Michelle Dsouza
This is one of those books I admired more than I loved, and I mean the admiration sincerely.
I went in expecting a dark romance, an obsessive FMC and a morally grey professor. What I got was a psychological thriller layered with conspiracy, engineering, human experimentation, and questions about identity. It's ambitious, and I respect how much it reaches for. I'm just not convinced every layer earned its place.
The first half completely had me, and that's almost entirely down to Ariella. She's the strongest part of the book by a wide margin. She could so easily have collapsed into the stereotypical "crazy stalker," and she never does, because her obsession is rendered with absolute consistency. Tes Archer doesn't tell you Ariella is obsessed. She lets you watch it happen. Ariella memorizes lectures until she can predict the next sentence. She learns engineering because of him. She unconsciously adopts his accent. Every small decision quietly reshapes her world around a man who barely knows she exists. It's unsettling and fascinating, one of the most memorable character studies I've read in a while, and it works precisely because the book trusts the behavior to carry the meaning.
The quieter psychological tension between Ariella and Alistair is the other thing I loved. Those early chapters play like a slow-burning game of observation, two people trying to understand each other in completely different ways. That was the book I kept wanting more of.
As the story expanded into secret organizations, experimentation, and a wider conspiracy, my investment dropped. I could appreciate the ambition, but I never enjoyed those sections the way I enjoyed the intimate psychological story the book opened with. Ariella was compelling enough to carry a much smaller, tighter novel, and part of me wishes that had been the book.
The prose is the other thing holding it back. There were so many moments where a stronger version of the scene was sitting just beneath the surface. The characters' actions had already communicated everything, and then the narration would stay to explain the emotion anyway. I kept wishing the writing trusted the reader more, because the moments where it did are the moments that really land. That's a craft note, not a dealbreaker, and it's the kind of thing that sharpens with each book.
I'll also be honest that some of the spice didn't work for me. The psychological tension between Ariella and Alistair was far more interesting than the explicit scenes, which occasionally leaned into familiar dark romance territory in a way the rest of the novel didn't. The book is at its best when it's strange and specific, and the spice pulled it toward the conventional.
Here's what I keep coming back to, though: this never once felt like a book chasing trends. It has its own identity, and I would so much rather read an ambitious novel that doesn't land every idea than a safe one that risks nothing.
I don't know if I'll remember every twist six months from now. I do know I'll remember Ariella.
A note for readers: this is heavy dark romance with an extensive content warning list from the author. Please read those before picking it up.
3.75 stars rounded to 4.
I received this ARC directly from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Originally posted at www.instagram.com.
This is one of those books I admired more than I loved, and I mean the admiration sincerely.
I went in expecting a dark romance, an obsessive FMC and a morally grey professor. What I got was a psychological thriller layered with conspiracy, engineering, human experimentation, and questions about identity. It's ambitious, and I respect how much it reaches for. I'm just not convinced every layer earned its place.
The first half completely had me, and that's almost entirely down to Ariella. She's the strongest part of the book by a wide margin. She could so easily have collapsed into the stereotypical "crazy stalker," and she never does, because her obsession is rendered with absolute consistency. Tes Archer doesn't tell you Ariella is obsessed. She lets you watch it happen. Ariella memorizes lectures until she can predict the next sentence. She learns engineering because of him. She unconsciously adopts his accent. Every small decision quietly reshapes her world around a man who barely knows she exists. It's unsettling and fascinating, one of the most memorable character studies I've read in a while, and it works precisely because the book trusts the behavior to carry the meaning.
The quieter psychological tension between Ariella and Alistair is the other thing I loved. Those early chapters play like a slow-burning game of observation, two people trying to understand each other in completely different ways. That was the book I kept wanting more of.
As the story expanded into secret organizations, experimentation, and a wider conspiracy, my investment dropped. I could appreciate the ambition, but I never enjoyed those sections the way I enjoyed the intimate psychological story the book opened with. Ariella was compelling enough to carry a much smaller, tighter novel, and part of me wishes that had been the book.
The prose is the other thing holding it back. There were so many moments where a stronger version of the scene was sitting just beneath the surface. The characters' actions had already communicated everything, and then the narration would stay to explain the emotion anyway. I kept wishing the writing trusted the reader more, because the moments where it did are the moments that really land. That's a craft note, not a dealbreaker, and it's the kind of thing that sharpens with each book.
I'll also be honest that some of the spice didn't work for me. The psychological tension between Ariella and Alistair was far more interesting than the explicit scenes, which occasionally leaned into familiar dark romance territory in a way the rest of the novel didn't. The book is at its best when it's strange and specific, and the spice pulled it toward the conventional.
Here's what I keep coming back to, though: this never once felt like a book chasing trends. It has its own identity, and I would so much rather read an ambitious novel that doesn't land every idea than a safe one that risks nothing.
I don't know if I'll remember every twist six months from now. I do know I'll remember Ariella.
A note for readers: this is heavy dark romance with an extensive content warning list from the author. Please read those before picking it up.
3.75 stars rounded to 4.
I received this ARC directly from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Originally posted at www.instagram.com.