Thank you The Nerd Fam for the gifted ARC.

SPICE > PLOT.

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I’m not a fan when that happens.

The initial idea of this story was good. I liked the idea of OCD rep within a fantasy world. I loved the deadly competition (gave me The Serpent and the Wings of Night x Caraval vibes – specifically for the competition). And, it turns out, this is a standalone for the couple with potential for another couple in the sequel.

The romance started off well. A human and a phantom? Sure why not? I thought there was good banter and I love a bargain. But then things started to lose me as the story went on. I spent more time in the second half skipping pages than I did reading. And while sometimes I don’t have a problem with that because the plot is next level, this was not the case. There was even one scene that gave me the ick.

I can’t pinpoint quite what was my issue with the plot. I think a lot of it felt…generic? Each character behaved specifically as planned. There weren’t any dynamic qualities to the side characters that added to the plot. I liked Ophelia’s sister, but she was hardly in the book. Mostly, this was unbalanced.

I don’t know that I’ll pick up the next book if the idea around spice over plot is the same.

Overall audience notes:
- Fantasy Romance
- Language: moderate
- Romance: 5+ open door
- Violence: high
- Content Warnings: elements of horror (gore, torture, blood), loss of life, OCD rep, alcohol use, suicide and depression