The Executioners Three by. Susan Dennard | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: The Executioners Three

Author: Susan Dennard

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 304

Publication Date: 8/26/25

Publisher: Tor Teen

Categories: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Paranormal, Romance

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Tor Teen for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

From New York Times bestselling author Susan Dennard comes The Executioners Three, a mystery filled with rivalry, romance, best friends, and a gruesome curse that dates back centuries.

Freddie Gellar didn’t mean to get half the rival high school arrested. She’d simply heard shrieks coming from the woods, so she’d called the cops like any good human would do. How was she supposed to know it was just kids partying?

Except the next day, a body is found. And while the local sheriff might call it suicide, Freddie’s instincts tell her otherwise. So, like the aspiring sleuth (and true X-Files aficionado) she is, Freddie sets out to prove there’s a murderer at large.

Content Warning: violence, murder, death

+ This was a really interesting book and one I wasn’t quite expecting. This book is set in the 1990’s and the clues was definitely how Freddie loved the X-Files and NSYNC (she LOATHES The Backstreet Boys and hi, I was a BSB fan, not NSYNC 😅). This story gave me Stranger Things vibes minus the demi-gorgon, it was the time period that was similar and the way the characters talked and acted.

+ Freddie is a fun character. She’s trying to investigate something that has been happening in town but also, she’s a prankster. Her and her best-friend Divya are literally hanging with a group of kids at school who does pranks at their rival school. These kids are in high school, so it’s very young adult.

+ Freddie and Theo’s romance is too cute! I loved it.

+ The murder mystery was interesting and I liked how it built. The ending reveal was full of suspense and thrills.

~ I wasn’t sure what I was reading at first and how I felt about it but I’m glad I pushed through because things get dark. But for all it’s darkness because of the murders I felt like there was enough humor to keep things light.

Final Thoughts:

Here is another book you should pick up for the fall season! It’s dark (but fun) with a murder mystery and it has Stranger Things vibes. I thought it was cool it was set in the 1990’s, Freddie and her friends are fun and pranksters, and the romance is really cute.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books I’ve Read From This Author:

The Whispering Night by. Susan Dennard | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

The Hunting Moon by. Susan Dennard | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

The Luminaries by.Susan Dennard | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Spell to Wake the Dead by. Nicole Lesperance | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: A Spell to Wake the Dead

Author: Nicole Lesperance

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 352

Publication Date: 8/26/25

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Categories: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Witchcraft, Cult, Romance

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Two teen girls must uncover the dark, occult secrets lurking in their Cape Cod town to solve a series of murders—and save themselves from the same fate—in this twisty, witchy thriller.

When Mazzy and her best friend Nora sneak down to the beach one moonlit night to cast a spell, they don’t expect to find a dead body. But as the tide rolls in, it carries the remains of a woman who is missing her hands and teeth.

The girls know they should leave the investigation to the police, but they can’t shake the weird, supernatural connection they feel with the dead woman. Using spellwork and divination, they set out to find answers of their own. But after they uncover a rash of local disappearances stretching back years—and both girls start having occult visions and hearing ghostly, whispering voices—Mazzy worries that she and Nora are in danger.

Then, Nora finds a second body. And a whispering voice is telling her where to find more. With everything spiraling, Mazzy needs to figure out who to trust and how to sever this supernatural connection—or she and Nora might be the next bodies to wash up on the beach.

Content Warning: violence, murder, death, kidnapping, ritual, possession

+ Mazzy and Nora are best friends and dabble with witchcraft. One night they are doing a spell when they stumble upon a dead body, and then a few others. The girls try to make sense of going on and realize maybe they are next.

+ I loved Mazzy and Nora’s friendship (even with the challenges they faced), also their friend Elliot who Mazzy has a crush on. The story doesn’t focus on the romance, but I like how it’s woven in between the mystery and thrills happening throughout this book.

+ Some mysteries are too slow for me but I liked the pacing in this one because of the witchcraft and then the rumors about a cult in the town that could be behind the murders. The girls get tangled up in all of it and it’s fun to see where it all ends up! It was a nice blend of mystery, horror, suspense and thriller.

+ This book is atmospheric and set in Cape Cod. It captured the small coastal town feel, and even felt creepy especially with these bodies being found in the water. I just love how it blended the witchcraft and coastal vibes.

~ Mazzy already has a crush on Elliot when the book starts and it’s noted something was changed between them so it was just getting to the part of both of them admitting it. I did wish we knew a little more about Elliot because he is helping these girls a lot on figuring out this cult.

Final Thoughts:

This is the perfect book for the fall season when you are looking for something witchy and thrilling to read. I enjoyed it!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Bewitching by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating:

Title: The Bewitching

Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 368

Publication Date: 7/15/25

Publisher: Del Rey

Categories: Mystery, Horror, Witchcraft, Multigenerational, Historical Fiction

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Del Rey for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch.

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.

Content Warning: violence, death, murders, incest

+ This story is told in three timelines and I found each era fascinating. Minerva is a college student in the late 1990’s and writing her research on witchcraft. So the timeline follows her grandmother, Alba’s story in 1908 and her experiences of encountering witchcraft. But Minerva is also researching a mystery of a girl that disappeared from campus, so there is another timeline of the events concerning that time on campus in 1934.

+ I really enjoyed how the author captured the late 90’s since I was also a college student at that time. And it felt nostalgic to see Minerva using a discman and listening to bands I listened to at that time. Loved that! I also liked Minerva’s character and how she’s into horror novels.

+ Most of the horror comes at the end of the story and I did enjoy that part.

~ I did not like the incest that occurred in the book between Alba and her uncle. I actually had to go back to the beginning of the explanation of the family tree to make sure I was reading it right and I didn’t miss that he was just like an Uncle because he was a family friend. Nope. Alba and her Uncle Arturo are only a few years apart in age and it just made me feel gross.

~ As much as I found the three different stories fascinating, I felt like everything moved too slowly in this book, especially in the middle. So I did skim a little to get to the horror and action part, which was near the end of the book.

Final Thoughts:

This might be my least favorite book I’ve read from this author. The writing is great as usual and I found the timelines fascinating but for me the pacing was too slow and also, and no to the incest. I think true horror genre fans would love this because Minerva is a character who is a fan and mentions certain authors that I am not very aware of. I was not the right audience for this one but I still look forward to reading her next book!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Seventh Veil of Salome by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Mexican Gothic by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia | Audiobook Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Beautiful Ones | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Predatory Natures by. Amy Goldsmith | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Predatory Natures

Author: Amy Goldsmith

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 432

Publication Date: 7/8/25

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Categories: Young Adult, Thriller, Contemporary Fantasy, Horror

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Delacorte Press for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A teen girl’s dream job aboard a luxury train derails when she discovers the strange cargo being transported—a mysterious and beautiful greenhouse—but its flowering façade may hide deadly thorns beneath, in this atmospheric and lush novel from the author of Those We Drown.

Lara Williams is desperate to get away. When she gets a job working aboard the luxury train The Banebury for her gap year, she this is her chance to reinvent herself, after the incident that wrecked her relationships and her college prospects several months ago.

At first, the train is everything Lara expected—a five-star escape from her past, demanding customers and all. Even after she learns that her ex-friend, Rhys, who she definitely did not have feelings for before their relationship imploded, is one of her new coworkers, she’s determined to make things work.

But on the first night of their journey, the trip takes a strange turn when two mysterious carriages, filled with an array of beautiful and rare plants, are attached to the end of the train in the middle of the night. With them come a pair of siblings. Gwen and Gwydion are wealthy, Welsh, and alluring as they are odd–not to mention, incredibly protective of their botanical cargo.

The siblings claim the plants they’re transporting are for research, yet Lara can’t shake the feeling that there’s something…otherworldly about them. Something that calls to her, night after night, whispering in her dreams.

Soon, Lara will you can’t outrun your troubles. You have to grab them by their roots. And if she can’t dig up the secrets of the Banebury, they might just consume her whole…

Content Warning: plant horror, death, possessive relationship

+ I really like the setting of this luxury train on it’s way through Europe and Lara is working on the train meeting knew people and one person from her past, Rhys, is on the train also. They used to be close friends in high school until some things changed.

+ The setting of the train already lends a mystery to the story but then as more people leave and join the journey and Lara finds something in one of the cars – plants, she’s wondering what is going on. I liked the sense of suspicion around the people on the train and the different personalities Lara encounters. I found the plants fascinating and the Welsh mythology tied to it very interesting. As people start getting hurt and dying on the train, Lara and Rhys try to figure out what’s going on before it’s too late.

+ Lara has a history and there are flashbacks to it throughout the story because she’s on the train with Rhys who is a link to her past. Her story was a parallel to the mythology about the plants so I did like that. In those flashbacks, she’s dating a boy who changes her, molds her into what he wants her to be, is very possessive of her and we see how far Lara has come in her self journey.

~ The beginning was a bit slow because it’s setting the scene and we’re meeting all the workers and passengers on the train, but also because of the flashbacks. I didn’t mind it too much, but it did feel like the story moved slowly because of it. The flashback events do ramp up though and it coincides with what is happening on the train so I did like that.

Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed the luxury train setting and the mysterious siblings and the plants! I also did like how Lara’s personal situation and growth was a parallel with the Welsh mythology about the goddess of flowers. I think for a young adult thriller, this was enjoyable and if you like trains and some Little Shop of Horrors vibe, you’ll enjoy this one.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Of Earthly Delights by. Goldy Moldavsky | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Of Earthly Delights

Author: Goldy Moldavsky

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 336

Publication Date: 5/13/25

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Categories: Contemporary, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult, Gothic, Horror, Thriller, Mystery

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Henry Holt and Co. for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A contemporary YA gothic romance about a dark family secret, a lush, mysterious garden, and a love that never dies, from New York Times bestselling author Goldy Moldavsky.

Aspiring artist Rose Pauly is not happy moving from her home in New York City right before her senior year of high school. But on her first miserable day in Connecticut, she meets Hart Hargrove. The two share an immediate, undeniable connection.

Hart introduces Rose to his slice of paradise–the immense private garden nestled behind the Hargrove family mansion. There, the two spend a fever dream of a summer together. But as their bond blossoms into love, Rose can’t shake the feeling that all is not as it seems.

When Rose uncovers the truth about the garden, she’s forced to question how genuine her love story truly is. But Hart can’t bear to lose Rose, and he will stop at nothing to save their relationship.

Posing haunting questions about beauty and desire, this is an atmospheric and darkly romantic tale that will enthrall readers.

Content Warning: violence, grief, accident, body horror

+ The twist in this story blew my mind, it’s the one book this year that has made my jaw drop.

+ Rose is new to town, but right away she meets Hart Hargrove. He’s popular, he lives on the biggest estate in town – an estate whose gardens are infamous for secret, exclusive parties. Rose and Hart fall madly in love, almost insta-love, but there are clues along the way in this book where it feels like something is off. Something doesn’t feel right with their love story.

+ The grief that is presented in this book is heartbreaking. I could understand the decisions of Hart and his twin, Heather, but when everything is revealed, it made my heart ache for all of them involved. Without spoiling the story, I couldn’t imagine what they were going through.

+ Though the love story about Rose and Hart feels invincible and meant to be, there is a dark, sinister undertone to this story. It shows up in the garden parties and Rose’s best friend, Llowell. There is some body horror but really brief and the ending is wild with action and violence.

~ Because I knew there was something off to the romance, and some moments of the “future” sprinkled in as the story went on…I did get confused. But I’m glad I pushed through to the end – the end though, it’s an open ending which shocked me.

Final Thoughts:

This story is creative, dark, has a gothic contemporary atmosphere and the romance is heady but it’s also so sad and tragic. It explored a lot of topics like love, grief, friendship, and wishes. But if you could make your wishes come true, what would you be willing to give up? The ending of this story made my jaw drop and I think it’s one of those books that I’ll never forget.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by. Kylie Lee Baker | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng

Author: Kylie Lee Baker

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 304

Publication Date: 1/7/25

Publisher: MIRA

Categories: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal, Social Commentary

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to MIRA for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner—but the bloody messes don’t bother her, not when she’s already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister being pushed in front of a train. The killer was never caught, and Cora is still haunted by his last words: “bat eater.”

These days nobody can reach Cora: not her aunt, who wants her to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival; not her weird colleagues; and especially not the slack-jawed shadow lurking around her door frame. After all, it can’t be real—can it? After a series of unexplained killings in Chinatown, Cora believes someone might be targeting East Asian women, and something might be targeting Cora herself.

Content Warning: violence, death, gore, parental neglect

+ I love this author and she’s a must-read author for me now. The story is set in New York City during the COVID pandemic – early 2020, remember that? This brought me back to a time of so much fear and uncertainty, it was nostalgic but not in a good way. Cora Zeng is Chinese-American and she has some issues that has been exacerbated by the pandemic, like her being a germaphobe. She’s also dealt with a traumatic childhood with parental neglect and divorce so Cora is complicated, anxious, closed-off, and now she is haunted. Literally. Cora’s voice is so honest about what she thinks about her family, society, and herself.

+ This story is filled with gore, but I was surprised with how much there was because I was grimacing for half the book I think. It is that gory but I should have expected it since Cora is a crime-scene cleaner. Outside of the gore, there is something else going on in a paranormal aspect in the story. Cora is being haunted and it is the month where the Chinese honor the dead or hungry ghosts with some rituals like putting out food for the ghosts and burning joss papers. I learned something cultural that I didn’t know much about which was cool but the way the author wove it into this story about COVID and crime against Chinese and Asian people during that time period is really amazing.

+ I really liked how the tension built in this story. Cora’s mental state is not the best, so I thought she was just going through psychosis due to PTSD but add the anxiousness about COVID during that time really upped the tension in the situation around the city. Add to that the crime scenes she is cleaning up has a pattern and then the hauntings start happening – there were times when I was laying in bed in the dark reading this that I got a chill. Because who wants a hungry ghost haunting them? Not me!

+ I loved the side characters, Cora’s co-workers, Harvey and Yifei. They brought humor but also gave Cora support even though they weren’t close friends. They were there for her even if things got super crazy. And bless her aunts too, even though they were extreme opposites – I’m glad she had people, even though it wasn’t a lot or people.

+ The social commentary of this book is what really hits home with me. The racism Cora experiences in this story made me so angry and heartbroken that racism is so prevalent in our country. The violence of the deaths in this story just makes me question how can people be so filled with hate as to want someone to suffer in these ways.

~ There was a small lull in the middle of the book, as Cora is dealing with some ghosts but nothing that stopped me from reading. Going into this book I was thinking too hard and saying what is this? Is it a horror story? Murder mystery? Paranormal haunting? What is going on? And once I just went with the flow and went along for the wild ride, I was blown away by the end.

Final Thoughts:

I loved how this author combined the time period of COVID, the social commentary of racism, the paranormal hauntings of hungry ghosts, and the possibility of a serial killer on the loose plus all the gore, violence and creep factor into one wild ride of a book. It touched on the challenges of family, friendship, mental health, grief and so much more. It’s brutal and violent and I can’t stop thinking about it. I know this story will probably stay with me forever.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Scarlet Alchemist by. Kylie Lee Baker | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

The Blood Orchid by. Kylie Lee Baker | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

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BLOG TOUR} The Empress of Time by. Kylie Lee Baker | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

BLOG TOUR } The Keeper of Night by. Kylie Lee Baker | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Their Monstrous Hearts by. Yiğit Turhan | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Their Monstrous Hearts

Author: Yiğit Turhan

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 320

Publication Date: 4/8/25

Publisher: MIRA

Categories: Mystery, Gothic, Contemporary, Horror

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to MIRA for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A haunting novel about the boundaries people will cross to keep their dreams alive.

A mysterious stranger shows up at Riccardo’s apartment with some news: his grandmother Perihan has died, and Riccardo has inherited her villa in Milan along with her famed butterfly collection.

The struggling writer is out of options. He’s hoping the change of scenery in Milan will inspire him, and maybe there will be some money to keep him afloat. But Perihan’s house isn’t as opulent as he remembers. The butterflies pinned in their glass cases seem more ominous than artful. Perihan’s group of mysterious old friends is constantly lurking. And there’s something wrong in the greenhouse.

As Riccardo explores the decrepit estate, he stumbles upon Perihan’s diary, which might hold the key to her mysterious death. Or at least give him the inspiration he needs to finish his manuscript.

But he might not survive long enough to write it.

Content Warning: body horror, death, murder, insect horror

+ I almost DNF’d this at 30% – it is so slow of a mystery and yet I was intrigued by Riccardo who is a struggling and poor writer who is on a tight deadline with no manuscript to show for it. His grandmother passes, and leaves him her home in Milan, Italy. With no money and too much stress, he goes thinking he can write while he is there but instead he finds a manuscript written by his grandmother, Perihan.

+ I did find Perihan’s manuscript interesting because of the time it’s written in the past and also she is from Turkey. Her life is hard from the start but it takes her to Milan where life really flourishes for her. I couldn’t tell at first if she was a good person or not. Riccardo is doing no writing but he is reading this manuscript and learning a lot about his grandmother’s life.

+ The horror and the twist comes at the end. It’s a crazy ending! But if you don’t like monstrous butterflies, stay away from this one.

~ Like I said above, this was almost a DNF. I didn’t though and skimmed until 70% into the book where everything starts picking up. I’m already not one who enjoys mystery books, and I struggled because this one is a slow one, but I just wanted something to happen in the first half with Riccardo either staring to right his book or some horror at the start. But this is a slow building horror story that ends with a bang.

Final Thoughts:

I don’t think I was the target audience for this book. For me, it was too slow for the first two-thirds of this book. I did find the characters and Perihan’s life very fascinating and the ending is wild. If you like slow building mystery and horror then you might enjoy this one.

I was on the Blog Tour so read a book excerpt here: https://pastmidnights.com/?p=31590

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Phantasma by. Kaylie Smith | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Phantasma (Wicked Games, #1)

Author: Kaylie Smith

Format: ebook (KU)

Pages: 497

Publication Date: 9/3/24

Categories: Dark Romance, Fantasy, Romantasy, Lite Horror, Gothic

Caraval meets Throne of the Fallen in this spicy dark romantasy where a necromancer needs help from a dangerous phantom to win a deadly competition, only to find their partnership puts her at risk of breaking the game’s most vital rule: don’t fall in love.

When Ophelia and her sister discovers their mother brutally murdered, there is no time to grieve: Ophelia has inherited both her powerful death-driven magic and enormous debt on their home. Circumstances go from dire to deadly, however, when Ophelia’s sister decides to pay off the loan by entering Phantasma—a competition where most contestants don’t make it out alive and the winner is granted a single wish.

The only way to save her sister is to compete. But Phantasma is a cursed manor, with twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, and filled with enticing demons and fatal temptations. Ophelia will need to face nine floors of challenges to win… if her fears don’t overtake her first.

When a charming, arrogant stranger claims he can protect and guide Ophelia, she knows she shouldn’t trust him. While Blackwell may not seem dangerous, appearances can be deceptive. But with her sister’s life on the line, Ophelia can’t afford to turn him away. She just needs to ignore the overwhelming, dark attraction drawing them closer and closer together.

Because in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart.

Content Warning: blood play, violence, horror

+ Not sure what I was expecting with this one but it has a necromancer, devils, and phantoms. It’s also set in New Orleans so I loved the vibes of this story a lot. It’s a melting pot of all things paranormal.

+ Ophelia lost her mom, and now she’s lost her sister too but she’s going to try and find her. Her sister has joined the game Phantasma. Phantasma is a game played in a house of horrors. The game has stages based on the 9 levels of hell (Dante’s Inferno anyone?). Ophelia joins but her sister is in another group separate from hers so they never run into each other. But Ophelia does run into a gorgeous phantom named, Blackwell. Anyway, each stage of the game has some horror to it, and Blackwell bargains with Ophelia to help her get through each stage if she helps him find what will set him free from the house. I did like the haunts for each stage, some were gruesome though, but it adds to the darkness of the story.

+ Ophelia and Blackwell’s relationship I thought was fun to see develop because she’s stressed out (she has OCD and is dealing with very intrusive thoughts) but he’s kind of playful and always teasing her. Of course the attraction gets heated between them, and things get spicy – there is even a scene that involves blood. But yes these two are hot for one another.

~ I did wish the stages had more tension and horror. The stakes didn’t feel high and Ophelia was cruising through them with Blackwell’s help.

~ I didn’t enjoy Blackwell having missing memories. And honestly, I enjoyed the spicy scenes but I also was thinking too much during them. I was like, wait he’s a phantom, can he…ohhhkay, he CAN…how is he doing that? 😅🤔 Yes he can have a corporeal body when he concentrates hard enough – no pun intended lol. Also maybe it was just me, but when Blackwell kept saying “You are the closest thing I will ever get to experiencing heaven.” That song by the GooGoo Dolls would pop up in my head “you’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be, and I don’t wanna go home right now” (it doesn’t help that I heard that song the same day I finished this book! lol)

~ The ending was kind of anticlimactic.

Final Thoughts:

This is definitely not on Caraval’s level but I still had a fun time reading it. I especially like the dark atmosphere and the creepy house that the game is being played in. Would have liked the ending to be a bit more dramatic maybe to fit the vibes. There’s a lot of spice between a phantom and a necromancer so I’d say overall this was entertaining. Will I read book two? Maybe, but not right away.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Lovely Dark and Deep by. Elisa A. Bonnin | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Lovely Dark and Deep

Author: Elisa A. Bonnin

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 400

Publication Date: 3/25/25

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Categories: Dark Academia, Magic, LGBT+, Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary Fantasy, Horror

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

From author Elisa A. Bonnin comes Lovely Dark and Deep, a YA dark academia novel exploring magic, loneliness, and the power of found family.

Hidden off the coast of Washington, veiled in mist, there is an island that does not appear on any map. And on that island is Ellery West.

Ellery West has always been home for Faith. After an international move and a childhood spent adjusting to a new culture and a new language, the acclaimed school for magic feels like the only place she can be herself. That is, until Faith and another student walk into the forest, and only Faith walks out.

Marked with the red stripe across her uniform that designates all students deemed too dangerous to attend regular classes, Faith becomes a social pariah, an exile of Ellery West. But all she has to do is keep her head down for one more year to graduate, and she gets to keep her magic. Because when students fail out of Ellery West, they have their magic taken away. Forever. And Faith can’t let that happen.

Except terrifying things are still happening to students, and the dark magic that was unleashed in the forest still seems to be at work. To stop it, Faith and the other Red Stripes will have to work together, risking expulsion from the magical world altogether.

Content Warning: some horror

+ Ellery West is a boarding school for magic users and Faith has been there awhile, but something happened and she gets blamed for the death of her friend, Sydney. Now she’s back but she’s an outcast and lives with the other outcasts. They call themselves the Red Stripes and I did enjoy the found family that they created.

+ Faith is Filipino which is awesome (representation) and she’s going through some things with school and not wanting to disappoint her family again. She’s haunted by what happened in the forest that time she and Sydney went in but is someone now trying to send her a message? She’s having nightmares, and thinks someone is watching her. I love the diverse characters of the Red Stripes and how they welcome Faith as one of their own. They help her try to figure what is going on and has her back.

+ The setting of the school Ellery West is perfect for dark academia. There is a forest at the school where something is not right. The magic system is cool – students have magical powers with different affinities.

~ There are flashbacks in this story that didn’t always work for me. I kind of wish we got a book before this one that explored this friendship that Faith had with Sydney and what happened in the woods.

~ I wanted it darker. But that’s just my preference – I actually think young adult and teens are the perfect audience for this book.

Final Thoughts:

This story has magic, some light horror, mystery, diversity and a found family. For me I wanted it to be a bit darker and it might have been a bit too young for me but I think fans of YA Dark Academia will enjoy this one a lot. It is definitely more for teens and younger young adults.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Anathema by. Keri Lake | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Anathema (The Eating Woods, #1)

Author: Keri Lake

Format: eBook (Kindle Unlimited)

Pages: 688

Publication Date: 9/10/24

Categories: Dark Fantasy, Horror, Romantasy, Gothic, Enemies to Lovers

A spellbinding gothic dark fantasy about a shunned woman who is forced beyond the mortal realm’s forbidden boundary, into a terrifying world of cursed souls and grotesque creatures.

Only the banished know what lies beyond the woods …

There are whispers about what lurks in Witch Knell—the forest where sinners go to die. The villagers call it The Eating Woods because what’s taken is never given back. Only those who’ve lost their senses would dare to go near it.

Or the banished.

Maevyth Bronwick knows better than to breach the misty labyrinth of trees, but a tragic turn of events compels her beyond the archway of bones, to a boundary no mortal has crossed before. One that cloaks a dark and fantastical world that’s as dangerous as it is alluring.

It’s there that he dwells, the cursed lord of Eidolon. The one tasked to keep her hidden from the magehood that seeks to crucify her in the name of an arcane prophesy. Zevander Rydainn, known to his prey as The Scorpion, is the coldest, most calculated assassin in all of Aethyria and he’d sooner toss his feisty ward to a pack of vicious fyredrakes than keep her safe.

If only he could.

Maevyth’s blood is the key to breaking his despised curse and vanquishing the slumbering evil in Witch Knell. Unfortunately for Lord Rydainn, fate has other plans for the irresistible little enchantress. And his growing obsession with her threatens to destroy everything.

Including himself.

Anathema is a full-length, gothic dark fantasy, the first book in The Eating Woods duology. Perfect for readers who enjoy a plot-heavy and atmospheric story with a unique magic system, a slow-burn romance and a touch of horror.

Content Warning: grief, trauma, child abuse, sexual abuse, abuse, violence, horror, sexual assault, threat of rape, body horror

I picked this book to read for my Spell the Month tbr challenge because the title starts with an A, so I can fulfill ones of the A’s for the month of January. So I went into this pretty blind!

I don’t think I’ve read a book this dark in a long while. This story is told between two POVs, Maevyth, who is a mortal and Zevander, who lives in another world. The mortal world Maevyth lives in is pretty horrible. Women have no rights, any girl caught in a scandal is left to the Eating Woods and it happens to her sister, Aleysia but Maevyth will not give her up. Zevander is a cold-hearted assassin and he has a lot on his plate: trying to break the curse upon him, trying to keep his family safe, and carrying out jobs for the king. When these two cross paths, it’s a slow, SLOW, burn filled with desire and challenges. But I did love their interactions when they were together! The romance comes together at the end but it really took a long time to get there.

As characters, I like Maevyth – she loves her sister, fights for her and she’s the sunshine to Zevander’s darkness. As for Zevander, he is a complicated man with such a traumatic past. Some of his trauma was too dark for me that I almost didn’t want to finish the book. The slow burn was so slow and this is not a short book, it’s just under 700 pages!

Also with the 600+ pages and so much going, I felt it was too long. I did find myself invested in Maevyth’s mysterious past and wanting Zevander to break the curse but there were times I did have to skim, like when Maevyth was training and learning all the lore about the Corvikae – there was just a lot of world building. I felt like more action in the middle would have moved the story faster.

But the author did a great job with the dark, horror (the spiders!, and body horror), gothic vibes. The atmosphere of this world is dangerous, brutal and very much not so kind to women. I also felt sick with the sexual and physical abuse that Zevander relives in memories and nightmares – poor guy.

Final Thoughts:

This one was almost too dark for me to read but I did like Maevyth and Zevander’s love story even though it was a very slow burn. I thought the world-building was fascinating even though the story was very long. Will I read book two? I think I will because I want to see how it goes for Maevyth and Zevander, and hello, that cliffhanger? I’m just too curious to see what will happen next but I just hope it isn’t 600+ pages long again.😬