🎙️David Addison: “Could've fooled me.” 

🎙️Maddie Hayes: “A gnat with a lobotomy could fool you.” 

 

📺 “Moonlighting”, 1985 

 

Hear that exasperation? That dry wit? The casual dismissal from one character and the livid come back from another? These are the dulcet tones of rivals-to-lovers. 

 

Allison Saft lost me in A Fragile Enchantment, but she came back swingin’ with A Dark and Drowning Tide, slapping me upside the head with a heady, atmospheric, thoughtful, well-plotted, completely alchemical rivals-to-lovers folkloric quest fantasy. 

 

One of the first things I thought when I started to read this book was it was so much more charming than I thought it would be. I know that may sound quaint, but when I say “charming”, I mean the experience was so pleasurable, right from the start. It was engaging and quick-witted, with interesting and vivid characters. The opening scene with Sylvia and Lorelei was vibrant and really set the rivals-to-lovers vibes right from the start. 

 

Another thing this book establishes from the start and continues throughout the book wherever it can is a sense of whimsy, which is something I always treasure in the books I read and I wish more books had. The whimsy slants more dark than light in this book, but I’ll take it however I can get it. 

 

If I had one complaint about this book it would be that I almost wish it were in dual-POV. I usually never complain about this with books, figuring the author chose the POV and it was for a reason. With Lorelei (our narrator and protagonist) being from a marginalized ethnicity compared to the other characters I’m assuming having the sole POV being from that marginalized POV was the entire point of writing the book that way, but there were times I felt this book would have really benefited from some of the story seen from Sylvia’s POV. 

 

It’s a wonderful read, definitely great for fall and spooky season. Full of folktales, magic, adventure, chemistry, romance, treachery, and love it just hit the spot. 

 

I was provided a copy of this title by the publisher and author via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. 

 

File Under: Dark Fantasy/Romantasy/Folk Fantasy/LGBTQ Fantasy/Sapphic Romance/Standalone Novel