like I didn’t know Genevieve’s background as well as Ophelia and therefore didn’t really feel as invested in her journey in Enchantra (and maybe that’s because I’m an oldest daughter so I just related to Ophelia more idk). But regardless I still had a GREAT time. LOVED the ending and can’t wait for more from Ms Smith ;)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Death, Gore, Fire/Fire injury
adventurous
dark
funny
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
Okay, where to begin. To preface, Phantasma was one of my favorite books I read last year. I was SO excited for this installment. Unfortunately, this was just…meh. I have several questions/concerns/opinions.
First question, why was this set in Italy? We are in a manor the entire book. The location played no role. I feel like if you’re writing a book about a specific location, it’s to be expected that things from that location/culture/language would be tied into the book, but it was not…like at all. This could have been set in Siberia and I wouldn’t have known the difference.
Second, Genevieve was pretty insufferable the entire book. I feel like I remember liking her in the first book, so I’m not sure what happened. She was just so melodramatic about her ex, but maybe I just didn’t read into the “seriousness” of that relationship. It felt more like a years long situationship from the way she described it. And hey, situationships are trauma inducing, I’ll give her that, but I was just like girl get over it. To say that she felt unloved and misunderstood or like no one knew who she really was while simultaneously having multiple friends and loved ones just made no sense.
Third, this unfortunately felt HEAVILY like instalove. I just couldn’t buy them “falling for each other” or knowing each other to their core or where this deep care for one another even came from. Because of that, even the smut didn’t hit. And while we’re on that topic, it was low key kinda cringey to read. I love a bad boy situation but idk, the light BDSM and exhibitionism just kinda came outta nowhere and didn’t make sense for either character. I really wish we got more dialogue to build their relationship, not just incessant games of two truths and a lie.
Fourth, this book was heavily inspired by Ready or Not (which I happen to love btw), but I just feel like The Hunt wasn’t explained well whatsoever. It ultimately amounted to a several days long game of hide and seek, even though the “games” had different names for some reason? I wish there would have been more effort and/or creativity put into this major plot point.
Lastly, (and positively), I loved the rest of the characters. Everyone had a distinct personality that made them distinguishable. And above all, I LOVED the familiars and especially Umbra, the fox. I’m a sucker for a pet bestie.
I thought this would just be a duology, but it sounds like we’re in for a third book (if not more), which I will happily read. Kaylie Smith is a good writer, but this one missed the mark for me for whatever reason. Still had fun, but nowhere near as good as Phantasma was.
First question, why was this set in Italy? We are in a manor the entire book. The location played no role. I feel like if you’re writing a book about a specific location, it’s to be expected that things from that location/culture/language would be tied into the book, but it was not…like at all. This could have been set in Siberia and I wouldn’t have known the difference.
Second, Genevieve was pretty insufferable the entire book. I feel like I remember liking her in the first book, so I’m not sure what happened. She was just so melodramatic about her ex, but maybe I just didn’t read into the “seriousness” of that relationship. It felt more like a years long situationship from the way she described it. And hey, situationships are trauma inducing, I’ll give her that, but I was just like girl get over it. To say that she felt unloved and misunderstood or like no one knew who she really was while simultaneously having multiple friends and loved ones just made no sense.
Third, this unfortunately felt HEAVILY like instalove. I just couldn’t buy them “falling for each other” or knowing each other to their core or where this deep care for one another even came from. Because of that, even the smut didn’t hit. And while we’re on that topic, it was low key kinda cringey to read. I love a bad boy situation but idk, the light BDSM and exhibitionism just kinda came outta nowhere and didn’t make sense for either character. I really wish we got more dialogue to build their relationship, not just incessant games of two truths and a lie.
Fourth, this book was heavily inspired by Ready or Not (which I happen to love btw), but I just feel like The Hunt wasn’t explained well whatsoever. It ultimately amounted to a several days long game of hide and seek, even though the “games” had different names for some reason? I wish there would have been more effort and/or creativity put into this major plot point.
Lastly, (and positively), I loved the rest of the characters. Everyone had a distinct personality that made them distinguishable. And above all, I LOVED the familiars and especially Umbra, the fox. I’m a sucker for a pet bestie.
I thought this would just be a duology, but it sounds like we’re in for a third book (if not more), which I will happily read. Kaylie Smith is a good writer, but this one missed the mark for me for whatever reason. Still had fun, but nowhere near as good as Phantasma was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Terminal illness
Minor: Cursing, Death, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death of parent
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
This was a great return to the world of Phantasma but I appreciate that you could read this as a standalone without too much trouble.
More paranormal games and trials plus some spice on the side. Ends like there are more stories with Salem and Rowin to come, so hopefully that isn’t a let down.
More paranormal games and trials plus some spice on the side. Ends like there are more stories with Salem and Rowin to come, so hopefully that isn’t a let down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Overall, a step up from Phantasma. I found the competition within the book more crucial to the plotline , the ending better written, and the couple a bit more believable than the previous installment.
However, I still have the nit picky gripe about the dialogue and character descriptions being too modern for the historic setting (1800s? It’s super vague). It feels very CW in accuracy.
However, I still have the nit picky gripe about the dialogue and character descriptions being too modern for the historic setting (1800s? It’s super vague). It feels very CW in accuracy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Murder
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Blood
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:
No
Well it’s official… I’m obsessed with this series. I liked this one just as much as the last one which I know is really hard to do when you’re writing a series. I’m so excited for the entire series and the fact that we’ve dropped in an entire family so now we’re definitely gonna get a ton of books. The smut was awesome,(not enough tho)and the horror was enough that it didn’t scare me too bad but was intense and I was super invested in all of the characters. I had such a good time reading this book and flew through it. Highly recommend this whole series to everybody I know.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Terminal illness
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Holy shit I loved this!!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Torture, Death of parent, Toxic friendship
Minor: Grief, Stalking