I enjoyed this book! It took me a little bit to get into it, but once I did I enjoyed the story! I was very intrigued by the paranormal mystery that unfolded!

Este was an interesting character, and I appreciated the backstory with her father. I loved Mateo! The ghost friends and her paranormal research friends were fun too!

I wanted more from the story. More romance and more details/ motives from the mystery part of it. I enjoyed reading it but wish I knew more. I’m sad it’s over cause I want to know what happens next! I wish the book was longer to give more explanation.

Overall this was a fast-paced a ride that I enjoyed! I would definitely recommend!

DNF at 40%

Unfortunately The Library of Shadows ended up being underwhelming for me. I was excited by the premise of the story, but felt it was executed poorly (I had issues with the pacing and I could not grow to like the main character Este). It just wasn't able to grab my attention to continue reading until the end.

Very interesting book. I actually really liked it! It had sort of a mystery aspect that I liked. Highly recommend!

I really enjoyed this one. If you love paranormal ya fantasies then this is right up your street. It was fast paced and the description was beautiful!

The cast of characters were interesting and unique. I also loved the eerie library shrouded in mystery, that will keep dark academia lovers on their toes.

It was a very interesting story. I really loved the idea of having characters from different times stuck on campus. Although the love interest part felt like it was too fast and too obvious, I loved the way they supported each other.
The grief of loosing a parent is not known to me, but I did appreciate the memories mentioned.
I loved the vibe of the book though, academia is not explored enough.
It was an easy read, but I would have liked more depth to Este's feelings towards Mateo, not only appreciating his looks most of the time.

3.5 ⭐

Though I ultimately ended up liking this one, it was a bit of a rollercoaster for me! I feel like there a lot of mixed signals in the tone of the narrative. It's a YA book about juniors in high school, though it started off feeling more middle-grade and almost Disney Channel-ish. Which is okay, but then about a third of the way in, the tone shifted to being a little more edgy and angsty and cussy. And then, about two-thirds in, there's another maturity jump that kinda blindsided me. I wish that was evened out so that I knew what kind of story I was reading from the first chapters.

All of these things aside, I did enjoy the story! It's a fairly fast-paced paranormal romance/mystery set at a Vermont boarding school, so naturally, that gave me Truly, Devious vibes. Since finishing the book, I've seen a lot of comparisons to Netflix's Wednesday, which I definitely see now but didn't quite land on while reading. I did find almost all of the twists to be predictable (maybe because I watched Wednesday), but I still had fun going along for the ride as the characters figure it out! As I approached the end of the book, my husband kept asking me if I was okay because I was making a lot of noises and throwing my hands up in the air. That's when you know I am INTO it! 🤣

I've seen several folks complain that they wanted more spice in this story, and tbh, that confuses me because it is a YA book—aka written for teens, about teens. While I know there are a handful of spicy romantasy series that are often found on YA shelves, that's not the section where I would hunt for 🌶️🌶️🌶️ stories. Ya feel me?

After publication, I learned that the author is originally from where I live and worked at my local library for a while! So cool! You can definitely feel her love for libraries in this story. I mean, it's in the title! But there are a couple of things that happen that are definitely not common practice in libraries and, in one case, against library ethics altogether. IYKYK.

Full review posted on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5478600523

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy of this title.

I really loved this story.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the Library of Shadows. It was a cozy mystery with found family and ghosts. I love how much she loved the library and how it was important to her dad (who is deceased) and therefore important to her. If you like ghost stories check it out.

The Library Of Shadows by Rachel Moore is a spooky, thrilling book that reminded me of a cozier version of A Lesson In Love and Death by W. H. Lockwood. The cozy, dark academia, ancient school mystery vibes were perfectly executed and I loved all of the descriptions of the library and campus and even the seasons! The characters were warm and interesting, especially the ghosts, and I felt like I was right there with them trying to solve the mystery of who could be killing students. I loved Mateo so much! His charmingly mischievous personality and caring nature instantly drew me in and I never expected the finale!

This was a very cozy fall read. I enjoyed it a lot, and I will be reading more from this author. The characters were enjoyable, though the word building could use some work. Even without a lot of world building, the book still came together well.
The writing was fast paced and enjoyable, but the romance was slow, maybe a bit too slow for me. The ghosts were the highlight of this book to be honest. Again, I loved the characters. One more thing to note is that the names were a bit hard to pronounce in my head. Thank you for this ARC!

I love a good paranormal rom com--particularly when the MMC is quite annoying and hauntingly charming in an "I'm going to irritate you until you give into me" sort of way".

one of my first paranormal books but i really enjoyed that it was dark acadiama too. Enjoyable read

Stars 3.5

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I would have to say this book gave me dark academia feels. I felt so much for Este and all she was going through. She kept her walls in place and had to deal with Mateo framing her for stealing a book. Now she has to recover or be expelled. There were times that Mateo got on my nerves. I did enjoy that is was like I was right beside Este as she was making her way through her days at school. But to have feeling for a ghost that something new and powerful.

I'm still obsessed with books set at schools, particularly boarding schools or colleges, so Library of Shadows was a definite must read. I was intrigued about the storyline from the very first chapter and it kept me hooked throughout.
I love a cosy lighthearted mystery so this was the perfect October read for me. However the instalove was just insane! I don't know if this was intended as a sort of Beauty and the Beast retelling but it had the similar vibes. I would have rated this higher if the instalove had been toned down a little.

I absolutely loved this! The dynamics between the leads was great and the banter was fun the entire time. The plot line was serious but had its fun parts and I felt like the author was able to balance all of the elements of the plot and the characters with emotional impact well.

I don't usually enjoy paranormal, but this was recommended by a friend and I enjoyed the story. The story read quickly and the romance was nice. This was a great debut story!

Really great book with amazing characters and a great plot. Was easy to get into and it was very engaging. This is a book that I can see a lot of people in YA enjoy.

Thank you HarperCollins and NetGalley for this ARC of The Library of Shadows in exchange for an honest review. I loved the setting of this book, and to be honest, the setting was the book's only strong suit. The concept and plot originally really intrigued me but I was really let down by how flat the characters were, and then how flat the romance was. This flatness was not great, especially since romance is a big part of the book.

I was let down by this novel as the concept sounded interesting, however, the lack of character development and accuracy hindered my review. The plot was great and the mechanics of the ghosts were interesting but I wanted more from the characters and the love story. I think with some more time/attention to detail this could have been amazing. I will still be interested to see how Rachel Moore continues to write, I think she has a great start and lots of potential.

Overall this book was fun, with the vibes of Wednesday meets BuzzFeed Unsolved. The writing was snappy and clever and kept the story feeling fresh for a YA audience.