The opportunity of a lifetime awaits for Ann Stilwell when she is given a job at The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for it’s medieval art collection and its enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination. Ann is desperate to escape her small town and so when she travels to New York City for a summer job at the MET she finds that the position was actually closed but then she finds herself being offered a job at the Cloisters and she is willing to do anything to stay in New York. She then befriends Rachel, the stunning “IT” Girl of the Cloisters, Patrick the head of the program who has a relationship with Rachel, and Leo the gardener who also has an interest in Rachel and Ann. Ann also begins to study the history of tarot and the researcher’s theories on fortune telling. She finds herself drawn in by Rachel, from her wealth to her looks, to even her secret relationships. When Ann discovers a hidden 15th century tarot deck that could be the key to predicting the future, a dangerous game of power and seduction begins at the Cloisters. Everyone is out for themselves and Ann needs to learn who she can trust and how far she is willing to go to get what she wants. This one started off great but then fell flat for me. It had all the dark academia vibes I normally adore and it even had deaths.... but the overall story itself felt lacking and rather anti-climatic and felt like it dragged on. Ann felt kind of like a Mary-sue and the overall “seduction” and relationship element in the book was bland for me. I had high potentials for this because I thought it would be somewhere between Ninth House and A Discovery of Witches with the dark academia, seductive relationships, a bit of haunting and deaths... but it fell flat overall for me.

*Thanks Atria Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*