By Kate Fox
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
I’ve been reading a lot of silly romance stories about the after life, demons and other not-quite-evil creatures from the pits of hell lately. Picking up a book with the tagline “A Love Story” I expected some meet-cute story about a succubus and the shy repressed boy she meets in a library or coffee shop. She learns about monogamous love, he learns some wild sex moves, they live happily ever after.
The book opens with a narrator that has a very “romance” based voice. She narrates the story very similar to any number of female protagonists in a romance novel, who is slightly older (late 20s, early 30s), kind of in a quarter-life crisis. Middling career, tough but loving childhood where dad ran out, mom is lovable but kooky, sister is her BFF but prettier and more successful than our protag, Tempest. We learn that Tempest’s love life has been disastrous. And when I say ‘disastrous’ I mean, that every boy that she has so much has kissed has died. And while it took a few terrible experiences during her teens and early twenties to confirm this, it happens every single time, so the only way to keep it from happening is to remain celibate. It kind of sucks, but this is a romance, it reads like a romance, so you think that she will find the right guy that will be able to withstand her curse and they’ll live happily ever after, right? The cure to her curse will be the magic of True Lovetm
Bonus points if we find out that the earlier love interests didn’t actually die, or something.
And the book seems to be going in that direction when she and a handsome doctor lock eyes across a room and she feels something otherworldly connect the two of them. And then, because everyone in a smaller town crosses paths at some point, she starts to see him on a regular basis and she is so attracted to him, but she can’t be with him because, well, she doesn’t want him to die. Even though he is rumoured to have some sort of magical healing properties.
Everything up to this point is so very expected. Well, except the part that Tempest did have a relationship with handsome doctor’s brother… who she thought was going to survive, but he eventually died. That’s a bit dark, but maybe she didn’t actually kill him and he died from other causes. Maybe.
And then… the novel takes a turn into really dark territory. A major character is murdered. Tempest spirals and leans into her demonic side. Our handsome Doctor who seems perfect is … not. A lot of sex is involved and more death, more demons and we are more into horror than a cute rom com about succubi.
Exposing more of the story is all spoilers and while there is technically a HEA in the end (this is a romance at its core, after all), the road to get there is littered with a lot of dead bodies, and not in the fun way. Is Horror-romance a thing? Maybe it would be a dark fantasy rom com? Whatever it is, it is different than the usual romance and on that alone I would recommend this. The story took unexpected and surprising turns and got bonus marks for that. The supporting character cast is strong and the writing is consistent and well done.
I ended up giving it 4.5/ 5 on storygraph and 4 stars on NetGalley and any platform that only takes full stars.
