hailey🥀🦢✮˖°.'s Reviews > Grave Matter

10/10. no notes. well actually quite a few notes because i loved this and it’s now one of my favorite reads of the year. it had a bit of everything going on: (dark) gothic romance, horror, sci-fi, dark academia, psychological thriller. all the different genres blended together so well.

it must be the season for creepy mushroom stories because this is my third one in the past couple months. i think it’s my new favorite niche subgenre. i need more even though they all freak me out and i do have a new fear of fungi. this genuinely freaked me out multiple times and gave me the chills. i kept trying to figure out what was going on the entire time but never knew what was going to happen next. i never saw that plot twist coming.

it also gave me the same feelings as nocticadia (another fav from this year) and i need more spooky dark academia with romance. the professor/student trope is just too good and it’s at its peak when it’s dark academia. wes kincaid, the man you are. idk what it is but i was obsessed with him from the jump.(i do know what it is, actually. the MOUTH on that man is truly something else.) the romance in this wasn’t the main focus, but it was scrumptious. devoured and left no crumbs.

the mental health representation was so! good! you can tell the author did their research because it felt so authentic and it was done tastefully.

i am SO glad i decided to read this. it was an impulse read (my tbr is so long) and it’s the perfect time of year for it. will definitely be reading more from this author in the future