bookissed wrote a review...
It took me a while to really figure out how much I liked this book. I couldn't stop thinking about it when I wasn't reading it. To be fair, it was probably the entire setting that pulled me in. The New Orleans surroundings, ghosts and necromancy, and the gothic feeling sucked me so hard into the book. The entire setting was so well-made, and I really enjoyed it.
I also, surprisingly, enjoyed their romance as well. There were a lot of pacing issues starting from around the halfway point of this book, everything got a bit rushed, but I can overlook that. Blackwell was a really fun character. Ophelia, too. I enjoyed the way Kaylie Smith portrayed her OCD and how it was incorporated into the story. It felt natural and fit within the story. When everything got revealed, something genuinely shocked me. While I knew that we couldn't 100% trust Blackwell, I didn't expect that to be the twist. For some, it might be different, but I think it was nicely done. With that said, not only did the romance suffer from the pacing issues, but the entire lore surrounding Phantasma and Blackwell did as well. I wish the last few chapters weren't as rushed, I think it could have genuinely elevated the book.
Also, I know this is an Adult romance, but we could have done without a lot of spicy scenes, they didn't do that much for the story, and I didn't really feel any passion or connection between them.
To be honest, her sister doesn't interest me a whole lot right now, so I'm not sure if I should read the second book or not. Currently, it's very low on my TBR, but this book definitely put me in the mood for other ghostly romances!! Really happy that I finally got to it after having it on my shelf for probably two years.
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Post from the Phantasma forum
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