4.5 stars! I really enjoyed this dark fantasy! Gilig's writing is sharp yet beautiful, just like her female protagonist Elspeth. The magic system is really unique and I loved the medieval setting if kings, knights and damsels. And of course, monsters is all different forms! I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel!

I loved this book. I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed it because I tried reading this book several times last year and kept DNFing it. It just goes to show that your reading mood can affect enjoyment.

This book is a gothic fantasy with romance that is perfect for the fall season. I think I loved it so much because I read it at the perfect time. The descriptions of autumn, mist, and magic were perfection. The romance was perfectly paced for my taste. Elspeth and Ravyn’s relationship started mistrustful and slowly built to more. I adored them. It wasn’t hard to guess the main reveal, but that didn’t lessen my enjoyment. I’m eagerly anticipating the conclusion to this duology.

OH, THIS WAS GOOD!

I know this is late, but the reading/vibe slump really hit me hard, but this book kept me going. The sparks in this story just pulled me back in every time!

Listen, I love stories about people becoming monsters, whether willing or unwilling, and the rush to save them against the clock and One Dark Window is about that - a kingdom inflicted with that. This world is benefitting and failing due to their magical ways: cards from a deck that a king bartered for with a spirit; they were meant to help his people but ruined them & him. Now, a mist is taking back the magic by stealing people & inflicting children with powers that, if allowed to grow, will corrupt their bodies, minds & souls.

This book indeed shows the double-edged sword of magic and how everything has a cost, whether good or bad. That ending was good, but left me SCREAMING! Please read this for the magic system, the curse/gifts, a romance between two people suffering from afflictions and the cost someone is willing to pay for hope!

I really enjoyed this book!! It was such a good and intriguing read. Definitely a perfect read for fall and I cannot wait to see where the story goes in the sequel. I actually really adore almost all of our characters and always love a "sentient forest" trope in a book.

4/5 Stars

Thank you to Orbit for providing me with an arc of this book.

I don’t particularly have a reason for not having read this book for almost a year and I truly am mad that I didn’t read this sooner because it was really good. The fantasy elements were spectacularly fleshed out and complex without feeling like it took all of my brain power to understand which is exactly what I want in my fantasy books. It has just a dash of romance which I did wish there was a bit more but I am excited to see more of it in book 2. I will say I am a bit happy that I waited because I have an arc of book 2 so I can dive into that very soon.

Normally I would give a summary but unlike romance there is not a graceful way for me to do that so here's a single line summary :
Elspeth is just trying to survive in a world that would kill her in an instant but when she meets a mysterious highwayman she is thrust into an even more dangerous path.

I love Elspeth and the “internal” conflict she is dealing with throughout the book is so well done and kept me hooked the entire book. I also loved Elspeth’s relationship with Ravyn and I need more now. Her family relationships were also interesting especially with Ione and I’m curious how that will be handled in book 2.

I highly recommend this book especially for spooky season.

Thank you to Orbit for my arc!

I adore the heck out of this book. The magic system based of tarot cards?! The writing is so beautiful and I love every single character. I honestly can’t say enough good things about this book.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this book.

I requested this ages ago but never got around to reading it until I ended up with a physical copy and boy was I missing out! So well written, it drew me in completely and I loved it! Cannot wait to read the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley, Orbit, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

🖤 One Dark Window 🃏🥀🖤

"Nothing is free. Nothing is safe. Magic always comes at a cost."

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice rating: 🌶️

Tropes:
🖤 Fake courtship
🖤 Political/court intrigue
🖤 Found family
🖤 Fascinating magic system/world building
🖤 Gothic vibes
🖤 Fairytale vibes

One Dark Window is set in the dark and gothic town of Blunder that is cut off from the rest of the world because of a mist that keeps the townspeople trapped and threatened with dark magic. Anyone infected with magic is believed to be evil. If you are infected and caught, you are killed.

Elspeth has hidden her infection since childhood, never able to trust anyone with her darkest secret until she has to work together with a mysterious group of rebels led by the King's nephew, Ravyn.

The writing is beautiful. There were no slow parts. I was hooked from the beginning. Elspeth was a fantastic main character, who's strong, witty and her banter with other characters was really funny. Ravyn was elusive and interesting from the first moment we met him. I loved him so much. He is a new book boyfriend for sure. Seeing his walls come down for Elspeth was amazing and made me smile constantly.

There's a character called the Nightmare and I won't say much about his character besides that I loved that scary psycho-like monster so much. His constant side comments added a lot to scenes.

I'm so thankful that Orbit sent me a physical ARC copy of book 2 because I need to know what happens next!

okay THIS was a cool book. The magic system? Excuse me but this was such a cool original idea that at first my brain didn't really get it until I picked up the audiobook haha

One Dark Window is the perfect mix of gothic/fall vibes mixed in with political intrigue, vengeful spirits, and an unwilling heroine thrown right in the middle of all of it. The slow burn romance/fake dating in this is *chefs kiss* it had me texting my friends who aren't even reading this to giggle and kick my feet with them.

At first I wasn't too sure about the audio something about the narrator at first just made it all feel a bit flat but then it gradually started to pick up and feel better - not sure if that's because of the story itself or the narrator bettered her tone but overall by the end I was definitely hooked.

I've already requested the next book so hopefully I get to read it soon!

I wanted to like this book so badly. I had heard amazing things about it. It just wasn't my style. I couldn't really get into the story. Might give it another chance at a later date.

Thank you to the publisher for giving me the chance to read an early copy.
I loved this one! As soon as I started reading it, I just had that feeling that it was going to be a great book, and it was!
I just really enjoyed the vibes of it. The atmosphere of the story was a kingdom cut off from everyone else by this dangerous, magical mist. If you get lost in it, you lose your mind. The magic of the book was really neat too. Most of it was a cards-based system, where different cards would give you different powers. The cards are very rare and only the wealthy families seem to have them. There is also a prophecy that if anyone can get the full deck of cards, then they can save the kingdom and banish the mist.
Magic also can occur in another way, but it's infinitely more dangerous. Some people catch the sickness. If they don't die, but recover, they can gain a mystery magical ability. Unfortunately, these children are usually hunted down and killed before that occurs. Elspeth did catch the sickness. Her family protected her, she recovered, and now she has to continue to hide her abilities. Magic isn't all good though. The more you use it, the more you degenerate.
Elspeth shares her mind with a creature called The Nightmare. A creature that came from one of the cards. The Nightmare talks in riddles. He helps her out, granting her strength and speed when she needs it, but she can tell he hides things from her.
Then Elspeth meets Ravyn, the Captain of the King's elite soldiers. Is he a danger to her or not?
Yeah, I just really enjoyed this. The writing sucked me in. I was captivated by the story. It had a fake dating situation, which I'm always a sucker for. I couldn't stop reading it.
It ended on such a cliffhanger, so I NEED the sequel to see what happens next.

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig is a great gothic fantasy novel that had me intrigued from start to finish. I liked Elspeth and the Nightmare. This is great start to the series and thr first book ends on a cliffhanger. I look forward to the next installment and reading more about Elspeth.

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
⭐️⭐️⭐️

There is a fever that affects the town of Blunder. If you are unfortunate enough to catch it and survive, dark magic will now be in your blood. However, the collection and destruction of the 12 prophecy cards will cure all.

The magic system in this book differs from any others I have read. How Rachel Gillig incorporated the prophecy cards into this story is very well done. The writing is phenomenal. One Dark Window is a bit slower-paced, and at times, my intrigue would wane, but overall, this is a very well-written, character-driven story. I recommend it to those of magical fantasy.

***4.5 ⭐️***

In a land where it’s considered treason to harbour an infected person, all the while trying to collect a full deck of magical cards to heal the sickness, can one girl fight the nightmare raging in her mind?

While I haven’t had the pleasure of reading too many fantasy books, I have to say that this story was rather addicting, and I didn’t want to put it down. Aside from the other worldly names and places, I found the storyline quite easy to follow. The character development and plot were executed in a clever way as to make a convert of anyone to the fantasy genre. It’s a shame that the sequel isn’t due to be published for another 5 months…

This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an excellent book I am chomping at the bit for the sequel. The setting was immersive and I read it in one sitting- this is the kind of book you get lost in. I cannot wait to read the follow up.

5 STARS!

THAT ENDING????????? I LITERALLY NEED THE SECOND BOOK IMMEDIATELY. I loved literally every single portion of this book: the magic system, Elspeth as a character, the romance, even the Nightmare. I think it is a testament to this book that I guessed one of the twists in the book, and it was only a slight reveal and did not hamper my enjoyment of the book at all. I immediately finished it, knew that it was going to be a 5 star, and told every single one of my friends that they had to read it. I was gasping, swooning, screaming, and will definitely be rereading it before the sequel comes out, but also October come sooner.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.75

When I initially heard about this book, I was hesitant, but I was drawn in by the creepy woods and tarot magic, and I was not disappointed. There are critiques that could be made, like some of the characters and world building elements aren’t as deep as I would expect from an adult fantasy, but this book was just really fun.

The pace was nonstop- I read it over two sittings, and I liked the Nightmare and seeing Elspeth interact with it. I also really liked Elspeth and Ravyn, even if the relationship did feel a little fast. And I appreciated the combination of eerie woods/mist unexplained magic with the hard rules of the cards and learning more about this world. And the ending! While it wasn’t a shock that it happened, I still need to know what happens next.

Overall, this was a fun debut book, and really fits in nicely with the rise of books in the ”new adult” fantasy romance category.

Stars: 5 out of 5

This book is dark and poetic, cruel and poignant, horrifying and fascinating. I loved every page of it, which is rare for a YA book. So I would say this is a YA book done right. No over emphasis on "feelings" and love triangles, but just good old-fashioned storytelling at its best. 

The world in this book is fascinating - it's dark and unforgiving, but has a strange poetic beauty to it as well. This is a single kingdom that is cut out from the rest of the world by a wall of mists that turn anyone who wanders into their midst without a charm insane. And they also slowly choke the land, advancing closer and closer to human habitations, killing the crops and blocking out the sun. Oh, and some citizens get the fever and acquire magical abilities, which in this kingdom is a certain death sentence not only for the infected, but for their family as well, if they hide them from the King's justice.

Oh, and magic in this world has a price. Any sort of magic, even the Providence Cards, exact a bloody price from the user. Nothing is free, and the reckoning always comes. I loved that! I've read too many books were magic is seemingly effortless and free for the caster, as if creating something out of nothing is a perfectly normal occurrence. Having magic exact a price is a refreshing change. That way there is a balance - a magic user can do terrible things in this world, but the price to pay would be just as terrible.

I also really liked the characters, especially Elspeth. All her actions and reactions made sense. She wasn't the Chosen one, or a special snowflake. She was real and very human, and very very flawed. And she was lost and battling her own personal Nightmare, a loosing battle, I must say. I also liked how she slowly changed in this book from only caring about staying safe and hidden to actually embracing a dangerous cause. Yes, she'd done it at first because she wanted to be cured of her affliction, but by the end of the book she gives in to the Nightmare, fully knowing that she would be lost, for the hope that by her actions she can save others.

The writing is also very engaging. It's rather poetic at times. I found myself repeating some sentences out loud just because they had a certain hypnotic rhythm to them. I think this adds to the slightly surreal and dreamlike impression that this book gives. A kingdom shrouded by mists where monsters dwell. And sometimes monsters wear human clothing...

I would say that my only complaint is that I didn't like Elspeth's love interest as much as any other characters. Ravyn isn't bad per se... He is just blah. Dark and brooding with a hidden heart of gold - we've seen that done a hundred times over. He gets lost in the background any time Elm or Emory or even Ione are in the scene. And honestly, Elspeth had a lot more chemistry with all of them instead of Ravyn. 

Other than that, I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, because there are a lot of unanswered questions left in the story and some rather unpleasant revelations. I also want to know what happened to the Shepherd King to turn him into the monster he became. Oh, and the events at the end of the book 1 definitely need an answer. It's not a cliffhanger, by any means, it's just not a happy ending you would expect from YA. Then again, this is not a world that thrives on happy endings.

PS: I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my goodness. I loved this book so much.
The mágic and the cards. The romance and the almost found family. What I liked most about this is that your typical main lead doesn’t solves everything and that there’s consequences that us readers do not want to happen. When those consequences happens and then we’re left with an oh no. Our characters that we come to love are on the brink of degeneration and we see it happening. I was gripping the book just hoping a good things would come. This was such a good read.

I was pleasantly surprised by this! It straddles the line of YA and NA, leaning more towards YA. The ending happened very quickly, which surprised me since I thought this was a standalone. Looking forward to the next book.