Rating: ★★
Audience: YA Paranormal Thriller
Length: 422 pages
Author: Kathryn Foxfield
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: July 7th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The daughter of a sinister magical family who made a deal with the devil must stop the man killing them off, one by one, in this deliciously dark fantasy thriller that’s House of Hollow meets Succession, laced with a kiss-or-kill romance.

Cicely is the black sheep daughter of the powerful Winter family, who made a deal with the devil in exchange for riches and ruthless magic. Soren is the boy her family banished to the underworld. Their fates intertwine when Cicely’s loathsome Uncle Dorian winds up dead at a masquerade ball.

Once overlooked for her lowly gift of discovering secrets, Cicely is now her family’s only chance at survival, tasked with finding the killer before he takes out every last Winter. With time running out, Cicely narrows her sights on Soren, who she suspects is back for vengeance.

Yet the more Cicely investigates Soren–and gets to know him–the more she begins to question how much family loyalty is worth. After all, when it comes to being a Winter, one can have love or power, but rarely both…

Thank you PRH Audio for the gifted audiobook and Get Underlined for the copy.

I DID NOT LIKE THIS.

Unfortunately this book just was not for me and I clocked that early on (but since it was an ARC I feel like I need to read the whole thing and tried to find something to like, but alas).

This was a bunch of way too wealthy people with too much time on their hands and with no redeeming qualities. This kind of character line up gets very old very fast to me. It’s easy to plot from a mile away and I become uninterested in every person as the book goes on.

There is an attempt at romance but don’t hang on to it. It wasn’t well crafted and should have probably been left out or handled with a better arc.

I couldn’t explain any of the world or magic to you because none of it makes sense. Things kept popping up to try and satisfy the plot with no such luck. I’ve tried twice to explain this book to friends and it is a feat each time.

I’m going to tell you to skip this one.

Oops, thought of a positive. The audiobook is good! If you feel so inclined I did like the narrator.

Overall audience notes:

• YA Paranormal Thriller
• Language: mild
• Romance: kisses
• Violence: high
• Content warnings: murder, attempted murder

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