I'll be honest, it wasn't my cup of tea. I will say, though, that the writing and editing is excellent. The story flowed well.

my spooky dark academia heart is SO happy right now!! I love a good suspense with my dark romance, and the forbidden aspects of this one were just too good 🖤

salem (are we kidding with the name I’m obsessed) gets accepted into mortimer, a prestigious school for legacies & rich people only, but she’s really just in it for the murders 🙂‍↕️ she’s determined to solve the case of eleven mysterious deaths at the university (including her sister) & I love a take no shit ice queen!!

caz was THE morally grey character for me, even if he was a bit extreme at times (but it’s okay because consent is sexy too y’all!) 🩶 and his possessive attitude and love towards salem was HOT - we stan a MMC that supports his girl and her dreams okay

the university itself felt like its own character, which I adored, and the supporting cast was just as well fleshed out! I would read countless books in this universe - give me baron’s story NOW!

what kept me from a full five stars was the anticlimactic and quickly wrapped up ending… for all of the build up surrounding the mystery, I wanted a bit more pizazz and higher stakes 😶

thank you to bramble for the gifted advanced copy!! this one was perfect to kick off spooky season!

rating: 4.5 stars
wine pairing: left bank bordeaux blend

Absolutely amazing! A dark, gothic romance that leans into the idea of perturbed love. This book is perfect for fans of true crime blended with everything we loved about Gothikana. Runyx proves yet again that she’s the queen of gothic dark academia romance!

So gothic romance is firmly within RuNyx’s wheelhouse as evidenced by these back-to-back successes. First Gothikana hooked me, and then Enigma baited me, so what is RuNyx gonna serve us with next? I don’t know but I do know I’ll be seated for it. Go read this book if you like your romances with a side of edge, grittiness, and yearning.
Perfect for fans of Navessa Allen’s Lights Out and Brynne Weaver’s Butcher and Blackbird

Some books settle into your soul and make a home there. This book did just that.

Set against the backdrop of Mortimer University, a prestigious and secretive institution where death and mystery linger like mist from its ancient halls to its shadowed shores, this story weaves together grief, obsession, brilliance, and the beauty of connection. From the very first page, I was pulled into its haunting atmosphere and lyrical prose.

We follow Salem Salazar, a brilliant and peculiar forensics student who’s drawn to death not by fear, but fascination. She’s at Mortimer for more than just academics. She’s there to uncover the truth about a string of inexplicable deaths, including that of her sister. As she navigates the elite circles of this enigmatic university, her path collides with Cazimir Van Der Waal, an art student cloaked in mystery and magnetism. Her search for answers leads her down a dangerous path and soon enough she is caught in a web of secrets where things and people are not as they seem. As Salem tries to go under radar and Caz tries to block her path, somehow, they both end up in the crossfire of a powerful, secret society.

Salem is smart, curious, and very layered. We see her slowly shed the quiet, self-doubting version of herself- the one who questioned her worth- and step into her truth, learning to accept and express the parts of her that once made her feel like an outsider.

And then there’s Caz. He is the enigma. A man of contradictions. Chaotic and logical, tender and terrifying. Brooding, intense, unapologetically wild. He creates with pain and burns with purpose. While his arc is quiet, his presence is anything but. It allows Salem’s transformation to shine. A girl who’s always lived in the shadows begins to take up space, to feel, to be seen. Their bond is one of the most quietly powerful I’ve ever read. He doesn’t tame her darkness. He holds it with reverence.

Together, they are not just two characters falling in love. They are light and dark meeting at the seams. Two souls whose lives have been quietly moving toward one another until they finally collide. There’s beauty in their contrast, in how their love doesn’t soften them but instead deepens who they already are. Ru writes about a love that can be silent and wordless, and still be louder than anything else. That it can be known without speaking, understood in a glance, and felt in your very bones.

This book is filled with the things I love most- dark academia, slow unraveling gothic romance, and murder mystery. Ru’s symbolism shines through in the quietest, most brilliant ways. Salem’s last name, Salazar means peace. His, Cazimir means destroyer of peace. Her hair, serpentine like myth. His art, wild like madness. These contrasts aren’t loud or obvious. They’re subtle, the kind of details you notice only when you’re really paying attention. But once you do, they add so much depth to the story.

There is something reverent in how Ru writes these broken characters. She doesn’t seek to fix them. Instead, she lets them find meaning in their ruin, love in their edges. It’s a story of mourning, yes, but also of remembrance, resilience, and rediscovering life after loss. The entire narrative plays with duality: death and life, grief and healing, ruin and redemption. Enigma is for the ones who feel a little too much. For those who carry quiet grief and unspoken dreams. For those who’ve ever longed to be understood without asking.

If there’s one thing Runyx is good at is writing Dark Academia with a murder mystery plot.

Salem joined Mortimer university for one reason and one reason only: to uncover the mystery behind her sister’s “suicide”.
There she meets the broody and aloof Cazimir. An intriguing and intimidating character that hates and loves in equal measure that he is attracted to Salem.

Fighting the pull against the tide, Cazimir tries and fail to not be wrapped completely around Salem.

If you are a fan of The Adams Family, this book will be right up your alley.
This book has that ominous atmosphere that hints at something wrong happening behind the curtains.
Salem is a tenacious character. She is determined and nothing will stray her from her path not even if the danger turns her way and she becomes the new target.

I loved this book.
Hello? It’s dark academia. It was made for me. Runyx did a wonderful job weaving a plot, although overused, that managed to surprise and catch me off guard.

I highly recommend it to fans of dark academia.

This is a slow burn dark romance I liked a lot! It sucked me in and kept me engaged the entire time. Also, I liked the writing style, where in Gothikana's writing style was not for me at all! The plot was good, but the ending was kinda rushed and underwhelming. If this sounds good to you, please look up triggers before picking it up. It's a dark romance and discusses heavy and dark topics.

As for the audiobook, it was excellent. Highly recommend it.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of the ebook and audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This story just felt empty. Pacing felt a bit all over the place and I didn't feel connected to any of the characters. It felt like someone threw a bunch of ideas into a machine that then spat out what it thought a "dark academia romance reader" would want to read. Generic and flat, unfortunately.

Was the writing good? No. Did I have a good time reading it though? Also no. This book was far too long and literally nothing happened. The suspense mystery plot fell completely to the wayside and was solved in like 2 chapters. No explanations, no closure. The chapters that actually addressed the big bad secret at the end were so short and it was like oh hey hi what you guys doing and bam the bad guy is dead. We spent most of the book letting Caz and Salem dance around each other in a really weird way that wasn't written well. The epilogues felt rather lazy while not actually adding anything to the story other than oh hey look they're still together 10 years later. Also the amount of times Aditi said the phrase "hunky chonk" made me absolutely lose it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bramble for the ARC!

5/5✨ 3/5🔥 5/5🎧

“𝐁𝐞𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐩,” 𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬. “𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧.”

Yall! I absolutely DEVOURED this book. I’m so utterly obsessed with Caz and Salem and this world.. I want to dive back in and never leave!🖤

Salem has always been drawn to the darker macabre things in life and is going to university to become a forensic scientist. While she’s there she is also investigating her sister’s death from two years ago. And while digging into that, she uncovers several other deaths on campus that seem to all be linked together.

Caz is the campus hottie who showed up out of the blue. He’s also an artist and has taken the arts program by storm with his interesting and dark paintings.

I absolutely LOVED their chemistry and the push and pull. Their relationship was absolutely everything and more. I don’t want to say too much about the book so it doesn’t get ruined and I def think going in blind is the way to go for this one. But just know you’re in for something truly amazing!

If you’re a fan of:
🖤 Dark Academia
☠️ Secret Societies
🎨 He Wants To Paint Her
🪶 University Setting
🕯️ Enemies To Lovers
🖤 Atmospherical Reads
☠️ Murder Mystery Vibes
🎨 Both Jealous & Possessive
🪶 “Mine”
🕯️ Spicy & Swoony
🖤 FMC Obsessed W/ Death
☠️ Touch Her & Dies Vibes
🎨 Slow Burn

then I highly recommend checking this one out!🖤

“𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥. 𝐒𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩, 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥.”

While I did not hate this book and mostly enjoyed it while I was reading it, I didn't love it as much as I hoped I would. I wanted to connect and care about the characters more than I did and the mystery felt a bit predictable and anticlimactic. The writing was good and very atmospheric so I will probably read another book by this author, this one just wasn't for me.

Great writing style but I couldn't get into the grove of this one. Though i heard it gets really great and is more into the plot than the romance.

Runyx just knows how to write a captivating dark academia!! I love Gothikhana and this was no different! The romance, the twists and turns all had me turning to the next page!!

OH MY GOSH, this book had me in a total CHOKEHOLD. I loved Salem & Caz so dang much! This was the perfect blend of dark academia, gothic romance, and suspense and I couldn’t put it down

The vibes and aesthetic of this book were excellent. I love a good dark academia setting and when combined with a secret society and romance, this should have been a slam dunk five star book for me. Unfortunately, I struggled with the pacing of this book - there was so much that was crammed into just a few pages, a lot more info dumps than I would have preferred, and the ending was a underwhelming. The romance also fell flat for me. It started off with promise; there was banter but Salem and Coz never developed the chemistry that made me believe in or root for them.

I’m sure I won’t be the first to say that the writing in these books is perhaps not the best, though I wonder if some of that may be a translation issue.

I’ll give RuNyx credit for this: She’s good at building a setting, and somehow these always feel likable despite being loaded down with cringey, open-door romance and sex scenes.

That’s not to my taste and I understand from others who do enjoy this that it is not particularly well done here, but for the most part this stuff is also easy to ignore in favor the more plotty and atmospheric aspects of the book.

RuNyx is a better character writer than she gets credit for, at least in the sense of creating interesting and sympathetic protagonists, even if the male love interest is always a tropey, eye-roll of a person.

I didn’t mind the mystery here and while I thought the setting and sense of place were far better rendered in Gothikana, there’s some solidly done atmosphere here. In short, these are fun as long as you go in not expecting too much.

This was the perfect gloomy day read. I loved the storyline and the tension !! The pining!! Everything !

Not as good as book one but yes please! I love this author, Gothikana is my favorite but still this series is my next!

This book was an enigma and I'm still sorting out my feelings about it. Overall though I enjoyed the ride?

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

Good, spicy dark academia. I enjoyed this book, and originally thought it was a sequel, but it is a standalone.