A review by junejunejulyjuly
The Poisoner by I.V. Ophelia

4.0

This was great! I loved reading from the perspective of a poisoner FMC. The Gothic Victorian vibes were perfection. Very divergent in a good way for your typical vampire romance, which is much appreciated. I also really liked the characters, even if I loved to hate them. Alina & Silas were excellent together & the slow burn was burning. There also seemed to be quite a bit of research behind the plant poisons & poisons in general, which added to the believability of Alina’s poison-making & her Apothecary. I loved the Apothecary scenes.
Silas’ & Alina’s tit for tat is the highlight of this book for me. I loved the banter between them. I couldn’t get enough of it & wanted more.
There are some weaknesses here which I think are just due to this being her first book (I believe). The ending was also pretty abrupt.
A complaint which isn’t about this book specifically, but is something I see commonly in dark romance books is authors not really knowing what dubcon/noncon is & using those terms in ways that are intermingled with BDSM terminology. BDSM terminology would assume these were negotiated consensual dubious nonconsensual acts, not straight up noncon. So that confuses me (maybe this is just my misunderstanding?) where it should probably be a straight up trigger warning for rape. So tread lightly if you need to.
That said, I am dying to read the next in this series! I need to know more. I can’t wait to see where IV Ophelia takes this & what happens to Alina & Silas.
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