The mediocre rating is a reflection of the conflicting feelings making up my reading experience; sometimes the vibes were great and the concepts were very intriguing, while other times the story felt flat and unconvincing.

The main issue was the large degree of «telling» instead of «showing», but to be honest, sometimes there wasn’t even any telling… It could feel absurd to suddenly worry that you had missed out on several key paragraphs, since the characters would start acting as if some change had taken place off-page. Most of the character dynamics are examples of this. Romance storylines are being built upon chemistry that we’re told is there, but that we never see for ourselves. The matchups had potential and might’ve been great, but unfortunately they were handled very superficially.

However, there were several things I liked about the book. The general atmosphere, the contrast between cozy tea shops and illegal blood houses, the brutal plot twists, and the sprinkles of great quotes, just to mention some. The book had its 4 star moments, but I can’t ignore what I experienced as a lack of communication from the author to the reader.

Nevertheless, I had a very enjoyable buddy read experience and enjoyed discussing it along the way!