Reviews

I genuinely enjoyed this book. I thought it was a really unique concept and the POVs were done in a really intriguing way!

But I just can't pinpoint why I didn't love it. Something about the book made it really hard for me to focus.

It wasn't boring, and it was engaging, but I kept feeling my mind wander. It was hard for me to just sit down and go through it for some reason and I can't figure out why.

P s. No MC pregnancy tropes

lyreadsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

sklmnop's review against another edition

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4.0

I don't want to give anything away but I loved it!! What a great start to spooky season reads for me :)

steffireadsbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Read for a book club. I’m not really into horror but this only had a few sections that made me feel bleh. The horror parts and the premise of the book were interesting and well thought out. However, the romance seemed out of place with the theme of the book and the dialogue wasn’t well written. All the questions posed in the book weren’t answered by the end which felt more like loose ends and not intrigue.

yoursisterscanary's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I didn’t love this book but did appreciate that the horror concepts were very original. I read this for a queer book club so obviously I enjoyed that the main characters were lgbtq+. Unfortunately, the romance felt shoveled in. The interactions felt very authentic which was refreshing in a genre where queer characters tend to be written by white cishet women. It was a little hard to believe the interactions were of teenagers and not older men though. Such confidence!

The author seemed to be making some veiled points about internalized homophobia and shame. He touches on what amounted to Authenticity Theory, exploring if we are who we think we are or does the self lie in the eyes of others. Can an authentic self exist without acknowledgement of others. As a gender queer person this concept cuts me deep. There is no true physical expression of something society does not acknowledge other than a few forms of expressions that box you in. The main character seemed to be playing with this concept with fem expression with makeup. I wish this had been developed more but maybe that’s a lot to ask from a YA book.

I hope this author writes more horror with deeper developed magical systems featuring queer characters.

Content Warnings

jmalone3's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

jiggityjog's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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