Silvercloak

I could tell within the first few pages how much I would love this book! From the writing style and the unique magic system to the distinct feel for the characters I already had so early on, it captivated me from the very beginning and, fortunately, this was one of those times I remained HOOKED from start to finish. This story truly stands apart from so many Romantasies that can feel like the same thing over and over again. The beginning gave strong Harry Potter vibes, which was like falling into a cozy blanket of nostalgia. This is what you get if you made an adult version of Harry Potter and added police procedural, undercover detective, and mafia vibes. It’s high-stakes action, revenge, and betrayal, with a romance subplot.The pleasure and pain-based magic system was a unique take and really added to the impeccable world-building. It was very well thought out and executed. Every character is some shade of morally gray, with compelling backstories as to why. I am so interested to see how the character arcs for both the FMC and MMC develop in future books after everything that happens at the end of this one. After all, “This is how villains are born.”I had the best time reading this book and cannot wait for Book 2 to hit the shelves!

This book took me two weeks to finish and it's only a 450 page book. It was quite dense at times and whenever something felt like it was about to be explained it just wasn't and something new was introduced.I don't think I would classify this book as Romantasy, as the Fantasy elements were the forefront of the story and the romance seemed to take a backburner until the last 100 pages. So much so that everything that happened in the last 100-150 pages felt like it came completely out of left field and just had me scratching my head.The main elements of the book were quite predictable and honestly the characters were caricatures of their stereotypes. I was so excited for a fantasy mob story with no regrets and instead we got the mob leader who did nothing but make cruel comments and who didn't actually want to be where he was and the son who was so hard done by his whole life (sigh).Our FMC told us all the time how much she cared about the people in her life but she never really showed it. Even the cliffhanger felt convenient and predictable. So all in all I would give this 3.5 stars and I am not holding my breath for book 2.