A review by mosaicheartsxx
Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

this book took me not one, not twice...



but three times to actually read it.


third time's the charm as they say ig.


nways. what I want to say to past me who dropped this twice is: "you're SO missing out. PICK IT UP NOW. AGAIN. PICK IT UP AGAIN."

because gods was i missing out.

i'm not even a fantasy fan. heck, i didn't even know who c.s. pacat was until i actually read this. (spoiler: she rocks bro. now go read dark rise). what i am a fan of is gay romance and the enemies-to-lovers trope (thank carry on by rainbow rowell).

so what i'm trying to say is: this is actually out of my comfort zone but wait. WHY CAN'T I PUT IT DOWN???




yo c.s. pacat is that beach.



you know it's a good book when you wake up in the morning and the first thing you think about is

why can't there be men out there looking like james?

and the last thing you think about before going to bed is

yo but violet got that drip tho

.

like.

the whole time i'm not reading the book i'm thinking about reading it. and the whole time i'm reading the book i'm thinking of nothing.

THAT'S HOW I KNOW.

THAT'S HOW I KNEW.

love the characters, especially love the plot twist HELLO?!?!?

no wonder will's got the drip too. just darker.

as a thriller fan, i'm satiated. thank you, c.s. pacat.

i had to search up the meaning of 50+ words tho. but no hate. i love learning new words anyway~

i will successfully call out a crenel now when i see one

.

i'm usually into fast-paced stuff but i genuinely thought this was a slow one. and despite the slow grind, i enjoyed every second!

now if there's anything to critic this book for it would be that

kiss

. like. what the heck happened there???? 😭

they literally probably knew each other for half an hour and katherine is head over heels "would do anything for the boy she met for such a brief moment" like CHILLLLLLL. Y'ALL ACTUALLY NEED TO KNOW EACH OTHER BEFORE YOU GET TO THAT STAGE 😭 tho tbf, i get katherine's "love" because it's in her bones to fall for will as the lady.

but will mah boy.

...

you were just dumb bro 😷

AND I FINALLY GET TO THIS PART IN MY REVIEW.

the pairing.

I just really need to know.

did i mess up the pairing?

I THOUGHT IT WAS TEAM WILL AND TOM. DID I GET IT WRONG? because there's been 3 frigging interactions with will and james. and 0 for team tom. THEY'VE NEVER EVEN SEEN EACH OTHER. THEY DON'T KNOW EACH OTHER EVEN EXIST. WOT. i wanna flip a table. not because i'm team tom but because of whoever it was who spoilered. WRONG. i'm coming for you will-violet-cyprian style. ya better watch your back yA BEGINNER LEVEL SPOILER.

but yes :)

overall this book kept me hooked. i couldn't and didn't want to put it down. and the result? 

my first 5☆ book of the year ヽ(*⌒▽⌒*)ﾉ