leahrosereads's Reviews (1.04k)

Stunning. Heart wrenching. Hopeful. Phenomenal.  I know that I don't have words to adequately explain how much I loved this story. Moth and Sani's journey will stick with me for a long while. 

Everything about this was perfection to me.  The writing and character development were fantastic.  Amber McBride is an auto-read author from this. Hands down.  I'll read everything by her.

This is definitely more of a suspense/thriller, but I really liked it.  The slasher references were excellent, I enjoyed the unlikeable characters, and I really enjoyed not figuring out the ending.  Thrillers are usually pretty easy for me to guess right, and in quite a few places, I was.  But I definitely missed plenty!

First, I'd like to thank the publisher for an uncorrected proof via Netgalley in exchange for this honest review.

Phantom Heart starts off fascinating and incredibly atmospheric.  The haunted house, the witty protagonist, the ghost hunters.  It was neat, unfortunately, the romance elements were really weak and disturbing.

I don't know the source material (The Phantom of the Opera), so I'm not sure how much of this romance deviates from it, but it had me cringing, especially in the last third of the book.

That on top of a writing style that felt stilted, slow pacing and being too long in general, I don't think this book is for me.

This was a fantastic story. Heart wrenching at times, while still being inspiring and having this optimism even when it was starting to look a bit bleak.  

Harley, surprising no one (since the book is named by her) stole the show.  Quite literally at times.  The conversations around her mental health were tough to read as someone who struggles everyday with their own.

The family dynamics were also well done.  I remember being on the cusp of adulthood and feeling like my parents weren't always listening to (or weren't always getting) my needs.

I knew when I read Starfish that this author would be one that I'd come back to again and again, and that she'd be an auto-buy author for years to come.

Wow! I was on the edge of my seat from pretty much the very beginning.  So much of this made my skin crawl. Everything Connor and all the other kids go through at Nightlight was some of the most horrific, realistic nightmares I've ever read.

There are trigger warnings listed by the author on the first page, and I think that's so important to see and note.  

Because OMG THIS IS PERFECTION (x50,000,000) isn't the best, most coherent review, I'll try to add some more thoughts.  SGJ love for horror and the slasher genre in particular is so very evident here.  He knows just how to weave such a compelling story in a genre and sub-genre that feels often overlooked.  This is easily one of the most engrossing horror novels I've ever read, and if I hadn't already read and loved a lot of SGJ's other works, this would be the one to confirm what I already know.  He's one of my favorite authors ever (not just in horror, but any genre).  Just an absolute master in the craft!

I really enjoyed seeing this look into Grayson's life before Batman and absolutely loved how the artist's portrayed the circus and carnival.  Using complementary colors was so smart.  That, on top of a really good story, had me completely entranced.  

This was a pretty good continuation!  It had a tad more angst then I normally like in novels, and once again, all of the spice!  I'm interested to see how this all plays out cause oof that last little bit was a doozy!

This is my first Katee Robert, and my first reverse harem, and I gotta say, I really enjoyed it.  It's pretty spicy, but since I don't read a lot of novels like this, I'm not sure if it's spicier than others.  But it was really a lot here!  

I really liked the writing, characters, and plot, though with the ending, I'm not quite sure if I'll be continuing with the series.  The next book will most likely have a trope that I don't like. But the characters were so fun and it's on KU, I may be weak and check it out anyway, lol!