Lakesedge - Becca In A Book

Violeta Graceling has been fighting the shadows that have haunted her brother for as long as she can remember. But, when a handsome and sinister stranger demands for them to join him in his haunted family estate, the shadows become more familiar than she ever could have imagined.

My Thoughts

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! This gothic fantasy gave me spooky vibes that are perfect for fall and some handsome and dark figures I didn’t know that I needed.

I discovered this read through scrolling through NetGalley’s amazing collection of books and I am so happy I found it because it introduced to a world full of dark characters, an unique and captivating magical system, a romance made of my favorite trope (enemies to lovers if I haven’t harped about it enough), and a story unlike no other.

Not only was the story amazing, I was also OBSESSED WITH THE WRITING. This story was written so beautifully, it made my English major heart sing!! UGH THE METAPHORS AND THE SIMILES WERE SO HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL. It was just so good. Usually description can cause my mind to wander and crave for the author to just get on with it, but not this time. I was so in love with the way the author caught my attention and reeled me into this magical and haunting world. It was so good. I kept stopping while reading and would read lines over and over again. I was struck dumb on how magical the writing was!

The plot had a LOT of storylines that we had to get through, but the story made it through the woods and under the bridge and into grandmother’s house. The magical system had very witchy wiccan vibes that made my old school fangirl squeal and I was completely fascinated. I loved both elements of dark and light and the author and her descriptions really sailed this beast home to the promised land. The struggle between good and evil was very evident in the plot, but it was anything but ordinary and the elements of mystery of the characters and their pasts kept the reader guessing on who was bad and who was good.

The characters were all so intriguing and I loved them all, but there was so much mystery to their backgrounds that I wish that the author had focused on one and saved the rest for later in the series. It was just so much at once that everything kind of got muddled together. Maybe if the book had been a little longer or there were less characters, this could have been avoided. Their stories all were so HEARTBREAKING and they all needed individual attention. Also the romance came out of NOWHERE and this was another symptom of too many things going on. Also…. the romantic coupling was not really the one I wanted…. Please Lord of Death…. Take me on a yummy journey please….. (I’m obsessed with the tale of Hades and Peresphone and I have emotional problems….)

So the ending was kind of a smack in my face because it was a cliffhanger… and I didn’t know it was a series… so at first I was like… “THAT’S IT?!?!” but then I found out that it was a series so now I’m just ready for the installment already.