I really liked this! But I’m not sure the cover and marketing give exactly the right expectations. It looks a lot like a paranormal romcom, and the description calls it, “charming queer romantic fantasy.” In actuality, it had a lot of humor but also a lot of dark and brutal stuff (like horrific pain and eating people kind of dark), with only a hint of romance, but it was still overall hopeful. Again, not complaining about the book, just want people to know what they’re getting, and I think the author balanced the humor and darkness really well without compromising either!

I have a few more things to say that are going to sound like complaints, but they’re not, just be patient. Mateo was so judgy at the start of the book and felt like the things happening to Topher would never happen to anyone else because no one else would ever be that awkward and anxious. But I gotta be honest, I could totally imagine those things happening to me, so I felt for Topher 😅 And I don’t dislike Mateo, despite his judginess or how he started the book off basically just using Topher for his money. He had had a hard life and was in a bad situation and didn’t even understand his own feelings about things, and he grew over the course of the book, but still kept his humor and attitude. And I liked that Topher was a seemingly contradictory mix of personality traits, because that’s how people often are, we don’t fit into neat boxes that make sense to everyone else. Sometimes he was an anxious mess. Sometimes he was confident. That makes sense to me and made him feel much more real than if he’d just been one or the other. Ophelia was also a good character, intimidating but honestly sort of holding this whole investigation together.

The plot was good too. I didn’t figure the mystery out, but I enjoyed it. And all the magic and demon stuff was fun.

This was a complete story, but the way that it ended feels like it could be the start of a series. There’s still a lot that could be continued or explored more. Don’t quote me on that though, it’s just a hunch.

The audiobook narration by Giordan Diaz was good. To be honest, he is not my favorite narrator (though I like him enough to still listen to him) because he’s not the most natural-sounding, but his narration style worked well for this book and this character. And voices were different enough to tell characters apart.

Overall, this had some dark moments but was still funny and fun with magic and mystery and lovable characters!

*Rating: 4 Stars // Read Date: 2025 // Format: Audiobook*