A review by smalltown_smutlover
Phantasma by Kaylie Smith

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
🌶️🌶️🌶️.5

“𝒞’𝓂𝑜𝓃, 𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓁, 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝓂𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓉𝑒𝑒𝓉𝒽.”

Ya know how we say “if not friend why friend shaped?” Well, for the first couple of chapters I asked myself “if invisible why hot?!” A true Hear Me Out situation. 

Like most of you, I’d seen this book all over the place and was super excited when the group chat chose it as our November Buddy Read. I absolutely loved Blackwell (even when he was invisible he was hot) and he can haunt me any time. The way Kaylie treats Ophelia’s OCD and intrusive thoughts was spot on from my personal experience. Ophelia’s struggles with her “Shadow Voice” and tics show a side of OCD that isn’t often talked about publicly, and it was very well done. I also listened to the audio and the narration was incredible. Laura Horowitz absolutely knocks it out of the park and I will definitely be looking for more of her audiobooks. 

The world building and trials were complex and interesting, the villain was truly disgusting and hate-able, and the chemistry between the MCs was 🔥 I was gasping, swooning, and laughing aloud the whole time. I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait for the next installment!

“𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝒾𝓂𝒶𝑔𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽 𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊.”