I think this book was just a, "it's not you ,it me" case. I am pretty sure a lot of people will like this book but sadly it did not work for me.

Firstly, it's marketed wrong, there's nothing in the story that is even remotely similar to Crescent city. I can see some similarity to Uprooted but even that is far fetched. If anything the world and the culture in this book reminded me lot of Malice by John Gwynne. And I think that was the only part of the story that I enjoyed. I liked the magical island setting and the different spirits and the lore & myths attached to them - it was fun.

This is my first book by the author and I found her writing to be quite good and easy to follow. However, I'd like to mention that even though its marketed as an adult book, it feels YA, if a bit older. This felt like one of those books where a lot is happening but you also feel like nothing has happened at all. Again, it maybe just me but that's how I felt while reading it.

That aside, the biggest weakness I found were that characters, I just couldn't connect with any of them, I absolutely did not care about them and found them to be very bland. There are two main couples in the book and I absolutely didn't care about either of their relationship.

Jack and Adaira's ( one of the main couple) relationship escalated at such a speed that it didn't feel believable. The blurb hinted at an enemies to lovers kinda situation but they seemed pretty cordial to me from the start, if a bit wary of each other. As a result the ending of the book fell flat for me. The other couple, Torin and Sidra were dumbasses whose whole arc was to agonise over each other and never properly communicate. Miscommunication trope isn't my thing and in this case it was also very boring. In the hindsight, I suppose the mystery behind the missing girls was done well but it was too little too late.

ARC provided by publishers via Netgalley!