This is a weird one. Dark academia, witchcraft, mental health issues and what could be described as unhealthy relationships have the main themes here. The death of her girlfriend and subsequent institutionalization has made Felicity’s return to Dalloway rife with landmines. She’s seeing things in the woods, convinced her ex is literally haunting her and pushing limits with her dorm’s newest resident Ellis. Ellis is mystery personified. She’s smart and dangerous, willing to trample over any and all boundaries in the name of research for her next novel. Their relationship gives toxic a new meaning, Ellis preys on Felicity’s vulnerabilities and pulls her into dangerous games. It’s twisty and dark, and you want to shake Felicity by the shoulders and yell at her to run for the hills. Having the benefit of age behind me, I can see that all of Ellis’ behaviors are ticking the box for unhinged, but late teens / early 20s me would be enamored of her confidence and mysteriousness. I 100% would have been sucked up into her orbit. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion. You can’t look away and you really want to see what happens!

Side note: I saw some of the flack for how the author depicted PoC that was in the early reviewer copies, but seems to have been revised for final publication. I am not seeing the interactions described in earlier versions in this hardbound copy.