Paranormal Rom-com/Dark Romance/Romantasy
Pub date: 10 May 2026 (out now)
My rating: 3.75/5 ⭐️
Summary:
Avery Alarch has always been the worst witch at Caerwyn University. Now she’s got twenty-four hours to conjure a familiar or get kicked out for good—a fate that means losing her magic forever and being stuck on a dreary island with nothing but regrets.
Desperate times call for desperate spells. So when Avery stumbles on a forbidden grimoire, she decides to risk it all. One little summoning later, she’s expecting a cute magical cat. Instead? She gets Felix, a six-foot-six cat shifter with a bad attitude and a knack for trouble. He’s her mortal enemy, magically bound to her by an illegal spell, and very much not purring.
He wants her dead. She wants him gone. Neither of them gets a choice.
The only way out? Solve a string of enchanted riddles before their magical link destroys them both. Of course, that’s easier said than done when Felix keeps tying Avery up in shadows, and their bickering is starting to feel a little less hostile and a lot more heated.
As they unravel puzzles and secrets, Avery and Felix find themselves at the heart of a conspiracy that could upend the supernatural world. And despite every rule and reason, sparks are flying in all the wrong (or right?) ways.
Trigger Warnings:
- Dub con/non-con
- Graphic sexual scenes
- Sexual assult (on page)
- Physical violence
- Anxiety / panic attacks
- Dismembered bodies
- Trauma
- Death of a parent (not on page)
- Graphic violence
- Slut shaming
- Excessive drinking
- Murder and attempted murder
Review:
“Disobey me one more time, Avery, and tell me to stop.”
Full disclosure: I am part of Ruby’s street team and have received the ARC prior to publishing.
I’m honestly surprised with how fast I’ve read this, considering the book’s substancial length (pun not intended). The characters were fairly well fleshed out (especially Avery), the chemistry and banter done well, the setting vivd and the plot itself flowed well. It was silly, unhinged and probably just the right amount of spicy for this particular genre.
As much as I ejoyed this wild ride (once again, pun not intended), and I acknowledge that this is very much a debut novel, I still have quite a few bones to pick.
First of all, I’m questioning why the author picked that particular location considering that she’s from Australia. The chokehold that GB and Celtic languages have on romantasy authors should be studied. I promise guys, you can make up your own places! and languages!
The on page SA scene was unnecessary on a number of levels, it really didn’t add much to the plot other than reastablish that that particular character was a POS, which was more than clear.
I’m still unsure how the magic system worked to be honest. If the witches have no magic without familars why do they wait until the very last year of university to summon them? What do they learn for the first three years? How do they summon them if they have no magic? Or was this purely an Avery issue? With how long this book was surely this could’ve been slightly more established.
The cat puns got a bit boring after a while (this is probably an editing/length issue, the book could really use with trimming down), the prolonged crudeness of the language grating at times (perhaps this is more of a me issue, I don’t usually pick up dark romance) and we really did not get that many riddles after all that talk about FMC’s love for them.
Will I still be reaching for book 2? Probably, I do want to see how the overarching mystery/plot will be resolved.
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