i should’ve avoided this book as soon as i saw it was described as a “booktok sensation”. alas, i didn’t, and that was my bad.

a few reasons why i hated this:

• writing was cringe
• romance was cringe
• the nonchalant attitude towards human torture and murder. you’re expecting me to sympathise and align myself with the “villain” just because he treats his love interest kindly, even though he murders and tortures people for fun? no, seriously, i don’t care if the people he murdered and tortured were bad. the fact that he derived joy and satisfaction from doing that is disturbing enough.
• the protagonist does not seem to care about the above-mentioned issue. which is another red flag to me.

also, the ending ends on a huge cliffhanger and there’s no proper conclusion to events. i know it’s a series, but it honestly feels like a “part one” rather than a whole book on its own. so unless you’re dedicated to reading the whole series, it’s better not to pick this book up.