(I'm still so obsessed with this cover. It's probably one of my all-time favourites and it really captures this book so well. I can't wait to take pictures of it soon!)

Thank you so much to Raincoast for sending me an arc of Dark and Deepest Red! I will admit, I ended up deciding on this one because of the cover and the praises I had already seen around Twitter and Instagram.

The book definitely lives up to the hype in a lot of ways. I actually didn't know much about the plot going in, except it had something to do with dancing (??), but the second I picked it up it really drew me in because of a history class I took in university where we touched on the dancing fevers. The idea of this occurring in the past seems almost fairytale-esque and hard to believe, and the book does touch on that a little. I really liked how the author took what we know from history and put a little twist to it. As they say in the afterward, no Romani was actually accused of causing the dancing fever, but I did like how they incorporated that into the story. I honestly didn't know much about the Romani besides the little that I have seen here or there, so I actually really liked learning more about their culture and way of life.

The book follows two timelines. One set in Strasbourg in 1518, which follows Lala, her aunt Dorenia, and a boy named Alifair. And the second timeline is set five centuries later, and follows Rosella and Emil. I really liked the different perspectives and seeing how both the past and present timelines converged together. The chapters are pretty short, yet the transition between the timelines and POVs didn't feel jarring. Usually first person POVs aren't my thing, but I actually really liked it and found each character's voice to be quite distinct.

The only issue I had was with the writing. It did start off really well. I liked the imagery and the descriptions, but after a while I started getting a little confused, like I couldn't exactly picture what was being said and had to reread paragraphs a couple times. It did make the story not flow as well. There were a lot metaphors used to describe colours, and just colour in general was mentioned a lot, and it was a bit overwhelming trying to imagine everything in my head.

I really love the story this book told of persecution and hiding one's true self in order to feel accepted. It was something that really resonated with me and I can see resonating with a lot of people. It was wonderful to see the journeys each character went on, realizing that by withholding their past and their culture and faith, they were in turn hurting themselves.

The relationships in this book were quite well done. Usually I'm picky when it comes to romance, but for this one it fit well with the story and I didn't mind it. Emil and Rosella were quite cute and I really liked seeing how interested Emil is in chemistry and how his interest in colour really ties back with this past. I loved seeing the parts of Rosella's life that involved making her family's famous shoes. There was something so magical and entrancing about it, and made this book really feel like a fairytale at times. And then we have Lala and Alifair. I did really like the representation we got here, especially later on near the end. The ending was so perfect and tied up the whole story really well.

Overall, 3.5/5 stars!