There are many things to love about this book.  Ophelia is a wonderful main character with a solid balance of flaws and strengths so she is never too much of a Mary Sue perfection or too stupid to Live dumbass.   Blackwell is a sexy motherfucker.  There is no slow burn vs insta love argument here...they are attracted to each other and enjoy each other carnally before worrying about whether they love each other or not.   The way it works on real life.  The writing starts a bit over flowery but after the intro the writer dials it back down. 
The sex scenes are hot and plentiful.
This is the first gothic romance that actually feels gothic. 

There are a number of things that don't work.   Admittedly many of these are personal issues so they are not reflected in my rating which is just above average.  

I could not sense what era this is written in.  They seem to be in turn of the century New Orleans as they travel mostly by carriage but there are also cars, although they are new.  The only clothes that are described are formal but would not be out of place in the early 20th century. 
The language and behaviour is modern.  I don't like when writers try to fake an olde timey language style but it seems too casual for this time period.  Enough so that I was constantly trying to figure out WHEN this was happening and that is not what you want in a novel. 

The novel felt very rushed at the end so I was left with an unsatisfactory conclusion.  I admit I didn't see the ending but I also don't think it was sprung on the reader out of no where. There just wasn't any time to process the clues. 

This is mostly due to the trials.  Its very rare that I like these types of survival games.  They take up a lot of time and they are just not very interesting to me.  Its one encounter after another in rapid succession and I am not really invested in the set up or the outcome.  

Finally I was disappointed that this book ends the story of Ophelia and Blackwell, at least as central characters. I have read many series where the book focuses on one book per couple and I have enjoyed them but I have never felt as unfulfilled as I do here.  

The next story takes place with Genevieve who I found to be insufferable as a character in this novel. I don't care enough to follow her adventures.  Especially as I have not had enough of the first couple.