”—we breasts must stick together.”

Where do I begin with this book? This was good, really good. There's layers to the layers in background stories. The imagery? The lore? I'm so hooked. There's so little I can say without giving away spoilers. The romance was different from what I expected off the marketing but I loved it for what it was nonetheless. Dark fantasy, morally grey, found family. It was beautiful, tragic, heartwarming, yet brutal in other parts. The anxiety rep in this was in my opinion very well done.

First, Zhazha was amazing. The drake serpent was as vicious and entertaining as it gets. Unfortunately, this book brought me to a slump. I even read a nonfiction to ease it in between At the same time, it has one of the most powerful feminist tropes done by a male I have ever read. They could ease up on the amount of spice, I got bored. I know, they’re fae so the heat and the rut kicks in, bla bla bla She was relentless on the protection of her heart, damn So, I hope I convinced you to read it Oh, did I mentioned we have action and loads of unaliving?

Gothic paranormal horror romance. Caraval but make it spicy 🌶 (and less poetic), also some Kingdom of the Wicked vibes, and Belladonna.

The premise of Phantasma is an interesting one. Haunted house, gothic setup, ghosts, devils, deadly trials, and squabbling sisters. Things got a lot more gory than I expected. However, the trials are definitely not the main attraction of the story. They’re relatively short scenes, more fast-paced, less descriptive and action-based. The manor/ghost mystery, introduced right in the beginning, is outside of the trials and that is what drives the plot. At least for the first half of the book. It’s still very present in the second half but so is a great amount of spice (this got too repetitive for me). I really liked their banter, and the playful ‘I know I’m hot’ to her exasperated ‘infuriatingly so, yes you are’ dynamic.

Her OCD was written very well and at times heartbreaking, and the way he responded to it was so considerate and this as a whole really leveled the book up for me. The way it was also incorporated in the hauntings of the manor was particularly horrid and really drove the fears home.

It's quite heavy with worldbuilding in the start, explaining the magic and ghosts etc., and somewhat slow because of this. In contrast, the last 20% especially, felt as if it moved way too fast and the conclusion was too abrupt for my taste. It’s a little predictable, and a little loose on the plot.

Did I enjoy it? Yes. Not a 5-star, but I'll still definitely be reading Enchantra as well. If you’re in for a fun (albeit gory) time, this is definitely a fun read. The singular narrator also did a great job at voicing all the characters.