4.25 ⭐️

Beautiful, soft and tender Julie Olivia hasn’t steered me wrong yet and I’m glad to say this is yet again another banger!

I loved how out of the box this book was, sure there was some tried and true tropes and beats but Julie really made this her own and I mean… how many romances books can you say are about a puppeteer??

The romance. I adored Beverly and Griffins love story, these two are so patient with each other (even when I was screaming at them to just kiss already!!!) I loved how slow and purposeful they both were, it just made the build up more delicious. The little possessive “fake dating” moments were the cherry on the cake too and I loved when Griffin had run ins with Beau 😅 Beverly was just a ray of sunshine and I fell head over heels for her just like Griffin. I love how unique her job was and how much she loved it herself.

The sex. Just like in “If It Makes You Happy” the explicit scenes are well done and further the relationship without feeling inserted in Just Because. They’re beautiful and soft and unfortunately we’re seeing less and less of these types of sex scenes these days so it’s lovely to see Julie really hone in on that.

The writing. Fantastic. I was really able to see so vividly into what these characters were like. The writing is almost cinematic and feels like you’re sitting down to watch an early 2000’s romcom which I loved. I have some small issues and one of them was the pacing. It lagged right in the middle for me but as the story went on it actually worked out for the best because I don’t think the third act would have hit the same if we didn’t have that tension and longing going on. The second issue is that I’m not really sure why we’re all trying our hand at Hozier fanfic… I won’t lie I stopped trying to imagine him quite early on but it’s hard not to when the descriptions are so clearly presented as they are and of course, the cover…

Overall another excellent romance from Julie Olivia and I cannot wait to see what she brings us next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for sending me the arc. All opinions are my own.

An impressing debut that had me rooting for these characters from the get go!

The tone,the prose and the setting are all so well established here it was just so wonderful to see that there are still authors out there that want to give readers as much information as they can without bogging down the story and I think Anna did a wonderful job here.

The romance. I really loved these two together. They’re awkward, shy and inexperienced and I won’t lie that’s like catnip to me so I gobbled this up. I do wish the realisation was a little slower though on Evans’ behalf just because I really could do without him talking about his dick when she’s hanging him tea and biscuits but that’s just personal preference.

The sex. I thought it was well done not overkill and didn’t have me wondering when we were gonna get back to the plot.

I also love how this was a great patchwork of so many genres I love. It wasn’t over the top or unbelievable either which is hard to do when there’s a paranormal element included.

Overall I love the world Anna has built here and tbe characters and has stuffed with personality. The next book is sapphic so you already KNOW I’ll be in that arc request form!

Thank you to the author for sending me the arc. All opinions are my own.

I’m beginning this with a very stern warning that this is a true “old school” gothic romance so please go into it with those expectations! Also spoilers ahead don’t say you weren’t told.

There was a lot to like about this book, the prose was gorgeous, the characters were interesting and the over all story and lore were lush. The only thing that really let me down in the end was the romance and it’s not for the reason that you might think because I actually agree with where the author finished this book.

While I feel like Kasia could be dubbed as a “unlikeable heroine” I’m not at all sure she would deserve that title. She’s complex, she’s real, shes grieving and she’s hurting. Shes well fleshed out and maybe that will cause people to dislike her but I really understood her. Some of her choices did irk me but knowing her backstory it’s hard to find fault with her. (She had a lot of back and forth between Mieszko and Lady and I just kinda wanted to shake her but that’s my only hang up but I understand WHY she did it)

Lady Death. I wanted so much more from her!! There’s a chunk in the middle where she just disappears and we don’t see her for a long time and then the relationship feels a little rushed considering they haven’t really spoken outside the arranged lessons and what they entail. I wanted more of her personality to come through because I didn’t get a good grip on her by the end.

What let me down. I didn’t expect a love triangle in this at all. Maybe I’m old fashioned but when a book is marketed as sapphic I don’t really want the main character to spend more than half the book lusting after a man and going into detail about how she wants him and STILL wants him when she’s been with Lady Death.

The sex. We do get a sex scene with a guy it’s very minimal I will say but I wasn’t expecting it and there are mentions of other times with him sprinkled through out. There’s one pretty detailed scene with Lady Death and while I liked it I kind of wanted one more considering it felt a little … male centred.. I think if you read the scene you’ll know what I mean.

The writing is beautiful as I’ve said and the prose is gorgeous. I do wish we steered a little bit away from the massive pull to politics that takes over around 50% because it did bring the pacing down a good bit. I think for how the book ends I’m glad this was third person single pov, even if I did want a little more of Lady Death I’m glad there was a little detachment from her in the end considering where we leave her.

I’m intrigued to get to Maddies first book to see how this one differs as I genuinely did enjoy the love interest in this being not your typical stunningly beautiful being.

Overall definitely not an awful read just something that I feel like a lot of people will maybe have to sit with. I think I would call this more of a gothic novel though.

Thank you for NetGalley and Tor publishing for sending me an arc. All opinions are my own