I already said it often in reviews, but I happily repeat it: I love fairytale retellings. Whenever I spot one, especially if it's a dark one, I already get excited! And in this case the story sounded really original with a touch of fantasy. I was therefore quite curious to dive into it and I was very happy that BookSirens and the author offered me a chance to grab a review copy. And when I had some unexpected free time today I made sure to read this book in one sitting.

Although the book is quite action packed, the characters barely have any time to breath and they rush from one horrible situation into the other one, I never really connected with the story and characters like I had hoped. I think for me the story was a little too action packed, too focussed on showing us how horrible the demon realm is, how many sickening things are happening here and how hard it is to escape from this realm.

Because of the focus being on the action and exploring the realm there is little room to show us the emotions of the characters or their romance. Although we of course saw the characters panicking and noticed they were growing closer together, I didn't feel like I really got to know them in this story. I think life and death situations, especially ones as complicated and permanent as this one, makes it hard for characters to stand still and feel.

And since this story is relatively short I also see a lot of potential if the story had been longer, if there had been moments where the characters could realize what they were going through, if there were moments they could have some meaningful conversations, really connect. Now I enjoyed exploring the demon realm, but didn't really feel like I made new friends or fell in love. However, if you're not here to make friends or fall in love but enjoy loads of action and danger, this book is perfect for you.

This is Maria's first book in the PNR genre, but you couldn't tell from reading it. We have a Rapunzel retelling vibe going on with Fortuna who is a witch. It is up to her and her fellow witches to keep Earth and humans safe from demons. Well things go sideways one time and all she wants to do is get back home.

As the story goes, girl meets boy, boy saves girl, and so on. This story isn't super long, little under 100 pages, but it does some great world building for the upcoming series.

This wasn't my 1st book by Maria and it definitely won't be my last. If you enjoy a witches, demons, and some adventure, get reading!

YA fantasy with a dash of romance and make it novella length. While marketed as paranormal romance, it definitely reads as younger YA. The prose was great and the writing style was unique.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.