I don't think that this one was for me. The pacing was way to slow and I was bored reading it. I loved the premise which is a shame.

I really enjoyed Blackwicket! The atmosphere really drew me in and I enjoyed the writing. The characters had depth and the story kept me intrigued. A couple spots felt like they could’ve gone further, but overall it was a really solid. I’d recommend it!

If you're looking for a dark and twisty gothic fantasy romance, then stop right here and devour. ✋️

The story follows Eleanora who can eat curses, and has been in hiding, trying to escape who she is. She returns to her haunted family home and gets caught between a magic black market and an overbearing enemies-to-lovers inspector. 🔥💀

This book is perfect for anyone who loves a good mystery with an eerie vibe. It's full of great atmosphere, morally gray characters, and a VERY slow-burn romance that will keep you hooked. There are parts of this book where I was literally squirming in my seat! It's a must-read if you enjoy stories with a bit of horror and a lot of tension.

I will say that, at times, it was challenging to follow the premise of the story... but I find that I have difficulty with that *myself* when it comes to fantasy realms. It just makes me want to reread the book and figure it out though. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!!

**3.75⭐️**

Blackwicket had so many interesting elements and good tropes, but I did find it to be slow-paced, and the magic a little bit difficult to understand. It could also just be that its the first book in the series.

Ill definitely give the book the mystery factor- it leaves you in suspense of what's going on for sure until the end, and it surprised me. It wasn't a cliffhanger, though, and ended on a pretty solid/balanced note which is much appreciated on my end!

I think that the added layer of the universe having different pockets that people exist in is really cool, and I look forward to getting more details in the next installment. It was also a super cool twist that Victor was also essentially a little bit of Thomas too based on how the magic works- but I think it would have been better to explain more about curses and the fiend in book 1 because we will have to understand a whole other level of the world building in book 2 if this is going to follow Eleanora and Victor into the portal.

I like the idea behind this series and will continue on with it as the next books become available, but truly hope to find a bit more "action" and a history lesson in the next book.

The story is a dark romantic fantasy, filled with family secrets, magic and a thin veil between good and evil.
Eleanora/Ellie, FMC, is in her late 20s woman who is a curse eater in her world and she despises her family legacy and only wants to live as normal as possible. Victor Harlow, MMC, is a no nonsense Authority Agent who has very strong convictions and even darker secrets.
Ellie left Blackwicket house a decade ago with the intent of never returning, except she used her magic in public to help someone and brought the attention to herself by The Authority. Agent Harlow is assigned to her and he follows her back to her childhood home when tragedy befalls Ellie. Eating curses is a powerful, dark magic and in a world while magic is naturally fading away those that want to rule want the power all to themselves. ellie and victor's chance encounters in town carry an unspoken attraction and the culmination of touches, stares and harsh words, ignite for these lovers.
The author does a superb job with word buddling, creating the city of nightglass and all its inhabitants. As a reader, I had trouble with how the author dove right into the story without a backstory or explaining the magical world we were immersed in. Terms like drudge, fiend and dark hall were used constantly, and it was hard to follow the plot. the story ended without a resolution. This is why I rounded down to the three stars. The story ended without a resolution.

3.5
Dark Gothic Horror
Twists Galore
Light romance elements
Supernatural
Historical setting
Prohibited magic

I LOVED a lot about this but also struggled with a smidge. The world building was easy to read and understand but a lot of things that I kept expecting to get more information on and never did. Curse Eater is a main plot point and was talked about so often but there was never details provided to be like "oh that's how it works".

I loved the dark Gothic mansion and how perfect this is for spooky season. Eleanora was my favorite part of the story and seeing her unravel the family secrets. Speaking of secrets ... goodness there are so many! Absolutely everything you thought was true at one point... was not true a few pages later.

Thank you Bea Notrhwick for this arc! I can't wait to see where we go next.

A perfect spooky season gothic read that is on the slower side but rich with atmosphere. I loved the idea of this book, I even enjoyed reading it. However, I found that the magic system, while unique, was very hard to fully understand. It felt like I missed a part of the book, or a prequel novella. It felt like I came into a story that I should already know somethings about - the magic system being that. Although I figured enough out during the read I felt like the lack of world-building and magical system explanation lessened the joy and ease of reading this book.

I still think this is perfect for the autumn season, so grab a cup of tea and curl up for a gothic read that is mysterious, dangerous and filled with enough shadows to make you wonder what is going to happen.

4⭐️ 2🌶️
Wow! What whirlwind?!? Blackwicket is a slow burn. Not gonna lie I was disenchanted until I reached about 65-70%, when finally everything made sense. The writing is amazing but sometimes a little wordy-that’s a book for you. The twists never stopped even til the end. Victor and Ellie’s romantic connection is unique to say the least. I did enjoy the angst and build up once the action ramped up and a relationship started to form. I look forward to reading about them more in the future, hopefully. Thank you for allowing me to read and review prior to release.

So I will admit it took me a little bit to get into this book. I was slightly confused at the start as to what was going on and I definitely didn’t connect with the MMC or fmc straight away but once I did I really enjoyed this. I wish the initial pacing had maybe been a little bit faster but I really enjoyed the twists and turns and found it actually really had to predict what was going to happen which is a first for me.

Thank you so much to Bea Northwick and NetGalley for an early copy of this book! I’m a bit late posting but I’m blaming a reading slump for that!

I absolutely adore Bea Northwick’s writing style!!! After falling in love with The Cruel Dark, I just knew I had to pick up Blackwicket and honestly… I wasn’t disappointed one bit!!

I loved our fmc Eleanore! She was such a perfect mix of snarky, relatable, and kindhearted, I couldn’t help but root for her the whole way through!!

The atmosphere was EVERYTHING. I’m such a sucker for dark, gothic, gloomy settings, and this one had me hooked, especially with the 1920s backdrop! It made everything feel extra moody and cinematic!!! Blackwicket House itself was so vividly described, and paired with the foggy coastal town vibes made it even better!

The magic system was also so unique, truly nothing like I’ve ever read before, and I loved discovering all the little details as the story unfolded. The relationships in this were so complex, toxic and layered, but carrying that bittersweet reminder that, at the end of the day, love for family always wins through.

Romance-wise, it was good!! But personally, I’m a sucker for a really sloooow burn with maximum yearning, so I would have happily taken even more of that tension!!

Overall, this was such a gorgeous read and I am just so excited to see what Bea Northwick brings us next!!! Bea is quickly becoming a favourite author of mine and I am already counting down to her next book!!!

Eleonora Blackwicket is forced to face the ghosts of her past and move back to her family estate, which is filled to the brim with magic and curses, when her sister suddenly passes away. Navigating a world where she is ostracized for her family’s shady reputation, she uncovers secrets about her past while becoming the target of many dangerous enemies, including the mysterious and ruthless Inspector Harrow.

Eerie, moody, and haunting, this book is a dark romantasy set in a magical world with 1940-50s vibes.

What I appreciated most is that the author did not follow the typical romantasy formula and kept the tone and mood of this story serious and unsettling.

The worldbuilding was quite immersive, and I really loved the writing. The way the author described the uncomfortable feelings and the inner turmoil of the main character was brilliant and I felt everything as though I was experiencing it myself. There was some deep family trauma, and a few scenes were so intense that I had to sit and stare at a wall for a while.

The story leans more heavily on plot than romance, which is usually okay with me, though I did feel that the chemistry between main characters was lacking and I feel the same for the magic system. Still, the plot was strong, and overall I found the book to be an enjoyable read.

I wanted to love Blackwicket. The gothic setting, the seaside cliffs, the cursed magic. It had such a perfect aesthetic to be a good haunting autumn read. The prose is amazing, and there are many moments that are incredibly atmospheric. The magic elements and the enemies-to-lovers aspect had me sooo gripped.

But.

A few things prevented this from being a 4 or 5-star experience for me. The magic system, while imaginative, was often confusing. Sometimes I wanted a map of how all the pieces fit together, rather than piecing them together as I went. There were stretches where I felt lost, wondering how things worked rather than why they mattered.

Also, the pacing was uneven. The beginning is slow and atmospheric in a good way, but then the middle is a little shaky: descriptive scenes that sometimes lingered too long, romance that shifts rapidly once it's underway, and some plot threads that either didn’t land for me or felt under-explained. Still, the ending mostly redeemed this.

Blackwicket is not perfect, but it is enthralling. If you love Gothic romantasy, morally grey characters, creepy houses, and a romance that burns once it gets going, this one’s absolutely worth stepping into, just be ready to wander through shadows and questions along the way.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Bea Northwick, you've done it again. She became on of my favorite authors after reading The Cruel Dark (and it's companion novella, Lover.) And this just further proves that this woman was born to write. I ate this up from start to finish. The gothic setting, the slow burn yearning that builds over time, the dreary and yet still hopeful atmosphere? Perfection. This was such a unique story and I've never read anything quite like it before. Please tell me there will be a sequel?! Easy 5 stars. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Home is where the curses are.

It's been awhile since I read a book with a mystery that I wasn't able to solve, but this one had such a WILD ending. Bea Northwick, I love your brain. How do you come up with all this?? It was unpredictable, eerie, and emotional. It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

While I loved the roaring 20s vibes, the magic, and the scrumptious enemies to lovers romance, I struggled to understand the world-building and magic system. There were things that were definitely not described in enough detail. Some of my questions were answered at the end, but I'm hoping the next book in the Dark Hall series will explore the world more.

Fans of One Dark Window and The Cruel Dark will love the dark atmosphere of this novel. Add this to your list of autumn spooky reads.

mini blurb:
Eleanora Blackwicket is a Curse-Eater who returns home to bury her sister. On the run the authority, she quickly realizes things are not right in Nightglass. Curses are running wild, an illegal magic organization is trying to recruit her, and her deep secrets are threatened to be unraveled.

I'm really struggling to rate this one because while I loved a lot of the pieces here, it just didn't come together for me in the end. The dark, noir aesthetic was absolutely for me, Bea's writing continues to be beautiful and vivid. Elenora and Victor had great tension and I was soaking up every interaction they had.

Unfortunately the magic and world building were where things fell flat for me. There are a lot of slow building reveals here which I think led to curtail information about how things like curses, Drudge, and Dark Hall work not being revealed until too late in the story.

I will continue to pick up Bea's work though because she writes the exact kind of stories I want to read. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Drawing on a gothic and noir atmosphere, Bea Northwick's Blackwicket immerses it's readers in a dark, gritty world that's steeped in illegal magic and family secrets. The story crafts a tense and mysterious setting that feels both alluring and deeply unsettling!

Set to be published September 2025, ‘Blackwicket’ is perfect for fans of gothic, dark magical and atmospheric horror. I was a fan of the world building, character development and the vintage setting, a time period I’ve not seen too often in books. The descriptions of the creatures, the *feeling* of magic and the relationship between Eleanora and the Inspector were a pleasure to read. The writing style is mostly easy to understand and detailed. I enjoyed reading it, however, I did struggle a little with the magic system, as well as some of the writing being a bit too complex and thus unclear. It would be good to have clearer explanations of the magical system in the series, as I felt a little lost with it all.

But overall, it was a dark, gothic and enchanting read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for allowing me to read ‘Blackwicket’ as an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The story itself was something that interested me and the FMC had depth I enjoyed following her journey. The Magic systems idea as a whole was good however the background and explantion of it could have been expanded on more in the beginning in particular.
The pacing was good and everyone loves a dark haunted house vibe so that definitely was a plus for this story.

Wowwwwwww this was the perfect gothic fantasy, and a monster romance? I wasn't expecting that! It was both of my favs wrapped up into one, and it is going on my "TO BE READ AGAIN" shelf. The atmosphere was amazing, I was totally entranced by the eeriness, the mystery, THE SPICE. Everything about this book was amazing. Definitely a 5 star read.

“I’d never seen him like this in the light of day, and I didn’t appreciate it. He looked too much like a predator softening its snarl so prey would amble closer, and worse, it was effective.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
🌶️🌶️

Thank you NetGalley for providing me this ARC

The recurrent thought I had while reading Blackwicket was how beautiful Bea Northwick’s prose was. It felt like you were sitting down, taking slow slips of strong spirits on a cold day. The atmosphere was well described and easily visualized.Though the “undulating rice sized maggots” descriptor was not a pleasant image while eating my bagel with cream cheese, it is descriptors like this that infuses Blackwicket with such vivid imagery. Also I love a sentient house. There’s just something about a home meeting one’s needs in a magical way that gives me that warm feeling when reading.

The struggle for me with this story was that it felt really hard to connect with. Some other reviews mentioned confusion around the magic system and while I did not fully struggle with understanding the magic system itself, there are magical aspects that weren’t clearly outlined such as the portals and history. I found myself confused as to the groups within this world and the roles they played such as the Brom . I also couldn’t understand the history around curse eaters that made them so vilified within this society when they provided such a helpful service. Perhaps in book 2 will provide some clarity for Blackwicket’s world.

And as much as I appreciate the lyrical writing, I felt the book pacing was overall slow and it took me longer than usual to finish a book just because I couldn’t get fully into it. Having said that, the ending of the book was fast paced and the book felt more pulled together. It did leave me interested in this world and what happens to Eleanora and Victor. I loved the twist with these two and will continue the series to find out more.