Reviews with content warning for Gore - How does it feel?

Callie is a small town Biologist who is determined to find Actias luna (or luna moths), when she discovers a mushroom is the answer to all her questions she sets out to find this rare alluding mushroom in the forest. Callie indeeds finds the mushroom, but also finds herself falling into a strange new world and on-top of the moral grey and disturbed Unseelie Prince.
Callie must fight to survive or she will never return home.

WOW
I must say I was SCARED to read this book after the hype around it on booktok, but I am so glad I picked it up, this is my first 5 star read of 2024! It is slow to start but honestly what Fantasy book isn't, you have to build the story.

What I liked
-Duel POVs
-Developing characters
-Easy to follow fantasy
-Morally Grey MMC
-Strong willed FMC
-Plot twist
-Adventure and Action Packed
-Spicy
-Enemies to Lovers??

Content Warnings

ashley_reya's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Overall I enjoyed this story! I found that it was a little slow to drop into the main plot as we were introduced to Callie. Mendax started as pretty 2D and most of his chapters were just hornier renditions of Callie’s previous ones. However, in the later half of the book his chapters moved the plot along just as much as Callie’s and gave important context of Fae World we were experiencing.

What an ending!! Excited for book #2 to be out soon. 🧚🏻‍♀️✨

Content Warnings

boba_nbooks's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Spice Rating: 🌶️ 🌶️ .5

--------------------

I'm really glad I did this as a buddy read and had friends who pushed me on with this one because I think the twist is what saved the book a *little* bit for me.

Callie is a scientist living in the middle of nowhere studying luna moths and the parasite that is slowly killing them. As a small, beautiful blonde woman, Callie's life is ROUGH (cough, sarcasm, cough) because she's quirky and single. One day, Callie discovers the mushrooms that might save the luna moths from the parasite, but when she tries to harvest them (in spite of multiple warnings not to), she's swept into a portal to the underground world of the Unseelie fae. Callie lands on the Unseelie prince, who is known for his hatred of humans, leading the Unseelie to believe she is a trained assassin sent to kill the prince. In order to make her way home, Callie has to survive three trials and try not to fall for the Unseelie prince--after all, he is the bad guy... as we are repeatedly reminded.

The good: The twist at the end did have me. I was ruminating on some theories throughout my read, but I enjoyed learning what really happened.

The bad: This book heavily relied on archetypal characters, overused tropes, and cheap shock value. The writing was predictable and just... not very good. I felt the characters were underdeveloped and shallow. Though the twist was interesting, I wish the book would've focused on those revelations and background (IYKYK) instead of the "relationship" between Callie and the Unseelie prince, which was basically insta-lust.

I don't think this book was for me, but I can completely understand why people enjoy this book. It was almost like a Wish version of ACOTAR, which seems to be common in the romantasy genre.

I did, however, preorder book 2 because I'm morbidly curious to see what happens. 🤷‍♀️

Content Warnings

neydav25's review

Go to review page

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Very slow start, twists at the end that blew my mind, but not in a good way. Lot of moments throughout the book that made me want to put and down and ask why. Not very good character development but hopefully the rest of the series will help what this book lacked.

Content Warnings

pairswellwithbooks's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I didn’t realize how much I loved this book until I got to the end. HOLY. I NEED BOOK 2 NOW. Definitely getting the e-book in Feb, no way am I waiting for the physical copy in April

Content Warnings

biancabee_'s review

Go to review page

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

chizuui's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I went in completely blind and was pleasantly surprised. During the book I really thought I would riot at whatever direction it was pointed in, but I was pretty happy with the ending.
Overall, enjoyed the read and look forward to reading the next book.

Content Warnings

agw622's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Like I don't hate it, but I also didn't love it, but I also want to read the next book!?!

I found it fine enough till the end. The main twist I didn't agree with, but maybe on a reread I will see it better.

Content Warnings

More...