Thanks to Wednesday books for the ARC and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. Thoughts are mine.

​I read Oxford Blood, and the atmosphere instantly hooked me. This is a dark academia mystery tackling privilege, race, and secrets in the elite halls of Oxford.

​🙌🏻 What Worked for Me: • ​The Gripping Mystery: The central whodunit kept me guessing and engaged until the final reveal. The class conflicts added compelling layers to the puzzle. • ​The Racial Dynamics: The author explores issues of race and class head-on. This content made me wonderfully uncomfortable in the best way, forcing reflection, which makes for powerful and necessary YA reading. • ​Superb Audio Narration: Dédé Davi's superb performance brought the setting and characters to life. It made the tandem read seamless and highly immersive.

​🚫 What Didn't Work for Me: • ​The FMC: The female main character was, frankly, a bit insufferable. I struggled to connect with or root for her, which was my biggest hurdle. • ​The Writing Style: Despite the mature, dark content, the writing felt overly young for the themes explored. This created a stylistic disconnect from the plot's seriousness.

​🤜🏻 Final Verdict: ​Yes, I would recommend it. The excellent mystery and thought-provoking themes carried the experience to a solid 3.5 stars. If you enjoy socially relevant YA mysteries set in an elite university, pick this up!

​Read if you enjoy: ​✔️ Dark Academia Settings ✔️ Boarding School Mysteries ✔️ Complex Racial Themes ✔️ Elite University Settings ✔️ Classic Whodunits ✔️ Strong Social Commentary

Thanks Bramble Romance for the gifted ARC. As always, thoughts are all mine.

This book was so beautifully written.

​Watching Wei suffer day after day but still continue to push forward, all while questioning herself and her betrothed, was both heartbreaking and totally addictive. I could not put this down. I absolutely needed to see where the author would take her story next.

​As for Terren, I've rarely felt such hate and rage towards a character, only to have my heart completely shattered for the boy he was and the devastating things he went through as a child. The author did a phenomenal job of weaving a tale that showed how abuse breeds more abuse, while still allowing the reader to truly get to know the child underneath the antagonist. This aspect had me picturing what could have been rather than what tragically was, which just broke my heart all over again.

​And the ending? Simply perfection. From the moment the two warring brothers were introduced, I was really unsure how the author would manage a satisfying close to the book. I was honestly a little shocked by the finale, but it was, without a doubt, the perfect ending for this story.

​Read if you enjoy: ​✔️ Morally grey characters ✔️ Emotional, character-driven stories ✔️ Redemption arcs ✔️ Royal intrigue ✔️ Trauma and healing themes

This book felt really out of left field compared to the other four books in the series (iykyk). After loving the rest of this series, this one was just meh for me.

The characters didn't feel like themselves, especially Abernathy. The lore built up around the mating bond went to shambles and left me all the way confused.

Steve is my favorite character forever and always.

Thanks Minotaur Books for the gifted ARC. Thoughts are mine.

I had two main issues with this book.

1. Early on in the book, the FMC calls the would-be love interest Doctor Dud because his "hobbies are bread baking and reading presidential biographies. It's like talking to a plank of wood." And then she basically goes on to disparage people who are like this. We later find out that the MMC isn't actually as "boring" as she thought he was. This whole interaction throughout the book felt like the 90s "nerdy girl makeover" trope, and I hated it so much. Why does the person who is into "boring" things have to be labeled a "dud" and then we find out they aren't actually the dud we thought they were for the main character to like them?

2. The first death occurs, and the police don't even check if the guy has a prescription for a drug that is found in his system. "He was in his 70s, so it makes sense that he's on this prescription drug" would not be how things happen after an autopsy. And our FMC is the ONLY ONE who thought he was possibly dosed with the drug instead of it being his prescription.

Anyway, other than those two things, the book was good. The mystery, itself, was fun.

Read if you enjoy: • Cozy mystery • He falls first • Country club settings • Boss Bitch