Just about everyone I follow on social media has been raving about this book all fall. I had already selected it for my BOTM pick the month it came out, and I moved it up in my queue so I could read it as part of my 10 Before the End for 2024 because of all the buzz. 

 

I wish I could say I felt the same as so many did about this book, but I didn’t. With all of the positive buzz, I truly feel like this book has been overhyped. I can see where it would appeal to some readers, but for me it read like a Wattpad Danny Phantom fanfic. That would be fantastic if I wanted to read Danny Phantom fanfic (don’t get me wrong–I’ve definitely read that before, and on purpose!), but I was looking for a dark, lush, spicy historical romantasy with a MMC that looks like Danny Phantom, and that’s not what I got. 

 

Ophelia wasn’t a FMC I felt I could enjoy because she felt like a cardboard cutout of a character, and Blackwell’s dialogue may have been intermittently witty, but I honestly didn’t feel as much chemistry between the two as so many others have. I felt like all of the supporting characters were caricatures of every supporting character trope there ever was, and the twist was easy to predict from early on in the book. 

 

I enjoyed the trials. I enjoyed the more paranormal and supernatural aspects of the book. I enjoyed the idea of a demonic traveling haunted house. I enjoyed how Ophelia and Blackwell explored the house and how many secrets it held. I definitely enjoyed the haunts with their gore and creativity. It’s too bad none of that has to do with the core parts of the story. 

 

File Under: Adult Fantasy/Dark Fantasy/Disability Rep/Romantasy Series/Fantasy Series/Forbidden Romance/Ghost Story/Historical Fantasy/Interconnected Series/Kindle Unlimited/Paranormal Fantasy/Paranormal Romance/Spice Level 2