I just couldn’t get into this one and ended up DNFing at 27%

The writing style didn’t work for me at all and the characters felt like caricatures with no depth.

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC of this book!

This book was so fun! I loved the moulin rouge vibe, mixed with fae. Our two main characters Sybil and Esme have feelings for each other that neither want to admit, and I really liked their relationship development over time. I highly connected with both characters but especially Esme as she just wants to be home with her pets, read books, and drink tea. I will say knowing that this is an advanced copy I didn’t take anything off my rating but the e-book needs to be reformatted as there’s illustrations in the beginning of the chapters that cause sentence breaks that end up on different pages so it can be a bit confusing. Also I am in love with this cover art!! It is absolutely stunning and I’m a sucker for anything green!

This book was beautiful. I loved the characters and how relatable they were. The Absinthe Underground is the perfect cozy fantasy with a sapphic love story and Moulin Rouge influences. This story kept me smiling and laughing and wishing I could be with the characters. The romance was darling, and the heists were daring. I need more of the world and characters. Esme and Sybil are the sweetest combo. Esme is a book girl with a fascination for clocks and interesting facts that I couldn’t get enough of, and Sybil kept me hooked with her adventurous spirit and mysterious past.

An atmospheric slow burn sapphic fairie heist romp of a read! There's just enough drama and tension to keep the ball rolling but not go overboard. This felt more like an adventure than a fantasy, which is not a knock at all. The setting and art descriptions are beautiful.

I'm going to DNF at 15%. I think this book has a lot of potential and the world is interesting (and that cover is stunning!). I just wasn't into the characters or the plot. Not a big friends to lovers person. Also had trouble reading due to the formatting of the ARC, so I could see myself picking this back up when it's released as an audiobook.

OH MY GOSH I NEED ANOTHER BOOK NOW

I definitely get the Holly Black vibes that the blurb suggests and this was probably the best book to read after finishing The Folk of Air series.

Why is it so difficult to find sapphic fae novels? I will never know but this book IS THAT BOOK!


Abandoning high-society for the thrill of freedom, Sybil finds solace in her unconventional friendship with Esme Rimbaud. The two, tied together by their shared dreams and secret desires, embark on a daring adventure, stealing rare posters to survive the challenging life of Severon. When their not so legal activities catch the attention of Maeve, a Green Faerie trapped in their world, the duo is thrust into a world of magic and mystery.

As Sybil and Esme are yet again late on rent they really have no choice but to take on Maeve's daring heist they soon find themselves entangled in a world of the unknown, and don't get me started on how confusing Maeve's tragic story of being locked in the human world is.

Jamie Pacton has done a service to the genre by crafting a narrative that not only explores the complexities of love and identity but also invites readers into a fantastical realm where every stolen moment, every secret crush, and every daring heist reverberates with a spellbinding magic that lingers long after the final page is turned.

This was an amazing fantasy read that I will probably be talking about everyday for the rest of the year actually probably the rest of my time, I'm eagerly awaiting the release and can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the book as soon as I can! It's on my must-buy list.

This was a really cozy and beautifully written story and I liked it. I mean... SHAPPICS, A HEIST AND A FAE WORLD? that's exactly my thing! The adventure got me really excited, the main characters were two sapphic besties pining for each other and the ending was so cute.

However, I feel like it was too short and fast, so there were a lot of things that weren't fully explore, or at least not as much as I would've liked them to be. The characters were exciting and rich, with a lot of history and emotions. I wish we've seen more of them!

Overall, I would recommend this book because it's an easy and cute read and you know... SHAPPICS, A HEIST AND A FAE WORLD!!!!!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC, I really appreciate it!

However, this was unfortunately a DNF for me. I had such high expectations for this book and the world definitely needs for LGBTQ+ fantasy. I was really looking forward to this one,

But from the very beginning, I felt nothing for the characters. I couldn’t bring myself to care about their motivations or their story.

I thought the world building was pretty and atmospheric, but I needed much more than that.

This book is whimsy and intrigue wrapped with a magical green bow on top. It gives the French town vibes of Beauty and the Beast, the glittering chandeliers and money hungry feel of The Great Gatsby, and the magical, thievery of Shaun David Hutchinson's Before We Disappear, and is perfect for anyone who loves Holly Black or Brendon Muir.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. It took me back to every good book series in my childhood; Fablehaven, The Spiderwick Chronicals, The Tapestry, except this one was queer! I've always had a soft spot for faeries and magic, and gritty heroines who aren't afraid to fight to get the life they want.

Although I am impartial to Esme and her want to stay inside and tinker with clocks and cuddle her cats, I think there's something to be said about the fact that Sybil fights so hard to earn her keep with Esme, and to earn money to live on. It almost makes you think critically about her reasons behind doing what she does. Does she thieve because she likes the adventure? Or does she thieve because she's acting out, wanting her father to see she's more than just tight corsets and strictly guided activities? Does she turn further to thievery and accept Maeve's offer because she misses her life of royalty and money? Or is she truly content with living poorly with Esme?

One might think that if she truly loved Esme, their status in life wouldn't matter. Maybe she would try harder to keep a job instead of lazing about, so they wouldn't have to worry about money. Or perhaps she really was suited for a life of thievery and adventure. Maybe mundane jobs weren't enough to satisfy the thrill she sought in life.

But if that were the case, maybe she and Esme weren't right for one another. It seemed she was always dragging Esme around, making her do things she didn't want to do. It didn't strike me as something you'd make someone you love do for you. She was always going on about how much Esme must've loved her to be doing this for her, when Esme never wanted to to begin with. She also lies to Esme about her life, for no apparent good reason.

I would've liked to see more explained about how Fae are received in the Mortal world. It seems as though many either don't know of them, that they're mostly myth, or that people turn a blind eye to the Fae that live amongst them.

The Kindle version, or at least the ARC was also a bit confusing in layout, and there were multiple points in which I thought I was missing out on something because words were just thrown in and then cut off randomly at the ends of some chapters with absolutely no lead up to the context of the sentences.

All in all, this was like reading a piece of nostalgia from my childhood, and was a beautiful, whimsical book that I would read time and time again.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Unfortunately this is a DNF for me. Cool concept, and the writing quality was good - but I don’t feel invested in the characters and the world feels beautiful shallow. The worldbuilding at the start is so sparse I can imagine what it looks like, but I have no understanding of why things are the way they are - why are these posters valuable, and if they’re so valuable why on earth are they just out in the street? The characters claim to love each other but one just barrels through doing whatever she wants and the other is so lovesick she sets all her own desires and motivations aside to follow the other….its a beautifully written and very atmospheric book, but it just isn’t for me.

Solid 3.5 stars! This book had a lot of potential. The setup and setting were intriguing and lush (late 19th century queer/underground Paris = great vibes). Our two main characters are a bit archetypal but still nuanced and sweet enough to root for. Plus, the fae!

However, most of my complaints are around the plot development, story arc, and writing. Everything that happens is entirely convenient. Its just 1 step in the heist to the next without feeling like there are any real stakes or difficulty. With some more work fleshing out the plot elements and some real planning around the heist this could have been really good. Because it really ticks all the right boxes, especially for a sapphic YA fantasy friends to lovers romance.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

*SPOILER-FREE REVIEW*

Thank you to Peachtree Teen for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Absinthe Underground follows the story of Esme and Sybil, best friends and roommates ("and they were roommates!") living a modest life in their clock tower apartment and struggling to get by. While Esme enjoys the coziness of their life together and works at a diner to cover her portion of the rent, Sybil craves adventure and earns money by stealing the posters put up by artists around town. When a poster theft goes wrong, the girls are dragged into the fantastical world of The Absinthe Underground, the City of Severon's most popular and mysterious night club. As their journey unfolds, secrets from Sybil's past come to light, creating more questions than answers that the two must work to overcome. Touching on themes of class, identity, and found family, the Absinthe Underground is a friends-to-lovers story filled with heart, atmosphere, and plenty of sapphic pining.

This book wasn't necessarily what I expected, but it wasn't a disappointment, either. I knew going in that this was a YA read, but the way it was written felt geared toward the younger end of that audience that what I am typically used to seeing in fantasy. There was a lot of telling vs. showing, particularly regarding characters' thoughts and personal growth. Further, while the premise for the plot was interesting, there were several obstacles that were quickly resolved or conveniently explained away. As a result, I found that the story lacked the depth needed to elevate it from good to great.

A standout feature of this work for me were the historical elements inspired by 1890s Paris: poster thefts, nightclub counterculture, and the daily lives of queer people at that time. In addition to adding fresh concepts to the fantasy genre, the historical aspect of The Absinthe Underground allowed Pacton to share an often-overlooked narrative of queer love during the late 19th century.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it as a quick and cozy read for fans of fantasy with a dash of historical fiction.

The Absinthe Underground by Jamie Pacton

★⋆˙⟡/5

A sapphic story with fae and heists that gave ‘Moulin Rouge’ vibes but turned sour the more I read it.

The story is about Sybil and Esme, two ‘friends’ who need to pay for their rent by stealing when they suddenly are caught in something bigger that would change their lives. This would include faes, a big heist, and expressing true feelings.

While this is supposed to be a friends-to-lover trope, I would suggest the trope has never been friends in the first place as they were enchanted by each other from their first meet-up. I would also argue that they are not suitable for each other, as they continuously complain about their differences. Due to this, I had a very hard time feeling a connection to any of the characters.

Furthermore, while the setting was exciting, the story itself felt weak and made the book feel flat in both character development and plot. What is even more concerning is the romanticisation of absinthe, as this is titled to be for teens.

I desperately wanted to love this, as the cover lured me in along with the promise of a magical world and sapphic romance. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A gorgeous cover with the promise of a whimsical adventure with fae and romance? What’s not to love?

I was quite excited to get an arc of this book and eagerly dived in to find a highly ambitious story that did not deliver. It is trying to do too much too quickly. I really liked the characters, but I wished they were more fleshed out than surface level.

I saw this book compared to Moulin Rouge. Moulin Rouge is my favorite movie so was hesitant comparing to this but I think this capture the glitz and the belle epoque history well with a more ya perspective. This was a cozy fantasy read and if you're a cat lover I think this is your read!

I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't connect with it. The concept and characters would've been more enjoyable if they hadn't been so shallow. The plot is simple and any issues the characters faced were quickly overcome. It honestly felt like an early draft of a much deeper and lovely story.

The relationship between Esme and Sybil was sweet, but I would've loved more detail on their current lives and their feelings for each other. It's a lot of 'oh, I want to kiss her! but it will ruin everything' over and over again until the very end. The characters also felt quite young, but then there were several references to Sybil's many 'dalliances' with others. It threw me off each time. Lucien, Sybil's brother, seemed to only be there as a plot device and their sibling relationship was thin. Overall, there were little to no hints of any sort of character arc or development from anyone.

Now what I did like was of course the cover and the whole poster stealing plot. I will definitely be searching for any history books on the subject. I also enjoyed the atmosphere and do agree that it has cozy moments. I just wish it had more depth and more coziness.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Giving this one a 3/5 stars. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This story has the potential to be a wonderful sea of fantasy but unfortunately reads a bit like a puddle.

Overall, I think this book would be best enjoyed by a younger, teenage audience. The writing itself is pretty straightforward and the plot moves very fast. Unfortunately, the fast pace of the story didn't let me get invested in the "quest" of the protagonists. They would show up to a new location in one chapter and by the end of the next would resolve what to me should've been more challenging tasks. There was no reason for me to get invested because the characters didn't have any consequences or ramifications for their decisions, as I knew it would be resolved in a chapter or two.

I wish the world building was also more in depth. There was so much potential for both the human city of Severon to be explored and the Fae world was similarly shallow. The characters also suffer from the same issues.

tldr; a good intro fantasy novel for a younger audience.

This one is chock full of enticing atmosphere. From the Toulous-Lautrec-esque cover to the Belle Epoque Paris-esque city to the sapphics living in a clock tower with cats to shenanigans in and with Fae. All of which makes for a very compelling concoction, and yet, it really struggled to become for than the sum of its very magical parts. Esme and Sybil make more and more baffling and characteristically inconsistent decisions, the dialogues are very stilted and often infodumpy. So many dropped thread of narratives and somehow still rushed. Even the friends to lovers tension feels contrived and suddenly resolved. It was ultimately a pretty tapestry of pretty elements with a rather simplistic story, which could have retained its dreamy shenanigans but needed a little more depth to actually be moving. Having some knowledge of how vibrantly queer that time and place actually was, I was really hoping for something more evocative and vibrant.

cozy cute sapphic heist romantasy, would rec even tho at points i felt i wanted a little more character depth. 4.5. thanks for the arc.

This was one my most anticipated books. Unfortunately it fell very flat. I love the idea and the descriptive art. But I just couldn’t find any connection to the characters.