4.5⭐️ rounded up. I must say I’m on a roll with these fall reads so far! Yes, this does give Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited away but if it was an 80’s dark fantasy a la Dark Crystal or Willow.
Atmosphere is killer. The manor and the woods are living with minds of their own. It also has some amazing food talk. It was overall very immersive.

The plot, the romance, the ending were some of the best I’ve read in a YA fantasy in some time. I can’t believe this is a debut. It was so thought out and well written.

I am a hard one to please when it comes to romance. I don’t like the longing and cheesy stuff. This relationship just felt natural and didn’t have any annoying internal monologues about how much they liked each other.

The end got me. I was def teary eyed there! I did not expect to get emotional from a Ya fantasy but here we are.