I had to come to the part where Malachi introduced himself as 'Kai' to realize that his name was pronounced as in malachite and not with a 'ch' sound. This makes me feel a little stupid, but I'm a non-native speaker so it's fine I think. If you're not comfortable with any of the content warnings, I sincerely suggest you turn away from the book, though. Especially since Booktok doesn't mention anywhere that the main characters are step-siblings and very heavy on the brother-sister kink.

I've heard about this book on Booktok and really liked the part from the audiobook, but I only got around to reading it now. All I can say is I'm not disappointed, though Malachi might be more of a pitch-black character than I'm used to. I wasn't expecting the Vizes to

fuck over their bleeding father's body

, so that took me a little by surprise. Having read Haunting Adeline, I was half expecting what would happen with the screwdriver, though.

I speedran through the book, but Malachi might have become one of my new favorite MMCs. I genuinely felt bad for him when Olivia left him, and when I got to the epilogue, I was sad that they didn't get an HEA. Thankfully, Olivia changed her mind at the last moment. I was just surprised her parents took it so nicely after everything and even agreed to deal with the fallout. The ending felt a little rushed, especially the epilogue, but I liked it nonetheless.

EDIT: I've just seen there's a part two. Judging by the description, I hope it won't be too much of a copy of Hunting Adeline.