So...let's talk
I need to make a couple things explicitly clear before I get into this review. I like Kady Ash. They wrote one of my favorite books this year, His Little Toy. I love dark books. I love when they balance the darkness with the humor and I love when they go "so dark and messed up you seriously question why you're into it". Dark PNR is probably in my top three favorite subgenres of romance, I am the audience. But I didn't love this and my reasons for not loving it are almost entirely my fault.
Mild spoilers ahead but really you can guess how this book is going to go from like chapter three.
Based on the blurb and the cover and the little bit I know about Kady Ash, I thought this was going to go dark dark. Maybe there be a slight occult mystery but for the most part a pretty straightforward dark PNR. And for a short time that's definitely the direction the book goes. But once October reaches the island, it kind of falls off. The mystery is still there but it's not at the forefront. We end up spending a lot of time getting to know the town and its people and for a good 60 pages the most interesting thing happening is the smut. And when a book is only 120 pages, that's not good.
Once we get into Halloween, the book picks back up again. And y'all, when I tell you I was so excited and so hyped when Nox (good lord these names) showed up. I said "yes, this is what I want, let's go". And then it doesn't go in the direction I desperately want it to. I'm not going to spoil the ending but I will say that if you are expecting a typical dark romance ending, don't. The ending is very romancelandia. By that I mean it's more of a traditional HEA. Not a HEA for the characters even if it is still kind of messed up. That might not make a whole lot of sense but if you read a lot of dark romance you'll know what I'm talking about. Basically I thought this was going to be a really effed up ending with Nox and October living their best slightly kinky lives. They do just not in the way I wanted.
This book is far from bad and if you're looking for a spooky read, this is definitely it. It fits the definition of a dark romance but it doesn't tick all the boxes for a dark romance lover such as myself. Three stars because I'm not mad I read this, it'll fill a box on my bingo card spooky bingo card, but I wanted more. That's all.