Thank you MacMillan Audio for the gifted audiobook.

WELL THAT WAS INTERESTING.

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I read dark fantasy fairly often, I like dark fantasy, I liked dark academia, but I’ve neve read a dark romance. And this email caught me in a mood and that mood wanted to try this author out. Will I read another one?? I don’t think so, even though I did like this book.

What I loved circled around all of the mystery and atmosphere. This is quintessential dark academia and I loved the vibes. It felt haunting and the suspense elements alongside the secret societies are what I expect and what I like when I pick up a dark academia book (though this is being tagged as fantasy and there’s no fantasy elements FYI).

And I will say there were pieces of the romance I did like. I am who I am and I love a good jealousy moment so those worked for me. The spice though? Yeah, that’s not for me. And there were more scenes than I had anticipated needing to skip which took me out of the book often too.

I do think this wrapped up things well for a standalone and that you got the overall answers you needed. I loved that there was a epilogue at the end to get that happy ever after feeling. This book had good writing and story telling, and I’m not upset that I tried it out.

Overall audience notes:
- Dark academia romance
- Language: strong
- Romance: 5+ open door
- Violence: moderate – high
- Content warnings: child exploitation, grooming, death, dubious consent, non-consensual drugging, murder, sexual assault and trauma, suicide