Okay, wow. I was excited to read this but I was left quite underwhelmed. I didn’t think it was 𝘣𝘢𝘥, but it wasn’t that good either. I’ve never read a dark romance before and wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into, but I really liked how things were going before Elodie kidnapped Aya. From there on, the more I read, the less I enjoyed the book. There was literally no slow-burn; it felt more like instalove/instalust, and I struggled to understand how Aya came to love Elodie so easily in the end?? The pacing also felt off to me in the last section of the book, and I wasn’t even interested in Elodie’s chapters by then. I hardly skimmed over them just for the sake of reading them in order to get to Aya’s chapters. Overall, the book was disappointingly shallow in various different aspects—especially lacking in nuance and grace when handling violent and traumatic themes. After a certain point, it becomes so repetitive and overdone that it loses its impact. However, I’m assuming that wasn’t the point of the book anyway, so maybe I’m being a little too harsh on that matter. I thought that Aya and Elodie’s relationship was oddly paced as well, and I found both of their characters difficult to like. I did enjoy the supernatural elements of the book, though! The author’s take on vampires was very refreshing and kept me curious with the way that tidbits of information/lore were gradually revealed. I picked it up as a low-effort midnight read and it was entertaining for what it was, but I probably wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.