I need to be honest with myself that even though I immensely enjoyed the first part of this book, the ending just threw me completely off and I wasn’t entirely happy with how everything wrapped up just because it felt rushed and there were plot holes that didn’t make sense.

I still really loved it for the most part but yeah... just making that known.

————————————————
I could not stop smiling at every page. I physically could not. It was not possible.

I'm sorry for the long review ahead.

“Wicked are the ways of women—and especially a witch. Their guile knows no bounds.”

— overall thoughts: 3.5 —
⇢ content warnings//

Spoiler

Blood, Gore, Violence (intense), Physical abuse/assault, Self harm, Sex (vague descriptions), Sexism

I am rating this as I did because of how addicting it is to read and because I am a character-driven reader that is easy to please as long you give me sensible characters and good dynamics, which it hit and hit and hit. However, there were time when the fact that it is a debut novel slips through and I could not ignore it.

I didn’t think this would give me vintage mad scientist vibes… ??



It is heavy on the romance but I do believe that was the aim of this book, so even though I am painfully aware of it’s downfalls I think that it was able to achieve what it wanted.

I do love the French setting just because I was in the mood for it but we do need more settings in Fantasy that aren’t European based circulating more. If you want some recommendations go check out: [b:Spin the Dawn|42815556|Spin the Dawn (The Blood of Stars, #1)|Elizabeth Lim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542674036l/42815556._SY75_.jpg|58477266], [b:The Poppy War|35068705|The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)|R.F. Kuang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1515691735l/35068705._SY75_.jpg|56364137], [b:Witches Steeped in Gold|51813582|Witches Steeped in Gold (Witches Steeped in Gold, #1)|Ciannon Smart|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1592429447l/51813582._SY75_.jpg|71289096], [b:These Violent Delights|50892212|These Violent Delights (These Violent Delights, #1)|Chloe Gong|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580958058l/50892212._SY75_.jpg|68554357], [b:A Song of Wraiths and Ruin|49629448|A Song of Wraiths and Ruin (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, #1)|Roseanne A. Brown|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576673547l/49629448._SY75_.jpg|65116439], [b:Wicked Fox|42133479|Wicked Fox (Gumiho, #1)|Kat Cho|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1561485441l/42133479._SX50_.jpg|60305442].

I find it so funny that almost all my mutuals gave this either a 5 star or a 1 star and I think the difference is in your expectations going in. I went into this blind (as I do most of the books I read) and gave myself a pat on the back for it because I think that’s just the best way to read it. So if you are still reading this review I am assuming that you have either read it or you just don’t care about knowing the content.

If we’re basing this solely on how much I enjoyed Reid and Lou’s characters I would rate this 5 stars because THEY. ARE. JUST. SO. FUN. The pacing of their relationship trumps so many romance stories out there, their chemistry was the perfect blend.

Being the high fantasy reader that I am, something was just not agreeing with the way the plot twists were delivered. It’s something that I’ve seen quite a lot of as well so if you go in with different expectations because of the hype you might end up hating it.

— plot & writing style —★★★☆☆ (3.5)
The writing style makes it so easy to read while not giving up the depth of the magic system

The fact that there is no clear antagonist works for the story so well?? (well for the most part, and I’m going to be honest, I wish it stayed that way). The reason for conflict at first was just life and if it stayed on that track, this book would have been absolutely phenomenal to me. Because it was in the moment that Morgane entered the story did it feel like this was just another YA book.

With all that said, I am not saying that the writing and the plot is flawlessly perfect. But I really don’t think that was the goal of the book. The goal was to get you hooked with loveable characters while having a solid magical foundation and I think that it achieved that. I did have a bit of a problem with how certain plot twists were delivered and some things just felt too convenient for the plot.

Spoiler

Just like how Reid only noticed the mother of pearl ring on Madame Labelle that night but haven’t they known each other for quite a while?

There were definitely some holes that needed fixing

Spoiler

(like why didn’t the witches just use magic right away when they were ambushed at the end?)

but I am willing to overlook it (kind of) because of much I enjoyed everything else.

— world building — ★★★★☆
I like that it does the "nature demands balance" concept justice and is more than a witch brewing a pot of some poison and then someone has to immediately die. The magic system put a lot more focus on things like erasing a person’s memories means that you also have to lose some of your memories as a witch… which was beyond me and I’m happy that we’re getting more concrete versions of that vague fairytale concept. This did slack towards the end so… that was a bit sad. I have high hopes we get more of it in the sequel though.

I dont know if this was exactly set in france (I’m assuming that it is) but we are living for that vintage european vibe



— characters — ★★★★☆
WARNING: This book contains one of the best paced romances.
Enemies to friends to lovers in a forbidden romance setting,, like you know when they’re just supposed to be natural enemies... GIVE IT TO ME. We are weak for that. But most especially when they grow to be (best) friends first and foremost ;)

Lou is just so unapologetically herself and is sensible enough to know it. I was enjoying myself watching Lou and Reid slowly build their relationship and trust. A slower burn romance might have worked better but I'll take it.

All i knew was that there was a forbidden romance between a witch and a witch hunter and OH.MY.GOD. was that written so well. And when I say that I am referring to the easy-to-fall-into character dynamics and structured magic systems because that combined is my happy place.

Beau might be my new favorite character just because of that one scene in the end that I still laugh thinking about.

— themes — ★★★☆☆
Family, love, friendship, all the basics. But my favorite aspect:

It puts a lot of focus on how women and men are viewed/treated by society... and does it quite literally and concretely. The division of how it is believed that all Chasseurs are all men and Witches are all women already says a lot about the symbolism. It tackles it both in analogies and straight out mentions it at times.

And the lgbtq+ rep? It's never outright mentioned but is instead present in a normalized environment which I LOVE. It's treated like it's a normal thing.... like, YES!!! Why wouldn't there be female consorts in a society full of women?



— pacing — ★★★★☆
There were times when it read like a debut novel in terms of plot but the author had a such a huge understand of pacing and knew when to drop the appropriate plots point while choosing the right words that overshadows it.

It's fast paced which did a lot for my attention span.

Shelby Mahurin knows when to deliver the gut punches and the plot twists, but I do think that the build up to those need some work as well as the delivery, then I think it might have hit me harder.

— page turner — ★★★★★
I was addicted to say the least.

I am hyped to read the second book because I've heard that it's better than this one so, we shall see.