i can’t believe how this year is going. first Our Share of Night, and now this one? this story is lyrical like a fairytale but lacks substance. there is plenty of intrigue, but not enough depth in the characters or the story to keep me engaged and excited to read. the prose is heavy with metaphor, and some may call it purple, and while it worked at first and makes every description layered and beautiful, it also takes me out of the story. i’m not sure what is real and i know it is due to the prose and not what is meant to be questioned. i feel detached from the characters and wish that the House truly played more of a character role rather than being mentioned like it was one.there are so many hints to what Azure and Indigo are but i feel like i’m being toyed with because the plot is so slow moving and is obviously tended to read more atmospheric and “vibey” than anything else. i couldn’t root for the friendship being explored because it was so toxic and i know that’s the point and we are going to reveal what happened to Azure and what Indigo did but i quite honestly went into this story expecting a gothic and rich romance and this is FAR from that. the synopsis says “a darkly romantic page-turner” and… where? there is A LOT of fairy tale lore and theory in this book and some is explained and some are mentions to figures and relationships without context that only makes me more confused and out of the loop. i am genuinely so so upset about dnfing but i know if i continue i will only enjoy my time less. just sell it as an exploration of a toxic female friendship with magical realism and i probably would not have picked it up and (wasted my time).