Riley Rhodes is a cursebreaker investigating a cursed Scottish castle. Clark Edgeware is a disgraced archaelogist who can’t allow a “scam artist” cursebreaker to get in his way. Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, Scottish castle setting. I was so excited for this one!
Unfortunately, I was incredibly underwhelmed. The “enemies” were just two people who had no actual reason to hate each other. I actually kept forgetting that this was set in Scotland because there was nothing about the setting, story, or characters that felt distinct from a typical American setting. There was no culture or atmosphere. The writing was also very surface level. The narration was clunky and often left me feeling disconnected. The characters were interesting, but they lacked emotional depth and their relationship never convinced me beyond the physical. It was a horrific case of insta-lust that never developed past that point.
The cursebreaker aspects were interesting, but those too felt underdeveloped. There was no real world building around it. No how or why, no details beyond the absolute bare minimum. It didn’t make sense if I thought about it for more than two seconds.
I just needed more depth to the characters and their relationship, and I wish the writing were a bit stronger.