"you could cut me open and devour everything that i am, i would let you. i'd ask you to."

oh how i love a story of tragic, gothic, devastating obsessive and unhealthy love. the prose was haunting and gorgeous and i could not put this book down!! i loved how character-driven this was and seeing characters unravelling on the page. i also really enjoyed how much mystery we're left with at the end. i think i know just enough to keep thinking about this story and these characters!!

definitely would recommend!

"what a soft heart he has, she thinks, and it's as great an impossibility as she has ever seen, for a boy raised as a Knight to have a soft heart."

don't you just love when a sequel lives up to its 5 star predecessor? Veronica Roth did it again. as a lover of angst and heartbreak, this series was made for me and i really, really hope we'll get to see more of these characters and of this world.

this is the best short story collection i've read in a while! all of the stories differ in length, subject and even genre but they share the same enthralling quality. i was transported to each world through the very evocative writing. as always with collections, not every story hits quite as much as the others but there were only a couple in this book that did not really resonate with me.

i would be curious to see some of these worlds expanded or to experience Vanessa Fogg's writing in a full novel sharing similar themes as the ones in The House of Illusionists. these stories all felt full of longing and a search for identity and place in family, community, relationships... the experience of being human felt like a strong connecting thread.

the incredibly human and relatable themes set in these worlds you only get a glimpse of and imbued with everyday magic left me wanting more!

my favourite stories 📖 Sweetest 📖 Taiya 📖 The Breaking 📖 All the Souls like Candle Flames 📖 Of Milk and Blood 📖 Between Sea and Shore

— thank you NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.