4.25/5 stars!

This made me want to reread A Darker Shade of Magic. I’ve missed you V.E. Schwab!

Thank you for giving us a fantastic sapphic vampire novel, I can never get enough of them.

4.5/5 stars.

I would highly recommend going to the reviews (on Goodreads) and reading Andrew's own book review. He shares helpful information on what his book is about as well as the content warnings. And this is definitely a book that a lot of people are going to want to browse the content warnings for.

I read this book almost completely in one sitting. This was a very real, very traumatic book to read. Andrew writes about things that will hit close to home for many people. This book heavily covers pregnancy and the emotional, physical, and mental turmoil that comes with it. The MMC is a trans man named Crane. While I don't think any of these characters were necessarily "likable," and you'll understand exactly why once you read this book, they were relatable and multifaceted.

I loved the deep insight we get as readers into Crane's struggles of coming to terms with who he is. He struggled with his self-identity and accepting who he is. We get to read the deepest, darkest thoughts of Crane. We experience his suicidal ideation, self-harm, intrusive thoughts, and darkest desires. This was the perfect book to read during Pride month. I thought it was artfully done.

Andrew was masterful in balancing out classic horror and gore with internal struggles and societal issues. Sometimes I'll read books that are trying to accomplish a discussion on current life issues while still maintaining their horror story, and it doesn't always mix well together. This book did. It all blended well together and felt seamless.

This is my first book that I've read by this author and I already know that I'll be returning for more gore. I loved the writing within this book and how complex it felt, even with it being a shorter book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7648675529
Fable Review: https://fable.co/review/d97775ae-a9d0-4d47-bd62-9d15b92bccf9/share

1.5/5 stars rounded up.

I grabbed this ARC because the blurb sounded interesting but unfortunately the execution did not deliver for me. I considered DNFing this a few times. 

The story itself did not live up to the expectations that I had in my mind and I found this book incredibly slow and truthfully, boring. I appreciated the insight into the toxic relationship and what the goal was here, but I found myself really struggling with the characters. The characters just felt unreachable to me and flat. The story felt as though it took forever to start gaining momentum and everything felt increasingly repetitive. This story could've been much, much shorter.

The tone in this book was ominous and unsettling, but it seems as though it didn't build up to much in the end. I was excited for this book and hoping that it was going to be a hit for me, but it was a tough read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

2.5/5 stars.

I feel like such a hater but I didn’t really like this book. It’s also making me question my prior rating for book 1.

While I liked the advocating for sex work within this book, my main gripe came from Nico. Maybe this is hypocritical to say, but he was just kind of sleazy to me. I really didn’t care for the fact that he was watching and paying for Lauren’s content anonymously and she somehow was completely unfazed by this? Not to mention, he was stalking and tracking her. I just found it gross and the only reason it was acceptable was because he was attractive. They had this bad blood from high school but somehow with their first real encounter, she was ready to risk everything to jump him. I honestly just didn’t vibe with how Nico’s character was and how easily Lauren decided to forgive him and start getting involved with him.

Honestly some of the sex scenes in this book just made me cringe as well. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I’ve been consuming sapphic novels, but the chemistry just felt forced and too perfect? Maybe I’m simply being a hater. It was an easy, quick read, but I didn’t like this nearly as much as I remembered liking the first book. The plot line wasn’t satisfying to me either.

I also very much do not care for the very questionable man swooping in and fixing the FMC’s main problem.

Once I read that their rent for Velvet was rising, I immediately knew that good ole Nico would be diving right in to fix the problem for Lauren.

I found that incredibly cliche and predictable.

Bummed out because I was super excited for this book and read it on day 1 of publication, but it ended up being a massive miss for me.

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7166861684
Fable Review: https://fable.co/review/218d9b7b-fea7-4732-875c-8e9c4d555597/share