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Morbid Realities #1
The Exorcism of Faeries
From the #1 bestselling author of Autumn of the Grimoire, J.L. Vampa, comes a brand new dark academia romance in the vein of Ninth House meets If We Were Villains and Nocticadia.
She is the daughter of morticians, studying Botany at Trinity College, Dublin. He is her Morbid Anatomy professor. And the Fae are possessing the good people of Dublin. Only Atta and Professor Murdoch can exorcize the fae, but can they fight their forbidden feelings for one another in the process?
It is said they are but lore.
It is said they are but demons.
It is said this is but a plague.
Wayward spirits.
Ghosts.
Spectres.
Ghouls.
The truth beckons
Tick flick tick
The clock keeps time with the candle
Until they all get sick
Wax slides down the gilded stick
And the Fae invade with bramble
---------------------------------
Trinity College, Dublin
5th November, 1993
He always reads standing in front of the shelf, one hand shoved in his pocket until it’s time to flip the page. It’s the first thing I noticed about him, while I was supposed to be studying. Instead, I watched him move from shelf to shelf and book to book. I had no idea at the time that I would one day meet him and he would change everything.
We would change everything.
-Excerpt from the diary of Ariatne Morrow, found in the wreckage at Ground Zero
She is the daughter of morticians, studying Botany at Trinity College, Dublin. He is her Morbid Anatomy professor. And the Fae are possessing the good people of Dublin. Only Atta and Professor Murdoch can exorcize the fae, but can they fight their forbidden feelings for one another in the process?
It is said they are but lore.
It is said they are but demons.
It is said this is but a plague.
Wayward spirits.
Ghosts.
Spectres.
Ghouls.
The truth beckons
Tick flick tick
The clock keeps time with the candle
Until they all get sick
Wax slides down the gilded stick
And the Fae invade with bramble
---------------------------------
Trinity College, Dublin
5th November, 1993
He always reads standing in front of the shelf, one hand shoved in his pocket until it’s time to flip the page. It’s the first thing I noticed about him, while I was supposed to be studying. Instead, I watched him move from shelf to shelf and book to book. I had no idea at the time that I would one day meet him and he would change everything.
We would change everything.
-Excerpt from the diary of Ariatne Morrow, found in the wreckage at Ground Zero
416 pages, Paperback
First published April 19, 2025
About the author
J.L. Vampa
14 books1,004 followersJ.L. is a gothic fantasy author and boutique owner
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Boutique: wickedwhimsyboutique.com
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You can follow JL on
TikTok : jlvampa
Boutique: wickedwhimsyboutique.com
And by signing up for JL’s newsletter on her website jlvampa.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,241 reviews
May 22, 2025
GOTHIC ROMANCE LIKE THIS IS HOME TO ME!!!!!!
1990’s Dublin. Dark academia. Professor X Teachers Assistant. Secret society. Mystery plot.
This was so beautifully written. SO captivating and atmospheric. Honestly I didn’t know how exactly this was going to end and it took me by surprise. I loved every single second, so much so that I was taking my time with it because I didn’t want it to end.
Two of my favorite quotes because I will be thinking about this book for the foreseeable future:
“Poetry wasn’t in life; it was in what we’ve made of the past, lending it romanticism instead of watching it burn and lie in the ashes. He shouldn’t have brought her into this, this girl made up of poetry and bones, flowers and viscera, everything beautiful and meaningful in life.”
“It was the sadness that made her feel hemmed in. Not trapped or entangled, but focused. Like the tragedy of someone else reminding her of what was truly important.”
1990’s Dublin. Dark academia. Professor X Teachers Assistant. Secret society. Mystery plot.
This was so beautifully written. SO captivating and atmospheric. Honestly I didn’t know how exactly this was going to end and it took me by surprise. I loved every single second, so much so that I was taking my time with it because I didn’t want it to end.
Two of my favorite quotes because I will be thinking about this book for the foreseeable future:
“Poetry wasn’t in life; it was in what we’ve made of the past, lending it romanticism instead of watching it burn and lie in the ashes. He shouldn’t have brought her into this, this girl made up of poetry and bones, flowers and viscera, everything beautiful and meaningful in life.”
“It was the sadness that made her feel hemmed in. Not trapped or entangled, but focused. Like the tragedy of someone else reminding her of what was truly important.”
October 26, 2025
3.5⭐️
This was such a fun dark academia gothic romance! It started out sooooo strong! She’s a grad student who also works at a morgue and is helping a secret society uncover the mystery of this strange plague that’s been unaliving people in their town for years and he’s a professor a part of the secret society. It’s set in the early 90s in Scotland and the spooky vibes were immaculate. I will say the romance started out so good but then fell flat a bit halfway through. Also it got to be a bit predictable so I felt myself rushing through the end but all in all I enjoyed it!
This was such a fun dark academia gothic romance! It started out sooooo strong! She’s a grad student who also works at a morgue and is helping a secret society uncover the mystery of this strange plague that’s been unaliving people in their town for years and he’s a professor a part of the secret society. It’s set in the early 90s in Scotland and the spooky vibes were immaculate. I will say the romance started out so good but then fell flat a bit halfway through. Also it got to be a bit predictable so I felt myself rushing through the end but all in all I enjoyed it!
September 2, 2025
i loved this! the gothic old school fairytale vibes were stunning. the whole morbid floral/fauna plague was super super intriguing. and the dark academic setting? yeah i will eat that up every tune. the tension between the main characters was so good!! a moody professor will always do it for me and i loved the slow burn! 👏🏼
September 23, 2026
After consulting an Etsy witch to exorcise whatever demons possessed me to finish this book despite my mounting frustration with it…
I’m here with a cooler mind and calmer spirit to share why this didn't resonate with me as much as I'd hoped.
First, let me lure you in with the tantalizing tale this book promised:
It’s 1993 in Dublin. 28-year-old Atta is pursuing her master’s in botany at Trinity College while obsessively investigating a plague that’s been creeping across Ireland with no known cause or cure.
She covertly studies the cadavers of plague victims through her job at a local morgue, and discovers strange flora sprouting from their organs. She's also developed an illicit side hustle selling these infected corpses to a secret society conducting plague research, whose leader she soon finds herself in cahoots with.
As if her plate weren't full enough, she begins TA’ing for Trinity’s infamously spooky morbid anatomy professor, Sonder. The two quickly bond over their shared obsession with butchering dead bodies and finding answers to the plague.
All of this sets the stage for a deliciously macabre dark academia tale, complete with a secret society, forbidden professor x student romance, and a morbid mystery to unravel.
The title already gives us a pretty clear indication of where all of this is headed, if you ask me.
The blurb explains there’s a mysterious disease spreading. The title promises faerie exorcisms. We know Atta conveniently has a background in botany, mortuary science, and folklore.
I’ll leave you to connect the dots from there…
So waiting 60% of the book for Atta and Sonder to finally arrive at conclusions I’d made before the story even started left their big lightbulb moments feeling wildly anticlimactic and long overdue.
Still, I was eager to uncover why the plague was happening and how it could be stopped, so my curiosity propelled me onward.
Unfortunately, those answers are all jammed into the last ten pages through an incredibly murky, chaotic action sequence where characters conveniently receive the information they need out of thin air (just in the nick of time) and then resolve the conflict in ways that make no sense based on everything we’ve learned leading up to that point.
Not to mention, we’re watching characters make decisions based on revelations the reader hasn't fully been clued into yet. We don’t get that clarity until after the conflict has already been resolved, which completely undercut any tension for me.
For good measure, l reread the ending with the missing context in hand, hoping it would make more sense or at least feel more satisfying. But it still didn't.
The ending also left a lot about the fae world and supernatural elements unexplained. Not in a way that makes me feral to read the sequel either, just in a way that made reading the story feel like a futile endeavor.
And since this mystery was the single thread keeping my interest afloat, its lackluster resolution dragged the entire story down with it.
I was fully expecting to lose myself in an eerie, suspenseful, haunting gothic atmosphere.
I wanted to relish in the lush gloom of autumnal Ireland.
I wanted to relive the wonder and splendor of the 90’s.
But Ireland who?
All I got were a few obligatory references to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and other Dublin landmarks, plus a handful of Gaelic nods, like Sonder calling Atta “a stór” (”my darling”).
I struggled to find any notable, pervasive Irish influence in the characters’ behaviors, mannerisms, or dialogue. It all felt rather superficial.
Gothic where?
We’re repeatedly told that buildings are gothic or consist of “gothic stone architecture,” which tells me I should be experiencing a gothic atmosphere without actually creating one.
I did feel a slight sprinkle while exploring Sonder’s manor and the hidden crypt beneath St. Patrick’s Cathedral, so I’ll give the book its flowers for those scenes.
1993 when?
Had I not read the blurb, I never would’ve guessed this story was supposed to be set in the early 90’s.
Were the girls really saying ‘if he wanted to he would’ back then like Atta does at one point?
My irritation with Atta became a chronic condition throughout the story.
The narrative wants so badly for her to come across as sassy, strong-willed, and passionate, but her behavior often read as immature and performative instead.
She constantly snaps at Sonder, speaks over him, jumps to conclusions, puts words in his mouth, and then storms off in the heat of the conflicts she’s started.
Her emotional reactions were so abrupt at times that I found myself rereading scenes because I was so confused about what triggered them I feared I’d missed something.
There’s one scene in particular where Atta and Sonder are enjoying a date, and amid their bliss Sonder makes the ‘mistake’ of simply uttering Atta’s name. Naturally, she assumes she knows exactly what he’s about to say (which is of course, something she doesn't want to hear), cuts him off, launches into an exhausting and irrelevant monologue, then asks him for a response, just to cut him off *again* when he tries to answer her.
Then she crosses her arms, pouts, and turns her chin away from him like she’s five when he finally asks if he can finish a sentence.
Which turns out to be the complete opposite of what she was accusing him of wanting to say.
I really dislike when an fmc makes me defend a man, but Atta seemed to lose any semblance of self-awareness, respect, and basic communication skills whenever she disagreed with people.
Even when she had a legitimate grievance—like when Sonder insults and undercuts her abilities on her first day as his TA—calling your new boss a bastard and storming out of his office mid-conflict hardly feels like a mature or effective way to address the issue.
He deserved to be checked, but the way she went about it felt like a temper tantrum rather than a 28-year-old professional standing up for herself.
Then there are Atta’s all-too-frequent monologues about social issues that feel like they were tossed in just to prove she's progressive and intelligent.
It felt like she’d just listened to a podcast and was lying in wait for the first opportunity to regurgitate the entire episode and convince everyone shes’s insightful (which had the opposite effect for me).
But naturally, every sermon ends with Sonder falling even harder for her 😭
The way the narrative handles Atta’s friendship with her new flatmate, Emmy, also rubbed me the wrong way.
I loved watching Emmy become a warm and supportive presence in Atta’s life. But I didn't love the way the book kept insisting Emmy was ‘not like other girls’ because she's not an evil, jealous, competitive monster like the rest of us women apparently are:
“She’d never had a female friend that was a woman’s woman. A supporter, not an insecure girl always lurking in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to make your life a living hell out of jealousy.”
“She felt bolstered by Emmy rather than the competitive girl world most women lived in that Atta found disturbing.”
I'm not even sure what “competitive girl world” means? Or how it's at all relevant to the story, since we’re never shown a single instance of women being malicious or competitive towards Atta, but actually the opposite?
Yet we are shown Atta judging and shaming her former roommate Imogen for partying and keeping male company.
As well as Atta comparing her appearance to Imogen’s when a man passing by offers to help them carry heavy boxes:
“…he gave one glance at Imogen and Atta almost snorted. The lad probably didn’t realize Atta even existed. She wasn’t blond, thin, and long-legged after all [like Imogen is]. Most young men hadn’t yet realized the appeal of soft curves and more to grip.”
According to the story, this couldn't be farther from the truth, because every single male character introduced finds Atta so instantly and overwhelmingly attractive, they're compelled to comment on it. Even her masked visit to a plague patient’s home somehow ends with the man whose mother she helped describing Atta as thicker than a snicker on a live news broadcast.
The book felt oddly fixated on Atta’s appearance through the lens of male desire, as though her desirability to men was necessary to establish her value to the reader…
I would’ve also appreciated more insight into Atta's fierce devotion to curing the plague. She repeatedly risks her career, education, and freedom to pursue it, but beyond intellectual curiosity, I never really understood what would drive her to keep taking such risks. We're given a much clearer sense of why Sonder cares so deeply, which made Atta’s passion feel comparatively thin and more like a plot convenience than a deeply-rooted ambition.
Finally, the romance wasn’t my jam.
This was very much a case of instant attraction. Sonder has spent no more than ten collective minutes around Atta before he’s distracted by the way her skirt fits over her hips and getting jealous of other men in her vicinity.
And despite being billed as a dark, brooding enigma, Sonder is really just a jovial, easygoing nerd. He never felt the least bit mysterious or dangerous because we alternate between his POV and Atta’s, so we know his thoughts and intentions all along.
The narrative wanted him to come across as a badass so badly, but subsisting on whiskey and cigarillos and dismissing his students with a casual “go fck off” at the end of class felt like something only a rebellious 14-year-old might find edgy and hot. I'm shocked he didn't also drive a motorcycle.
He was sweet and devoted enough, and I understood why he and Atta connected so quickly given their shared passion for mortuary science and curing the plague. But his grand declarations of love and constant thoughts about how Atta was unlike other girls felt cliche, unfounded, and grating.
Their relationship never felt forbidden, dangerous, or particularly angsty.
It all felt rather vanilla. And unmoving.
I’m giving this two stars for a compelling premise and for successfully sparking my curiosity about the plague and fae world.
But the world building, characters, romance, and actual resolution to the mystery left me feeling pretty underwhelmed.
P.S. for anyone interested in an immersion read like I was, beware that the audiobook hasn't been updated since the book’s republication (as of the date I'm posting this review, anyway).
There are quite a few differences between the audio and revised text, which pulled me out of the story enough that I pretty quickly scrapped the audiobook in favor of reading the ebook solo.
P.P.S. The seemingly cursory inclusions of attempted SA against Atta, as well as the posthumous account of domestic violence against a woman whose body Atta autopsies, also didn't sit well with me.
Atta’s close encounter with SA by one of her drunken flatmates read to me as an unsavory attempt to manufacture depth in the romance using a wannabe ‘swoony’ moment: Sonder swoops in to protect her, puts on a hyper-masculine display of anger, and threatens to kill her offender. Who’s later let off with a brief lecture from Atta and an admonition to drink less.
And the DV victim Atta autopsies felt completely unnecessary to the plot. Sonder uses the case to test Atta’s expertise when she's first appointed his TA. The fact that the woman had died at the hand of her abusive husband served no narrative purpose beyond showing Atta as skilled and perceptive in her craft for drawing that conclusion after her investigation, and seemingly reinforcing her characterization as feminist. Had she died of any other cause, nothing about the story would've changed.
Using violence against women (or anyone else) as an incidental plot device seems to be a growing phenomenon that I'd love to see come to an expeditious end.
I’m here with a cooler mind and calmer spirit to share why this didn't resonate with me as much as I'd hoped.
First, let me lure you in with the tantalizing tale this book promised:
It’s 1993 in Dublin. 28-year-old Atta is pursuing her master’s in botany at Trinity College while obsessively investigating a plague that’s been creeping across Ireland with no known cause or cure.
She covertly studies the cadavers of plague victims through her job at a local morgue, and discovers strange flora sprouting from their organs. She's also developed an illicit side hustle selling these infected corpses to a secret society conducting plague research, whose leader she soon finds herself in cahoots with.
As if her plate weren't full enough, she begins TA’ing for Trinity’s infamously spooky morbid anatomy professor, Sonder. The two quickly bond over their shared obsession with butchering dead bodies and finding answers to the plague.
All of this sets the stage for a deliciously macabre dark academia tale, complete with a secret society, forbidden professor x student romance, and a morbid mystery to unravel.
The title already gives us a pretty clear indication of where all of this is headed, if you ask me.
The blurb explains there’s a mysterious disease spreading. The title promises faerie exorcisms. We know Atta conveniently has a background in botany, mortuary science, and folklore.
I’ll leave you to connect the dots from there…
So waiting 60% of the book for Atta and Sonder to finally arrive at conclusions I’d made before the story even started left their big lightbulb moments feeling wildly anticlimactic and long overdue.
Still, I was eager to uncover why the plague was happening and how it could be stopped, so my curiosity propelled me onward.
Unfortunately, those answers are all jammed into the last ten pages through an incredibly murky, chaotic action sequence where characters conveniently receive the information they need out of thin air (just in the nick of time) and then resolve the conflict in ways that make no sense based on everything we’ve learned leading up to that point.
Not to mention, we’re watching characters make decisions based on revelations the reader hasn't fully been clued into yet. We don’t get that clarity until after the conflict has already been resolved, which completely undercut any tension for me.
For good measure, l reread the ending with the missing context in hand, hoping it would make more sense or at least feel more satisfying. But it still didn't.
The ending also left a lot about the fae world and supernatural elements unexplained. Not in a way that makes me feral to read the sequel either, just in a way that made reading the story feel like a futile endeavor.
And since this mystery was the single thread keeping my interest afloat, its lackluster resolution dragged the entire story down with it.
I was fully expecting to lose myself in an eerie, suspenseful, haunting gothic atmosphere.
I wanted to relish in the lush gloom of autumnal Ireland.
I wanted to relive the wonder and splendor of the 90’s.
But Ireland who?
All I got were a few obligatory references to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and other Dublin landmarks, plus a handful of Gaelic nods, like Sonder calling Atta “a stór” (”my darling”).
I struggled to find any notable, pervasive Irish influence in the characters’ behaviors, mannerisms, or dialogue. It all felt rather superficial.
Gothic where?
We’re repeatedly told that buildings are gothic or consist of “gothic stone architecture,” which tells me I should be experiencing a gothic atmosphere without actually creating one.
I did feel a slight sprinkle while exploring Sonder’s manor and the hidden crypt beneath St. Patrick’s Cathedral, so I’ll give the book its flowers for those scenes.
1993 when?
Had I not read the blurb, I never would’ve guessed this story was supposed to be set in the early 90’s.
Were the girls really saying ‘if he wanted to he would’ back then like Atta does at one point?
My irritation with Atta became a chronic condition throughout the story.
The narrative wants so badly for her to come across as sassy, strong-willed, and passionate, but her behavior often read as immature and performative instead.
She constantly snaps at Sonder, speaks over him, jumps to conclusions, puts words in his mouth, and then storms off in the heat of the conflicts she’s started.
Her emotional reactions were so abrupt at times that I found myself rereading scenes because I was so confused about what triggered them I feared I’d missed something.
There’s one scene in particular where Atta and Sonder are enjoying a date, and amid their bliss Sonder makes the ‘mistake’ of simply uttering Atta’s name. Naturally, she assumes she knows exactly what he’s about to say (which is of course, something she doesn't want to hear), cuts him off, launches into an exhausting and irrelevant monologue, then asks him for a response, just to cut him off *again* when he tries to answer her.
Then she crosses her arms, pouts, and turns her chin away from him like she’s five when he finally asks if he can finish a sentence.
Which turns out to be the complete opposite of what she was accusing him of wanting to say.
I really dislike when an fmc makes me defend a man, but Atta seemed to lose any semblance of self-awareness, respect, and basic communication skills whenever she disagreed with people.
Even when she had a legitimate grievance—like when Sonder insults and undercuts her abilities on her first day as his TA—calling your new boss a bastard and storming out of his office mid-conflict hardly feels like a mature or effective way to address the issue.
He deserved to be checked, but the way she went about it felt like a temper tantrum rather than a 28-year-old professional standing up for herself.
Then there are Atta’s all-too-frequent monologues about social issues that feel like they were tossed in just to prove she's progressive and intelligent.
It felt like she’d just listened to a podcast and was lying in wait for the first opportunity to regurgitate the entire episode and convince everyone shes’s insightful (which had the opposite effect for me).
But naturally, every sermon ends with Sonder falling even harder for her 😭
The way the narrative handles Atta’s friendship with her new flatmate, Emmy, also rubbed me the wrong way.
I loved watching Emmy become a warm and supportive presence in Atta’s life. But I didn't love the way the book kept insisting Emmy was ‘not like other girls’ because she's not an evil, jealous, competitive monster like the rest of us women apparently are:
“She’d never had a female friend that was a woman’s woman. A supporter, not an insecure girl always lurking in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to make your life a living hell out of jealousy.”
“She felt bolstered by Emmy rather than the competitive girl world most women lived in that Atta found disturbing.”
I'm not even sure what “competitive girl world” means? Or how it's at all relevant to the story, since we’re never shown a single instance of women being malicious or competitive towards Atta, but actually the opposite?
Yet we are shown Atta judging and shaming her former roommate Imogen for partying and keeping male company.
As well as Atta comparing her appearance to Imogen’s when a man passing by offers to help them carry heavy boxes:
“…he gave one glance at Imogen and Atta almost snorted. The lad probably didn’t realize Atta even existed. She wasn’t blond, thin, and long-legged after all [like Imogen is]. Most young men hadn’t yet realized the appeal of soft curves and more to grip.”
According to the story, this couldn't be farther from the truth, because every single male character introduced finds Atta so instantly and overwhelmingly attractive, they're compelled to comment on it. Even her masked visit to a plague patient’s home somehow ends with the man whose mother she helped describing Atta as thicker than a snicker on a live news broadcast.
The book felt oddly fixated on Atta’s appearance through the lens of male desire, as though her desirability to men was necessary to establish her value to the reader…
I would’ve also appreciated more insight into Atta's fierce devotion to curing the plague. She repeatedly risks her career, education, and freedom to pursue it, but beyond intellectual curiosity, I never really understood what would drive her to keep taking such risks. We're given a much clearer sense of why Sonder cares so deeply, which made Atta’s passion feel comparatively thin and more like a plot convenience than a deeply-rooted ambition.
Finally, the romance wasn’t my jam.
This was very much a case of instant attraction. Sonder has spent no more than ten collective minutes around Atta before he’s distracted by the way her skirt fits over her hips and getting jealous of other men in her vicinity.
And despite being billed as a dark, brooding enigma, Sonder is really just a jovial, easygoing nerd. He never felt the least bit mysterious or dangerous because we alternate between his POV and Atta’s, so we know his thoughts and intentions all along.
The narrative wanted him to come across as a badass so badly, but subsisting on whiskey and cigarillos and dismissing his students with a casual “go fck off” at the end of class felt like something only a rebellious 14-year-old might find edgy and hot. I'm shocked he didn't also drive a motorcycle.
He was sweet and devoted enough, and I understood why he and Atta connected so quickly given their shared passion for mortuary science and curing the plague. But his grand declarations of love and constant thoughts about how Atta was unlike other girls felt cliche, unfounded, and grating.
Their relationship never felt forbidden, dangerous, or particularly angsty.
It all felt rather vanilla. And unmoving.
I’m giving this two stars for a compelling premise and for successfully sparking my curiosity about the plague and fae world.
But the world building, characters, romance, and actual resolution to the mystery left me feeling pretty underwhelmed.
P.S. for anyone interested in an immersion read like I was, beware that the audiobook hasn't been updated since the book’s republication (as of the date I'm posting this review, anyway).
There are quite a few differences between the audio and revised text, which pulled me out of the story enough that I pretty quickly scrapped the audiobook in favor of reading the ebook solo.
P.P.S. The seemingly cursory inclusions of attempted SA against Atta, as well as the posthumous account of domestic violence against a woman whose body Atta autopsies, also didn't sit well with me.
Atta’s close encounter with SA by one of her drunken flatmates read to me as an unsavory attempt to manufacture depth in the romance using a wannabe ‘swoony’ moment: Sonder swoops in to protect her, puts on a hyper-masculine display of anger, and threatens to kill her offender. Who’s later let off with a brief lecture from Atta and an admonition to drink less.
And the DV victim Atta autopsies felt completely unnecessary to the plot. Sonder uses the case to test Atta’s expertise when she's first appointed his TA. The fact that the woman had died at the hand of her abusive husband served no narrative purpose beyond showing Atta as skilled and perceptive in her craft for drawing that conclusion after her investigation, and seemingly reinforcing her characterization as feminist. Had she died of any other cause, nothing about the story would've changed.
Using violence against women (or anyone else) as an incidental plot device seems to be a growing phenomenon that I'd love to see come to an expeditious end.
Want to Read
May 19, 2025NINTH HOUSE X NOCTICADIA??? WHY HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF THIS BEFOREEEE THIS SOUNDS LIKE MY HEAVEN 🙏 RUNNING TO BUY THIS
*update* ITS HERE AND OMG IS IT STUNNING THE INTERIOR ARTWORK???! 🤚
*update* ITS HERE AND OMG IS IT STUNNING THE INTERIOR ARTWORK???! 🤚
April 22, 2025
As an author, I tend to keep my distance from reviews—this is a reader space, meant for readers. But I do want to thank you for reading and give a short list of TWs :
•death/ corpses
•graphic autopsy
•dark themes (exorcism)
•flora body horror
“Scary” 1-10, I give this a 4. It is more eerie and folkloric horror than downright scary.
•sex
•a hot professor you won’t be able to stop thinking about
Follow me on BookBub here: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/j-l-v...
My newsletter here: https://www.jlvampa.com/newsletter-si...
•death/ corpses
•graphic autopsy
•dark themes (exorcism)
•flora body horror
“Scary” 1-10, I give this a 4. It is more eerie and folkloric horror than downright scary.
•sex
•a hot professor you won’t be able to stop thinking about
Follow me on BookBub here: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/j-l-v...
My newsletter here: https://www.jlvampa.com/newsletter-si...
October 7, 2025
3⭐️ this book is difficult to rate bc parts of it felt like slipping on my favorite vintage cashmere sweater & sipping a warm cappuccino. But the majority of it fell SO FLAT with boring, mindless fluff
THIS HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL. The first bit of this book was PHENOMENAL. Dark academia. 90s gothic vibe in set Dublin. Student teacher romance. Mystery plague.
I thought this would make it on my favorite shelf easily. Oh boy. The plot and pacing completely lost me. This ended up being a lot of filler for 60% of the book and literally the most rushed, insane ending. The build up of the secret society & plague for the whole entire book to just be messily solved in 3 PAGES??? It made no sense 😭
Im kinda gutted bc the VIBES were there it was just not executed well enough for me
THIS HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL. The first bit of this book was PHENOMENAL. Dark academia. 90s gothic vibe in set Dublin. Student teacher romance. Mystery plague.
I thought this would make it on my favorite shelf easily. Oh boy. The plot and pacing completely lost me. This ended up being a lot of filler for 60% of the book and literally the most rushed, insane ending. The build up of the secret society & plague for the whole entire book to just be messily solved in 3 PAGES??? It made no sense 😭
Im kinda gutted bc the VIBES were there it was just not executed well enough for me
August 23, 2025
Rated 4.5/5 stars
This book is delightfully gothic, full of morbid curiosity with a side of whimsy that just scratches that perfect spot. J.L. Vampa’s writing invokes such strong imagery from dark academia themes, not only in description but by relishing in the morbid academics of anatomy, pathology and botany. This story is truly an amalgamation of themes I love - the earthy gothic, dark academia, and romance - and entwined them effortlessly into a story perfect for the darker months of the year.
This book is delightfully gothic, full of morbid curiosity with a side of whimsy that just scratches that perfect spot. J.L. Vampa’s writing invokes such strong imagery from dark academia themes, not only in description but by relishing in the morbid academics of anatomy, pathology and botany. This story is truly an amalgamation of themes I love - the earthy gothic, dark academia, and romance - and entwined them effortlessly into a story perfect for the darker months of the year.
June 13, 2025
While I was very invested in the beginning, this story unfortunately suffered from the kindle unlimited curse of bloated page count. I get it, when you are paid by pages read, you gotta make that a thick book but damn this dragged.
Also the ending was so anticlimactic I literally thought “that can’t be it…right?!” It was in fact it.
Also the ending was so anticlimactic I literally thought “that can’t be it…right?!” It was in fact it.
November 11, 2025
JAIL to everyone who likened this to Nocticadia!
The atmosphere, tension, and plot were non-existent. The writing focused too much on unnecessary details such as the heroine's clothes, the way she knocked on the door, the way she settled into her new room, etc. 🤷🏼♀️
The reading experience felt as if the author tried to create a certain atmosphere and feeling toward her characters, but achieved the complete opposite, at least for me. The heroine was probably supposed to be this good woman, craving female friendship, but being denied it because other women were "jealous" of her?
Aside from the obvious reasons why this quote sucks, Atta, honey, weren't you the one basically calling your roommate a slut and insulting her intelligence every interaction you had with her? Oh, and let's not forget how you criticized the fact that she was getting male attention "simply because she was blond and had big breasts" instead of you and your "soft thighs"?😬🤡🚩
Speaking of intelligence, Atta was meant to be this scholar type of woman, craving the pursuit of knowledge, yet she was performing autopsies WITHOUT GLOVES and getting the blood of the infected on her hands🙃💀 she ofc says it HASN'T been proven that it can cause infection, but it hasn't been proven otherwise! 🤦♀️
Also, she was given the TA position as a courtesy , because the woman in admin felt bad for her losing her scholarship. The professor, a.k.a. the hero, didn't need a TA because he had been YEARS without one. Yet when he questioned her expertise, and fairly so, because she has no official proof of qualification for the job, her reaction is wanting to slap him and then she goes ahead and calls him a bastard? 🆘😬🤷🏼♀️
This was the official time of death for this book, @25%. I hate this type of heroine!
The atmosphere, tension, and plot were non-existent. The writing focused too much on unnecessary details such as the heroine's clothes, the way she knocked on the door, the way she settled into her new room, etc. 🤷🏼♀️
The reading experience felt as if the author tried to create a certain atmosphere and feeling toward her characters, but achieved the complete opposite, at least for me. The heroine was probably supposed to be this good woman, craving female friendship, but being denied it because other women were "jealous" of her?
"She'd never had a female friend that was a woman's woman. A supporter, not an insecure girl always lurking in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to make your life a living hell out of jealousy."
Aside from the obvious reasons why this quote sucks, Atta, honey, weren't you the one basically calling your roommate a slut and insulting her intelligence every interaction you had with her? Oh, and let's not forget how you criticized the fact that she was getting male attention "simply because she was blond and had big breasts" instead of you and your "soft thighs"?😬🤡🚩
Speaking of intelligence, Atta was meant to be this scholar type of woman, craving the pursuit of knowledge, yet she was performing autopsies WITHOUT GLOVES and getting the blood of the infected on her hands🙃💀 she ofc says it HASN'T been proven that it can cause infection, but it hasn't been proven otherwise! 🤦♀️
Also, she was given the TA position as a courtesy , because the woman in admin felt bad for her losing her scholarship. The professor, a.k.a. the hero, didn't need a TA because he had been YEARS without one. Yet when he questioned her expertise, and fairly so, because she has no official proof of qualification for the job, her reaction is wanting to slap him and then she goes ahead and calls him a bastard? 🆘😬🤷🏼♀️
This was the official time of death for this book, @25%. I hate this type of heroine!
Want to Read
June 1, 2025I can’t wait to start this one✨
December 7, 2025
4.5⭐️
Such a unique interesting storyline!
This gothic fantasy, is set in Ireland in the 90’s where a mysterious plague has been killing peope for years. It’s super atmospheric and the perfect setting for this gothic x fae folklore story
Atta has been studying this in secret, and becomes a TA for Professor Murdoch who is also part of a secret society studying the plague
Whilst working together they realise this isn’t just an infection or a virus but something much darker
The romance is slow burn and perfect, I loveddd Sonder (professor murdoch) he’s broody and grumpy hates everyone but her vibes ugh loved it
The ending was a bit rushed to me, but I’m excited to see where book two goes
Such a unique interesting storyline!
This gothic fantasy, is set in Ireland in the 90’s where a mysterious plague has been killing peope for years. It’s super atmospheric and the perfect setting for this gothic x fae folklore story
Atta has been studying this in secret, and becomes a TA for Professor Murdoch who is also part of a secret society studying the plague
Whilst working together they realise this isn’t just an infection or a virus but something much darker
The romance is slow burn and perfect, I loveddd Sonder (professor murdoch) he’s broody and grumpy hates everyone but her vibes ugh loved it
The ending was a bit rushed to me, but I’m excited to see where book two goes
June 16, 2025
if i had a nickel for every time i picked up a book that turned out to be dark academia with a dark/forbidden relationship, a secret society that's very messed up and involved in some illegal shit, the heroine having her mind set on only one task the entire book - that's always researching in order to save someone , the hero being involved in what she's researching and always knowing more than her in the beginning until the power of love and sex saves him and makes him open up to her and tell her his tragic story resulting in them teaming up and having no more secrets between them , with a huge cast of secondary characters, each one more messed up than the other - then i will have 3 nickels
its not a lot but it's kinda funny how the last 3 MF romances i picked up all seem to be of the same sort.
˚ ✦ . . ˚ . . ✦ ˚ . ★⋆. ࿐࿔
. ˚ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✦ . . ˚ . ੈ✧̣̇˳·˖✶ ✦
I have to say though, this one turned out to be my favorite.
it also felt oddly whimsical and beautiful ❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･❀
As much as i love my romance books, when they say "angst filled" - its never angst filled. But romantasy books always deliver on that front. I love it when the romance only happens on borrowed time between the two mc's - it always adds more anticipation and heat. And that's exactly what happened here, this was my definition of a slow burn. I love a good professor/Student relationship - it's my favorite type of forbidden <3 The relationship between Atta and Murdoch only got more domestic and sweet after they got together. I looooove a book with vibes of an obsessed hero who's wrapped around her little finger.
“Atta,” he said on an exhale, “we need to stop.” But his words were contradicted by his hands finding her breasts. Fuck, he couldn’t take it.
“Why?” she breathed, her fingers untucking his shirt, sliding under it, toying with the dip of his pelvis.
“Because— Oh fuck, I can’t remember.” His mouth found hers again and they were a tangle of limbs, teeth, her fingernails digging into his back.”
like you see what i mean??? OBSESSED, CONSUMED, IN LOVE ₊˚⊹☆
“Should I tell you then that I can’t stop thinking about you? That I haven’t thought of another woman since the first moment I saw you outside Achilles House with a corpse you’d cut open yourself?” He took her chin in his fingers. “Or how I have never thought of a woman the way I think of you?” He kissed her gently on the lips. “How I thought I was destined to be alone, but it turns out I was starving all these years, waiting for you?”
URGH;FJLCBFHARWOUFBWRJBN'WOURGL
AND HE CALLS HER DARLING. NO QUIRKY NICKNAMES MUSE OR BUTTERFLY OR NAIL CLIPPER OR WHATEVER. They became a solid team with a solid group of friends around them going around and exorcising faeries.
“I’m at your command, darling”
AHHHHHHH GIVE ME MORE. GIVE ME THESE VIBES. GIVE ME LOVE. ♡✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I SAW IF WE WERE VILLAINS AND NOCTICADIA IN THE BLURB🫢🫢🫢🫢🫢 SAY NO MORE
its not a lot but it's kinda funny how the last 3 MF romances i picked up all seem to be of the same sort.
˚ ✦ . . ˚ . . ✦ ˚ . ★⋆. ࿐࿔
. ˚ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✦ . . ˚ . ੈ✧̣̇˳·˖✶ ✦
I have to say though, this one turned out to be my favorite.
it also felt oddly whimsical and beautiful ❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･❀
As much as i love my romance books, when they say "angst filled" - its never angst filled. But romantasy books always deliver on that front. I love it when the romance only happens on borrowed time between the two mc's - it always adds more anticipation and heat. And that's exactly what happened here, this was my definition of a slow burn. I love a good professor/Student relationship - it's my favorite type of forbidden <3 The relationship between Atta and Murdoch only got more domestic and sweet after they got together. I looooove a book with vibes of an obsessed hero who's wrapped around her little finger.
“Atta,” he said on an exhale, “we need to stop.” But his words were contradicted by his hands finding her breasts. Fuck, he couldn’t take it.
“Why?” she breathed, her fingers untucking his shirt, sliding under it, toying with the dip of his pelvis.
“Because— Oh fuck, I can’t remember.” His mouth found hers again and they were a tangle of limbs, teeth, her fingernails digging into his back.”
like you see what i mean??? OBSESSED, CONSUMED, IN LOVE ₊˚⊹☆
“Should I tell you then that I can’t stop thinking about you? That I haven’t thought of another woman since the first moment I saw you outside Achilles House with a corpse you’d cut open yourself?” He took her chin in his fingers. “Or how I have never thought of a woman the way I think of you?” He kissed her gently on the lips. “How I thought I was destined to be alone, but it turns out I was starving all these years, waiting for you?”
URGH;FJLCBFHARWOUFBWRJBN'WOURGL
AND HE CALLS HER DARLING. NO QUIRKY NICKNAMES MUSE OR BUTTERFLY OR NAIL CLIPPER OR WHATEVER. They became a solid team with a solid group of friends around them going around and exorcising faeries.
“I’m at your command, darling”
AHHHHHHH GIVE ME MORE. GIVE ME THESE VIBES. GIVE ME LOVE. ♡✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I SAW IF WE WERE VILLAINS AND NOCTICADIA IN THE BLURB🫢🫢🫢🫢🫢 SAY NO MORE
June 4, 2025
This book was absolutely incredible, five star, beautiful perfection. No clue I was about to read one of my top books of the last few years. If you like Nocticadia, Ninth House, or anything gothic horror fantasy you will absolutely eat this up. It was one of the most clever and stunning stories I’ve read in recent memory. I truly have never read a book with a plot like this before. So much of what is popular is the same tropes and plot in a different font, but this is 100% new and so refreshing to read. It has the professor/student, enemies to lovers, secret society, hidden secrets tropes but they are done in such a unique way that had me sat the whole time.
Let me start with our brooding professor, Sonder (aka Dr. Frankenstein) goddamn I love this man. He doesn’t like anybody, he spends most of his time with dead bodies, he’s part of a secret society, he’s wildly brilliant, insanely attractive, and he’s obsessed with our fmc, Atta, from first sight. Watching him slowly warm up to her and fall in love was one of my favorite parts of this story. His home and the history of his parents was so captivating.
Atta was such an interesting fmc. She’s incredibly brilliant and capable. She enjoys the macabre and darker things in life. She’s kind of a recluse but her genius and interest in the academics was so interesting to read. I was so intrigued by her migraines and visions and the way her story was interwoven with the folklore. I’m obsessed!
The side characters were incredible and so likable. We got so much personality in a standalone book and I think that’s a true testament of good writing. The folklore, the exorcisms, the intermixing of science and ritual, all of it was so well done. This book was incredible and I cannot speak more highly of this if I tried. If you’re considering it, definitely give this a read!!
Let me start with our brooding professor, Sonder (aka Dr. Frankenstein) goddamn I love this man. He doesn’t like anybody, he spends most of his time with dead bodies, he’s part of a secret society, he’s wildly brilliant, insanely attractive, and he’s obsessed with our fmc, Atta, from first sight. Watching him slowly warm up to her and fall in love was one of my favorite parts of this story. His home and the history of his parents was so captivating.
Atta was such an interesting fmc. She’s incredibly brilliant and capable. She enjoys the macabre and darker things in life. She’s kind of a recluse but her genius and interest in the academics was so interesting to read. I was so intrigued by her migraines and visions and the way her story was interwoven with the folklore. I’m obsessed!
The side characters were incredible and so likable. We got so much personality in a standalone book and I think that’s a true testament of good writing. The folklore, the exorcisms, the intermixing of science and ritual, all of it was so well done. This book was incredible and I cannot speak more highly of this if I tried. If you’re considering it, definitely give this a read!!
October 30, 2025
The dark gothic academia vibes , the student x professor romance, the secret society and plot twist was everything. I loved that this was set in Dublin as well!!
This book was so captivating and so beautifully written I couldn’t get enough of it. I did not want it to end!! I also loved the floura/ fauna plague. It was so interesting, it added to the uniqueness of the story.
I loved that Atta was a strong FMC and A hot, moody, insufferable professor will do it for me every single time.
“You stor, are everything that is right in the world. My world. With all the worlds. And don’t you dare apologise for it.” 🧚♀️
This book was so captivating and so beautifully written I couldn’t get enough of it. I did not want it to end!! I also loved the floura/ fauna plague. It was so interesting, it added to the uniqueness of the story.
I loved that Atta was a strong FMC and A hot, moody, insufferable professor will do it for me every single time.
“You stor, are everything that is right in the world. My world. With all the worlds. And don’t you dare apologise for it.” 🧚♀️
August 18, 2025
Yep it was a fun read! The gothic vibes were on point, and I loved the mystery along with the smart, and strong FMC Atta. I also enjoyed Professor Frankenstein "mysterious and broody and completely F-able in the most scholarly way." Just learned this is a duology, which means now I’ve got to wait for book two… why do I keep starting unfinished series?! Either way Im glad I picked this one up!
"Sometimes fear cleanses the soul, Atta. It reminds us to look at the important things we took for granted while at peace."
"If we were never challenged, Atta, we would never grow"
"Sometimes fear cleanses the soul, Atta. It reminds us to look at the important things we took for granted while at peace."
"If we were never challenged, Atta, we would never grow"
June 4, 2025
3-3.5 ⭐️
This book had some insane hype on booktok & as soon as I heard it was 90s Ireland, a plague, a mortician, a professor, dark academia vibes? I signed right up! This was very much the vibes of Noctocadia (I loved that one better).
I’m not sure what to rate this, but I’d say 3.5 because there were moments that things weren’t fully explained, I found it hard to understand what was going on sometimes, almost like the author didn’t fully tell us but did at the same time? Idk. And there was a lot of filler and the same thing happening over and over AND THEN the ending was SO RUSHED. It peaked and ended in the last 5 minutes of the book…. That through me for a loop. It didn’t make much sense at all.
I really did like the FMC and MMC though. They were good characters with a decent arc. Side characters were awesome too although there wasn’t really a “bad guy” in this story. The romance was decent but lackluster for me. He said some romantic shit, but even the 2 spicy scenes were short and weird
Overall, it’s a decent story and I was somewhat entertained but it was not close to a 5 star for me like others are saying! Took me a bit to get into as well. The revelation of the plague was SO WEIRD guys lol, luckily I know a bit about Irish folklore so I understood what was happening a bit but i wasn’t expecting this “fairytale-folklore-fantasy” aspect to it? I thought it was like real life but didn’t feel like it!
Again, the best part was the characters. I know I’m bashing on it but I don’t mean to! I think this just had much more potential ◡̈
This book had some insane hype on booktok & as soon as I heard it was 90s Ireland, a plague, a mortician, a professor, dark academia vibes? I signed right up! This was very much the vibes of Noctocadia (I loved that one better).
I’m not sure what to rate this, but I’d say 3.5 because there were moments that things weren’t fully explained, I found it hard to understand what was going on sometimes, almost like the author didn’t fully tell us but did at the same time? Idk. And there was a lot of filler and the same thing happening over and over AND THEN the ending was SO RUSHED. It peaked and ended in the last 5 minutes of the book…. That through me for a loop. It didn’t make much sense at all.
I really did like the FMC and MMC though. They were good characters with a decent arc. Side characters were awesome too although there wasn’t really a “bad guy” in this story. The romance was decent but lackluster for me. He said some romantic shit, but even the 2 spicy scenes were short and weird
Overall, it’s a decent story and I was somewhat entertained but it was not close to a 5 star for me like others are saying! Took me a bit to get into as well. The revelation of the plague was SO WEIRD guys lol, luckily I know a bit about Irish folklore so I understood what was happening a bit but i wasn’t expecting this “fairytale-folklore-fantasy” aspect to it? I thought it was like real life but didn’t feel like it!
Again, the best part was the characters. I know I’m bashing on it but I don’t mean to! I think this just had much more potential ◡̈
November 3, 2025
⋆˚ “You’ve tangled yourself up in my soul like a vine, a stór.”
˚⋆༄˖°.🍂.ೃ࿔*:･𓍢ִ໋☕️✧˚ ༘ ⋆
🎧/🔲┆The Exorcism of Faeries
╰┈➤ ✰┆ ˗ˏˋ 𝟚.𝟟𝟝 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 ˊˎ˗
╰⪼ ⋆౨ৎ˚┆ 𝓟𝓻𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭: Another gothic romance? Are we surprised? And yes, November is still spooky season — no judging.
📆┆˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Dates read: 11/1/25 - 11/3/25
𓂃🖊┆𝓣𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓼:
🍂 Dark academia
🤎 Professor x student
🍂 Secret societies
🤎 Faeries
🍂 Possession x exorcism
🤎 Botanical horror
🍂 Anatomy x post mortum
🤎 Dark gothic atmosphere
🍂 Forbidden romance
🏷️┆𝓐𝓽 𝓪 𝓰𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮:
➛ Dark academia romance with gothic mystery
➛ Kindle Unlimited - 378 pages
➛ First in a series, although it can be read as a standalone
➛ Trinity College 1990s Dublin, Ireland
➛ Botany student x morbid anatomy professor
➛ Exorcisms, secret societies, plague
➛ Irish folklore x evil faeries
➛ Spice rating: explicit open door 🌶️🌶️
➛ Dual POV, 3rd person
➛ Atmospheric and lyrical writing
📋┆𝓢𝔂𝓷𝓸𝓹𝓼𝓲𝓼:
She is the daughter of morticians, studying Botany at Trinity College, Dublin. He is her Morbid Anatomy professor. And the Fae are possessing the good people of Dublin. Only Atta and Professor Murdoch can exorcize the fae, but can they fight their forbidden feelings for one another in the process?
🎵 ┆𝓝𝓸𝔀 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝔂𝓲𝓷𝓰: ♫ Whatever Walked There, Walked Alone by The Newton Brothers ♪
↻ ◁ 𝕀𝕀 ▷ ↺
0:27 ────|────── 1:04 Volume: ■■■■■□□□
─────── ⋆.˚ ✩ ⋆˙⟡ ───────
💭┆𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀:
╰┈➤ 📌┆Initial Thoughts:
➛ Hmm... I'm confused and not in a good way.
╰┈➤ 📝┆Plot and Pacing: 2 stars ✰✰
➛ Yikes, so this was a hot mess. The more I think about it, the worse it gets. I didn’t understand much of the plot. The secret societies were not explained, and I never felt their presence to be a sinister, menacing force. While the first half was intriguing with the mysterious plague and hallucinations, the payoff was not worth it and extremely anticlimactic. The ending was incredibly rushed and not at all clear. Atta supposedly saved the world, but we didn’t see that. She just walked through the door to the other world, and then that was all we got. What?? Where is the explanation? There were just so many things missing. There were too many plot holes, and I still have questions, but I quit caring about getting answers towards the end. This was not it, sis.
╰┈➤ 👫┆Characters: 3 stars ✰✰✰
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 🍄🟫🌿┆Ariadne "Atta" Morrow
➛ Atta is a graduate student facing financial trouble. In desperate need of money to fuel her research, she takes a job as a TA for Dr Frankenstein in hopes of saving her tuition at Trinity College. Initially described as mature and a genius, I found this to be disingenuous. I found it really annoying that she couldn't recognize the MMC under a mask! Uh hello?! Someone she interacted with daily, and she could not put two and two together, be fr... Also, why was she so obsessed with her age? Her inner monologue about being older than everyone and thinking younger people are bothered by that? Girlfriend, you're 28, not 50 — *eye roll*. This is graduate school; many students are older. Aside from the aforesaid annoyances, her character was initially intriguing, particularly her hallucinations.
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 💀🫀┆Sonder Murdoch "Dr. Frankenstein"
➛ A dark, moody, and brooding professor? Say no further. He was simply scrumptious. I definitely swooned when he started calling her darling or a stór. Nicknames in a foreign language are far superior imo. Sonder won me over quicker than Atta did in terms of believing the romance, that's for sure!
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ Romance/Spice
➛ The romance was just ok. I liked these characters for the most part, but the romance fell incredibly flat after they got together. I felt a whole lot of nothing. No passion, emotional depth, or chemistry. Sure, they shared romantic monologues, but it didn’t feel genuine at all! The spicy scenes felt off to me, as if the author were taking up space. There were glimpses of tension and passion in the beginning, but it fizzled out rather quickly.
╰┈➤ ✎┆Setting and Writing: 4 stars ✰✰✰✰
➛ I rather enjoyed the writing as it felt atmospheric and immersive. I appreciated the vivid descriptions and lyrical prose, which had a dark, eerie, and unsettling undertone, blending the natural world with horror. Although at times it was a little over the top. Simple actions were embellished for the sake of pretty prose which can be frustrating for some readers if that's not your thing.
╰┈➤ ☁️┆Themes: 3 stars ✰✰✰
➛ This story is centered around themes of dark academia, body horror, morbid anatomy, and fae possession, all explored through a gothic and romance-fueled plot. The narrative combines the supernatural threat of fae spirits, depicted as a plague, with a scientific approach to fighting them, driven by a daughter of morticians and her professor. It explores the conflict between science and folklore, secret societies, and the struggle against both a supernatural infection and forbidden romance.
╰┈➤ 💕┆Emotional Impact: 2 stars ✰✰
➛ The story stayed the same the whole way through. I never felt invested or worried about what was happening, which made the experience lackluster.
╰┈➤ ✨┆Enjoyment: 3 stars ✰✰✰
➛ Very mediocre at best. While I loved the atmosphere and dark academia aesthetic, the latter half was boring and almost a chore to finish.
─────── ⋆.˚ ✩ ⋆˙⟡ ───────
╰┈➤ 🚨┆𝓑𝓸𝓽𝓽𝓸𝓶-𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓮:
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ The beginning had so much potential, but the story lost steam in the middle. Although the vibes were right, the lack of emotional depth and the confusing plot left a lasting bad impression. Good premise, lack of execution.
➛ ✔ 𝓦𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓘 𝓡𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓭? Can skip this one
➛ 📚┆𝓢𝓲𝓶𝓲𝓵𝓪𝓻 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓡𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼:
✃ Enigma by RuNyx - 3.25 stars
✃ Nocticadia by Keri Lake - 5 stars
✃ Gothikana by RuNyx - 3 stars
✃ Nightshade by Autumn Woods - 3.5 stars
─────── ⋆.˚ ✩ ⋆˙⟡ ───────
˚⋆༄˖°.🍂.ೃ࿔*:･𓍢ִ໋☕️✧˚ ༘ ⋆
🎧/🔲┆The Exorcism of Faeries
╰┈➤ ✰┆ ˗ˏˋ 𝟚.𝟟𝟝 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 ˊˎ˗
╰⪼ ⋆౨ৎ˚┆ 𝓟𝓻𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭: Another gothic romance? Are we surprised? And yes, November is still spooky season — no judging.
📆┆˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Dates read: 11/1/25 - 11/3/25
𓂃🖊┆𝓣𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓼:
🍂 Dark academia
🤎 Professor x student
🍂 Secret societies
🤎 Faeries
🍂 Possession x exorcism
🤎 Botanical horror
🍂 Anatomy x post mortum
🤎 Dark gothic atmosphere
🍂 Forbidden romance
🏷️┆𝓐𝓽 𝓪 𝓰𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮:
➛ Dark academia romance with gothic mystery
➛ Kindle Unlimited - 378 pages
➛ First in a series, although it can be read as a standalone
➛ Trinity College 1990s Dublin, Ireland
➛ Botany student x morbid anatomy professor
➛ Exorcisms, secret societies, plague
➛ Irish folklore x evil faeries
➛ Spice rating: explicit open door 🌶️🌶️
➛ Dual POV, 3rd person
➛ Atmospheric and lyrical writing
📋┆𝓢𝔂𝓷𝓸𝓹𝓼𝓲𝓼:
She is the daughter of morticians, studying Botany at Trinity College, Dublin. He is her Morbid Anatomy professor. And the Fae are possessing the good people of Dublin. Only Atta and Professor Murdoch can exorcize the fae, but can they fight their forbidden feelings for one another in the process?
“Because it was nothing but Juliet’s kiss, Macbeth’s decapitation, the murder of Desdemona. Achilles mourning Patroclus."
🎵 ┆𝓝𝓸𝔀 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝔂𝓲𝓷𝓰: ♫ Whatever Walked There, Walked Alone by The Newton Brothers ♪
↻ ◁ 𝕀𝕀 ▷ ↺
0:27 ────|────── 1:04 Volume: ■■■■■□□□
─────── ⋆.˚ ✩ ⋆˙⟡ ───────
💭┆𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀:
╰┈➤ 📌┆Initial Thoughts:
➛ Hmm... I'm confused and not in a good way.
╰┈➤ 📝┆Plot and Pacing: 2 stars ✰✰
➛ Yikes, so this was a hot mess. The more I think about it, the worse it gets. I didn’t understand much of the plot. The secret societies were not explained, and I never felt their presence to be a sinister, menacing force. While the first half was intriguing with the mysterious plague and hallucinations, the payoff was not worth it and extremely anticlimactic. The ending was incredibly rushed and not at all clear. Atta supposedly saved the world, but we didn’t see that. She just walked through the door to the other world, and then that was all we got. What?? Where is the explanation? There were just so many things missing. There were too many plot holes, and I still have questions, but I quit caring about getting answers towards the end. This was not it, sis.
╰┈➤ 👫┆Characters: 3 stars ✰✰✰
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 🍄🟫🌿┆Ariadne "Atta" Morrow
➛ Atta is a graduate student facing financial trouble. In desperate need of money to fuel her research, she takes a job as a TA for Dr Frankenstein in hopes of saving her tuition at Trinity College. Initially described as mature and a genius, I found this to be disingenuous. I found it really annoying that she couldn't recognize the MMC under a mask! Uh hello?! Someone she interacted with daily, and she could not put two and two together, be fr... Also, why was she so obsessed with her age? Her inner monologue about being older than everyone and thinking younger people are bothered by that? Girlfriend, you're 28, not 50 — *eye roll*. This is graduate school; many students are older. Aside from the aforesaid annoyances, her character was initially intriguing, particularly her hallucinations.
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 💀🫀┆Sonder Murdoch "Dr. Frankenstein"
➛ A dark, moody, and brooding professor? Say no further. He was simply scrumptious. I definitely swooned when he started calling her darling or a stór. Nicknames in a foreign language are far superior imo. Sonder won me over quicker than Atta did in terms of believing the romance, that's for sure!
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ Romance/Spice
➛ The romance was just ok. I liked these characters for the most part, but the romance fell incredibly flat after they got together. I felt a whole lot of nothing. No passion, emotional depth, or chemistry. Sure, they shared romantic monologues, but it didn’t feel genuine at all! The spicy scenes felt off to me, as if the author were taking up space. There were glimpses of tension and passion in the beginning, but it fizzled out rather quickly.
╰┈➤ ✎┆Setting and Writing: 4 stars ✰✰✰✰
➛ I rather enjoyed the writing as it felt atmospheric and immersive. I appreciated the vivid descriptions and lyrical prose, which had a dark, eerie, and unsettling undertone, blending the natural world with horror. Although at times it was a little over the top. Simple actions were embellished for the sake of pretty prose which can be frustrating for some readers if that's not your thing.
“-a hint of the approaching autumn on the wind, stirring the leaves that would soon lose their chlorophyll and show the world how beautiful it is to die.”
╰┈➤ ☁️┆Themes: 3 stars ✰✰✰
➛ This story is centered around themes of dark academia, body horror, morbid anatomy, and fae possession, all explored through a gothic and romance-fueled plot. The narrative combines the supernatural threat of fae spirits, depicted as a plague, with a scientific approach to fighting them, driven by a daughter of morticians and her professor. It explores the conflict between science and folklore, secret societies, and the struggle against both a supernatural infection and forbidden romance.
╰┈➤ 💕┆Emotional Impact: 2 stars ✰✰
➛ The story stayed the same the whole way through. I never felt invested or worried about what was happening, which made the experience lackluster.
╰┈➤ ✨┆Enjoyment: 3 stars ✰✰✰
➛ Very mediocre at best. While I loved the atmosphere and dark academia aesthetic, the latter half was boring and almost a chore to finish.
─────── ⋆.˚ ✩ ⋆˙⟡ ───────
╰┈➤ 🚨┆𝓑𝓸𝓽𝓽𝓸𝓶-𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓮:
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ The beginning had so much potential, but the story lost steam in the middle. Although the vibes were right, the lack of emotional depth and the confusing plot left a lasting bad impression. Good premise, lack of execution.
➛ ✔ 𝓦𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓘 𝓡𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓭? Can skip this one
➛ 📚┆𝓢𝓲𝓶𝓲𝓵𝓪𝓻 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓡𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼:
✃ Enigma by RuNyx - 3.25 stars
✃ Nocticadia by Keri Lake - 5 stars
✃ Gothikana by RuNyx - 3 stars
✃ Nightshade by Autumn Woods - 3.5 stars
─────── ⋆.˚ ✩ ⋆˙⟡ ───────
“Hamartia.
To err, to have a tragic flaw.
With Sonder standing there in his childhood home, looking at her, she knew in her bones they were both hamartia embodied. The main ingredient for a tragic end.”
June 10, 2025
2.5⭐️ I’ve found that I really enjoy fantasy/romance books with a dark, gothic academic setting (like Nocticadia), so a dark gothic romance set in 1990s Ireland sounded perfect. I liked the premise of the story and the atmosphere of a gothic college setting, however the story didn’t connect with me.
I compared this book to Nocticadia, which may have been my problem, but that is my standard for this genre of books. I still enjoyed the book, however I expected more build up (and suspense?) going into it. This story felt very fast paced, reasonably so because it’s less than 400 pages, but I personally find a heavy build up in the beginning/middle of stories like this create a much more immersive reading experience for this sub-genre specifically. The story stayed the same the whole way through for me, I never felt invested or worried about what was happening, which I feel like this type of story needs. I did enjoy the story and found it interesting, it just wasn’t fitting my personal criteria for a fantasy gothic academic centered book (which is okay!!) and my personal preferences hindered my experience.
I compared this book to Nocticadia, which may have been my problem, but that is my standard for this genre of books. I still enjoyed the book, however I expected more build up (and suspense?) going into it. This story felt very fast paced, reasonably so because it’s less than 400 pages, but I personally find a heavy build up in the beginning/middle of stories like this create a much more immersive reading experience for this sub-genre specifically. The story stayed the same the whole way through for me, I never felt invested or worried about what was happening, which I feel like this type of story needs. I did enjoy the story and found it interesting, it just wasn’t fitting my personal criteria for a fantasy gothic academic centered book (which is okay!!) and my personal preferences hindered my experience.
September 17, 2025
a hot insufferable moody professor will do it for me every. damn. time. 4.25
August 22, 2025
4.5 🌟
I LIVE for books like this!! This? My bread and butter, my holy grail. I can feel myself being revived when I read books like this.
Dark academia romance set in 90’s Dublin… a recipe for literary perfection. If you loved Nocticadia and A Study in Drowning, you’ll adore this!
It is SO beautifully written, it’s dark, it’s gothic, it’s atmospheric and eerie but what I loved is how adult and sophisticated it feels.
I loved both the folklore and flora & fauna elements and how they entwined with the plot. The student x teacher romance kept me well and truly fed and I loved both of our main characters so much. Two of my favourite characters I’ve read in a while.
This would have been a god tier read for me, but the ending just felt rushed and I didn’t quite get the level of conclusion I was expecting. But that aside it’s EVERYTHING!
I LIVE for books like this!! This? My bread and butter, my holy grail. I can feel myself being revived when I read books like this.
Dark academia romance set in 90’s Dublin… a recipe for literary perfection. If you loved Nocticadia and A Study in Drowning, you’ll adore this!
It is SO beautifully written, it’s dark, it’s gothic, it’s atmospheric and eerie but what I loved is how adult and sophisticated it feels.
I loved both the folklore and flora & fauna elements and how they entwined with the plot. The student x teacher romance kept me well and truly fed and I loved both of our main characters so much. Two of my favourite characters I’ve read in a while.
This would have been a god tier read for me, but the ending just felt rushed and I didn’t quite get the level of conclusion I was expecting. But that aside it’s EVERYTHING!
November 10, 2025
The Exorcism of Faeries
⤷ ⭑⭑⭑⭑.𝟱
𓏲⋆🌱.* Set in Dublin in 1993, six years have passed since the Irish Plague began, during which victims have been found with mysterious flora growing in their internal organs. No one could determine how it started or how people became infected.
Ariatne "Atta" Morrow, a graduate student at Trinity College's Botany Department, is determined to investigate a plague by studying the cadavers brought into the morgue where she works. However, she finds herself drawn into a secret society dedicated to finding a cure. At the same time, she is being recruited to work for the school's infamous professor of the Morbid Anatomy department, Dr. Sonder Murdoch.
⟢ I honestly loved the thrill, the gothic academia atmosphere, and the entire mystery surrounding the plague. Vampa did an amazing job bringing out the eerie nature of the folktales mentioned, and I was just captivated by her blend of superstitions and fairy tales.
Now, when I say go into this book blind, go into it blind! Honestly, I was drawn in just by the title itself. I came across this book in several recommendation posts, but I had very little knowledge of its premise, which I think definitely affected my reading experience.
The way the study of botany and anatomy was conducted was my favorite aspect of this book. When fae folklore came into play, I was giddy with excitement about how their studies of science and anatomy intertwined with the magical elements of the fae. I really felt like I was with the characters, trying to figure out the mystery and questioning the next clue that popped up. As we went along, I did pick things up quickly, but I was still very engrossed and wanted to see how it played out.
Although there was undoubtedly a physical attraction between the characters, I appreciated how the romance centered on their attraction to each other's intelligence. Atta's expertise in Botany complemented Sonder's knowledge in the Morbid Arts, which I found refreshing. The romance was a bit fast-paced, but I didn't mind it as much since they spent much of their time investigating while getting to know each other.
Typically, we often feel like a book could have been shorter depending on the story itself. But this left me wishing it were longer. When I reached the 90% mark, it felt like there was still 30% more to explore. This book is part of a duology, but the conclusion was honestly seriously underwhelming. Such a shame since the buildup was truly impressive. I wanted to know more about the society, the fae, and an explanation of why certain actions were made at the end. "૮₍ ˶•⤙•˶ ₎ა
If you want a Nocticadia-type book with a mix of botanical horror, pick this up now! I honestly can't wait for the next book to come out because I need more of this world and experience more of Vampa's writing. ♡
.𖥔 ݁ ˖
post-read : gdi it’s a duology 🥹
pre-read : first up from my ‘Ten Before the End’ list ⟡
⤷ ⭑⭑⭑⭑.𝟱
₊˚ʚ ❝ Because it was nothing but Juliet’s kiss, Macbeth’s decapitation, the murder of Desdemona. Achilles mourning Patroclus. ❞
𓏲⋆🌱.* Set in Dublin in 1993, six years have passed since the Irish Plague began, during which victims have been found with mysterious flora growing in their internal organs. No one could determine how it started or how people became infected.
Ariatne "Atta" Morrow, a graduate student at Trinity College's Botany Department, is determined to investigate a plague by studying the cadavers brought into the morgue where she works. However, she finds herself drawn into a secret society dedicated to finding a cure. At the same time, she is being recruited to work for the school's infamous professor of the Morbid Anatomy department, Dr. Sonder Murdoch.
⟢ I honestly loved the thrill, the gothic academia atmosphere, and the entire mystery surrounding the plague. Vampa did an amazing job bringing out the eerie nature of the folktales mentioned, and I was just captivated by her blend of superstitions and fairy tales.
Now, when I say go into this book blind, go into it blind! Honestly, I was drawn in just by the title itself. I came across this book in several recommendation posts, but I had very little knowledge of its premise, which I think definitely affected my reading experience.
❝.𖥔 ݁ Poetry wasn’t in life; it was in what we’ve made of the past, lending it romanticism instead of watching it burn and lie in the ashes. ❞ ˖𓂃.☘︎ ݁˖
The way the study of botany and anatomy was conducted was my favorite aspect of this book. When fae folklore came into play, I was giddy with excitement about how their studies of science and anatomy intertwined with the magical elements of the fae. I really felt like I was with the characters, trying to figure out the mystery and questioning the next clue that popped up. As we went along, I did pick things up quickly, but I was still very engrossed and wanted to see how it played out.
❀࿐ ❝ She was a tragedy, and he was her peace. ❞
Although there was undoubtedly a physical attraction between the characters, I appreciated how the romance centered on their attraction to each other's intelligence. Atta's expertise in Botany complemented Sonder's knowledge in the Morbid Arts, which I found refreshing. The romance was a bit fast-paced, but I didn't mind it as much since they spent much of their time investigating while getting to know each other.
❝ Do you really think revolutions don’t begin with one person? One act? Do you really think change can’t be accomplished by two people? According to some, one man saved the entire world, past, present, and future. According to some, the Storming of the Bastille began the French Revolution, Shakespeare changed the English language, and the Beetles altered music irrevocably. ❞ ₊ ⊹
Typically, we often feel like a book could have been shorter depending on the story itself. But this left me wishing it were longer. When I reached the 90% mark, it felt like there was still 30% more to explore. This book is part of a duology, but the conclusion was honestly seriously underwhelming. Such a shame since the buildup was truly impressive. I wanted to know more about the society, the fae, and an explanation of why certain actions were made at the end. "૮₍ ˶•⤙•˶ ₎ა
If you want a Nocticadia-type book with a mix of botanical horror, pick this up now! I honestly can't wait for the next book to come out because I need more of this world and experience more of Vampa's writing. ♡
❝ He shouldn’t have brought her into this, this girl made up of poetry and bones, flowers and viscera, everything beautiful and meaningful in life. ❞ ⋆˚࿔
.𖥔 ݁ ˖
post-read : gdi it’s a duology 🥹
pre-read : first up from my ‘Ten Before the End’ list ⟡
June 18, 2025
I was so looking forward to this book after hearing so many good reviews, but I honestly can not understand how anyone rated it above three stars. The first half of the book was so interesting, the dark academia vibes were on point, the FMC and the MMC were intriguing, the story had so much potential and then it was like the author had no idea where the story would go and just ended it all without explanation or thought. The romance between the fmc and mmc felt like it just happened and suddenly with very little build up they were just madly in love? What was with her visions? Why did his parents do any of it? Why didn’t she die, what happened to the fae inside of her, what was the door, why is she a daughter of multiple worlds?! Ugh. Honestly I skimmed the last few chapters because it was so boring. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters or the story anymore. The ending was so annoying I even struggle to give this 2 stars. I wish someone would just re-write the second half and make it better.. if anyone does, send it my way to read!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 11, 2025
4.5/5
Ale świetny klimat, fabularnie też dobry kawał dark academii, cmentarze, trupy i złe wróżki. Romans też super między profesorem a studentką. Tajne stowarzyszenia na uni. Wszystko pięknie tu zagrało.
Momentami miałam przestój i wolałabym jednak czytać niż słuchać bo medyczna i biologiczna terminologia mnie trochę wykończyła
Ale świetny klimat, fabularnie też dobry kawał dark academii, cmentarze, trupy i złe wróżki. Romans też super między profesorem a studentką. Tajne stowarzyszenia na uni. Wszystko pięknie tu zagrało.
Momentami miałam przestój i wolałabym jednak czytać niż słuchać bo medyczna i biologiczna terminologia mnie trochę wykończyła
August 24, 2025
To have read this book is to have endured it.
February 25, 2026
5.5 stars (is that a thing?). This is so nocticadia coded. Wow just wow go read this. PS this is about real faeries aka little evil pixie things and not seven feet tall brooding hot sexy faeries but it honestly doesn’t matter bc the plot is *chefs kiss* and the vibes are *chefs kiss* and the entire freaking book is *CHEFS KISS* 🧚🖤🩺🫀🩶☠️🥀
June 21, 2025
This hurts because I wanted to love this but I had to DNF at about 55% way though. The short reason - this authors writing style is not for me.
I know a lot of people loved this, but just in case there are others feeling similar to me here are my notes as I read through which pretty much sums up my experience (I don’t have it in me to flesh it out):
- Struggling with the writing style
- Struggling to get read on Atta
- Whyyyyyy did the author use the American word for heels “pumps” when everyone is Irish?
- Way too much filler so far. “She knocked politely on the open door just as she had on the open door of his lecture hall when they first met a few days earlier.” - A knock isnt that special to give it this much real estate on a page
- Atta is obsessed with being older than everyone & thinks younger people are bothered that she’s older than them - hun nobody gives a shit. Literally “She found herself thankful on a daily basis that Emmy and her other roommates had accepted her right away. They didn’t even care that she was older than them,” - why are you talking like you’re 50 years old!!!
- Author likes to tell us Atta is wise & knowledgeable & truly a gifted mind but she is incapable of recognising Sonder and keeps touching a potential by-product of a plague with no gloves!!! The proof is not in the pudding.
- Really he’s falling in love with her already?
Starting to realise I’m being a toxic hater & maybe this book isn’t for me so I’m going to stop.
I know a lot of people loved this, but just in case there are others feeling similar to me here are my notes as I read through which pretty much sums up my experience (I don’t have it in me to flesh it out):
- Struggling with the writing style
- Struggling to get read on Atta
- Whyyyyyy did the author use the American word for heels “pumps” when everyone is Irish?
- Way too much filler so far. “She knocked politely on the open door just as she had on the open door of his lecture hall when they first met a few days earlier.” - A knock isnt that special to give it this much real estate on a page
- Atta is obsessed with being older than everyone & thinks younger people are bothered that she’s older than them - hun nobody gives a shit. Literally “She found herself thankful on a daily basis that Emmy and her other roommates had accepted her right away. They didn’t even care that she was older than them,” - why are you talking like you’re 50 years old!!!
- Author likes to tell us Atta is wise & knowledgeable & truly a gifted mind but she is incapable of recognising Sonder and keeps touching a potential by-product of a plague with no gloves!!! The proof is not in the pudding.
- Really he’s falling in love with her already?
Starting to realise I’m being a toxic hater & maybe this book isn’t for me so I’m going to stop.
September 22, 2025
Dark academia perfection! This genre sets my soul on fire, and I ate up every second of this book 🖤
This is a dark academia romance set in 1990s Dublin, with student x teacher, mystery, secret society, plague, Irish folklore with that old school faerie vibe — and all together it made for a really unique and enthralling plot!
It is beautifully written and so atmospheric, with a setting that is dark, gothic, and mysterious. I loved the portrayal of the faeries in this and the mystery surrounding the plague.
I adored our main characters. Atta is such a strong, intelligent, and interesting FMC! And Sonder, our broody professor, is the most swoon worthy MMC and I love him so much!! The romance between them is fantastic — it has a bit of a slow-burn element, they have so much tension and chemistry, and Sonder’s nickname for her in Gaelic had me MELTING. These two make such a great team. I also really loved the side characters in this book! Especially Gibbs 🥹 they were all so likeable and had so much personality!
The story does wrap up quickly at the end, but I had no issue with it. This book was incredible and a perfect read for me! 🖤
This is a dark academia romance set in 1990s Dublin, with student x teacher, mystery, secret society, plague, Irish folklore with that old school faerie vibe — and all together it made for a really unique and enthralling plot!
It is beautifully written and so atmospheric, with a setting that is dark, gothic, and mysterious. I loved the portrayal of the faeries in this and the mystery surrounding the plague.
I adored our main characters. Atta is such a strong, intelligent, and interesting FMC! And Sonder, our broody professor, is the most swoon worthy MMC and I love him so much!! The romance between them is fantastic — it has a bit of a slow-burn element, they have so much tension and chemistry, and Sonder’s nickname for her in Gaelic had me MELTING. These two make such a great team. I also really loved the side characters in this book! Especially Gibbs 🥹 they were all so likeable and had so much personality!
The story does wrap up quickly at the end, but I had no issue with it. This book was incredible and a perfect read for me! 🖤
September 15, 2026
4.75⭐️ The Exorcism of Faeries had everything I wanted: a gothic setting in Ireland in the 1990’s, a romance with tension and yearning, scary little freaky fairies, and an interesting plot. The cover is so so so beautiful, I want to inject it into my veins. My only complaint is the ending felt rushed but overall the vibes were vibing.
April 14, 2026
4.4/5
Chapters aren't numbered; 416 pages
Published: April 22, 2025 by Vampa Productions, LLC
2 POVs, 3rd-person narration
Short chapters; Pacing was mid
Some spice
Sooo, I have raised the rating by 0.5, due to the second half of the book!
Finally a book that kept me satisfied plot-wise!
This book is a must-read. Essential. Mandatory. You NEED this.
Sonder Murdoch is such a brilliant character, you'll only find out by pressing through. This is the first time in a very long while that I'm impressed.
Don't read it for the Gothic elements, read it for the academics.
This book somewhat begins in the first chapter as a Thriller, a man is murdered, and the protagonist attempts to cover it up. However, she is a student, and she does these "jobs" for a price.
The story takes place in 1993, Atta (Ariatne) is studying graduate Botany. She loves the feeling of attending a place where there are people like-minded to her, as in, they love to research and study.
There is an ongoing Plague, and it's taking a long time to find answers. Blooming flora in bodies found after autopsies. Is it curable? Does it have to do with the supernatural? How come only good people are being targeted? Somehow she needs answers.
(Near the end - last 5 chapters, I couldn't shake the foreboding feeling that something scary was about to happen).
My notes:
-> Kind of gory, dark, grim. (meh)
-> Crime and Fantasy in Academics. [okayyy (on the fence with crime); +]
-> Gothic, merely in deep, dank, dark atmosphere, (Some Gothic architecture elements mentioned). (meh)
-> I didn't like the name Atta at first, but later after learning her full name, I liked the full version.
-> I felt, however, that Atta was quite unremarkable as a character (although I see how she could not be any different).
-> I liked that the Academics in this book weren't simply fictional, and had real life value to them. This is what I read for. (+)
-> At times, I felt the story was a bit flat (not enough layers) - not nit-picking, genuine observation. Because at times it was dragging for me. (After 50% of the book, the story got more exciting).
-> I found the wording to be very educational. (+)
-> I could sense certain things, before they were going to happen, eg. where the Fae came from, and that Atta will probably become inhabited. (Just saying this, to challenge the author's sense or surprise).
Quotes:
That was when Atta saw it.
The blossom sprouting from his lungs.
Not a phantom or a trick of the lamplight. Not even a seedling-looking thing one could pass off as an abnormal growth of some sort. No, it was a macabre bloom of foreign flora that had taken root in the man’s lung, and flowered.
Most people don’t realise how hard it is to close a dead person’s eyelids. It’s not like in films. They often spring back open.
Closing the eyelids of an Infected is even more disconcerting.
The body, prostrate before her, looked innocuous upon first inspection with its chalky pallor and vacant eyes. But she knew underneath the flesh, there would be more signs of decay from the Plague. She lifted her scalpel and set it just below the clavicle, slicing to the man’s sternum, a thin incision immediately tracing her movement. Atta paused, leaning in closer.
Images:
Trinity College, Dublin
Chapters aren't numbered; 416 pages
Published: April 22, 2025 by Vampa Productions, LLC
2 POVs, 3rd-person narration
Short chapters; Pacing was mid
Some spice
Sooo, I have raised the rating by 0.5, due to the second half of the book!
Finally a book that kept me satisfied plot-wise!
This book is a must-read. Essential. Mandatory. You NEED this.
Sonder Murdoch is such a brilliant character, you'll only find out by pressing through. This is the first time in a very long while that I'm impressed.
Don't read it for the Gothic elements, read it for the academics.
This book somewhat begins in the first chapter as a Thriller, a man is murdered, and the protagonist attempts to cover it up. However, she is a student, and she does these "jobs" for a price.
The story takes place in 1993, Atta (Ariatne) is studying graduate Botany. She loves the feeling of attending a place where there are people like-minded to her, as in, they love to research and study.
There is an ongoing Plague, and it's taking a long time to find answers. Blooming flora in bodies found after autopsies. Is it curable? Does it have to do with the supernatural? How come only good people are being targeted? Somehow she needs answers.
(Near the end - last 5 chapters, I couldn't shake the foreboding feeling that something scary was about to happen).
My notes:
-> Kind of gory, dark, grim. (meh)
-> Crime and Fantasy in Academics. [okayyy (on the fence with crime); +]
-> Gothic, merely in deep, dank, dark atmosphere, (Some Gothic architecture elements mentioned). (meh)
-> I didn't like the name Atta at first, but later after learning her full name, I liked the full version.
-> I felt, however, that Atta was quite unremarkable as a character (although I see how she could not be any different).
-> I liked that the Academics in this book weren't simply fictional, and had real life value to them. This is what I read for. (+)
-> I found the wording to be very educational. (+)
-> I could sense certain things, before they were going to happen, eg. where the Fae came from, and that Atta will probably become inhabited. (Just saying this, to challenge the author's sense or surprise).
Quotes:
That was when Atta saw it.
The blossom sprouting from his lungs.
Not a phantom or a trick of the lamplight. Not even a seedling-looking thing one could pass off as an abnormal growth of some sort. No, it was a macabre bloom of foreign flora that had taken root in the man’s lung, and flowered.
Most people don’t realise how hard it is to close a dead person’s eyelids. It’s not like in films. They often spring back open.
Closing the eyelids of an Infected is even more disconcerting.
The body, prostrate before her, looked innocuous upon first inspection with its chalky pallor and vacant eyes. But she knew underneath the flesh, there would be more signs of decay from the Plague. She lifted her scalpel and set it just below the clavicle, slicing to the man’s sternum, a thin incision immediately tracing her movement. Atta paused, leaning in closer.
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Trinity College, Dublin
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