Kat

I have to admit I'm a bit unsure how to feel about this. I really loved the writing style and the characters. The tension was very high until it was revealed what the “antagonist” was… This is a trope I don't really enjoy in movies either and didn't enjoy much more here unfortunately… Which is a shame! Up to this point it had the potential of a five stars. I understand this is a me problem though and I definitely want to check out more by this author!

Things I've learned this year:

1. I am a total sucker for Gothic novels!

2. Make it sapphic and I'll love it even more.

This has both of these things and so much more. Loved the atmosphere and the story.

Things I've learned this year:

1. I am a total sucker for Gothic novels!

2. Make it sapphic and I'll love it even more.

This has both of these things and so much more. Loved the atmosphere and the story.

Edit: bumping this up to 5 stars cause I have been thinking about this almost every day since finishing it. 🤣

Raced through this. There's something about the writing in this that just kept me reading. I could probably have gone on forever…

My book did include the epilogue “An Encore of Roses” and I was so happy it didn't end with the three of them separated. I need those three together forever!!! I also loved reading from Alexi’s perspective! Our sweet prince! These three give me all the feelings! Better than any romance could ever be for me!

I feel so conflicted about this one. I loved the beginning of the book and the ending. Both gave full 5 star vibes for me. The middle part though... hmm... I really don't know... Some parts were so confusing to me. It was like I lost my English knowledge. I knew what all the words meant on their own but they didn't make sense bundled up together. I'm not sure if it was the writing style of Stephen Graham Jones (this being the first book I read by him) or slang of the time or something to do with me... It was most prevalent in the "action" scenes. I just couldn't keep up with what was happening... But all the things I could keep up with, I absolutely loved!

So yeah what to rate this... After half a day of consideration I settled on a good 3.5 stars. Which is really mostly coming down to the ending which totally got me. So everything less than a 3.5 just felt wrong. But with how much I struggled to get through it (never felt like such a slow reader than with this) anything above also felt wrong...

I would lie if I didn't say I was confused at times. I'm not much of a sci-fi reader, let alone apocalyptic books, something about this just doesn't interest me. I am however a murder mystery girly and the combination of both I enjoyed more than I'd expected.

This was definitely not what I expected!

Went into this completely blind as it was my cover pick for @wickedreading's horror bingo and hard mode includes not knowing the synopsis. So I wasn't expecting reality TV or any of this.

Overall it was a nice read. Nothing out of the ordinary (caught the "twist" pretty much right away) but I liked the humour and wit in it. Was also listening to it as an audiobook and really enjoyed the "full cast" of the transcript parts.

Question is does this count as a haunted house story or not... 🤔