Sapphic romantasy is here to stay and I couldn't be happier! Aside from the absolutely stunning cover, I was so excited to read Jamie Pacton's next work, especially knowing it had fae! The prose and atmosphere absolutely dazzled, I could definitely see the comps to Moulin Rouge. The heist kept me on my toes, unable to look away from the page. An amazing read!

Thank you Net Galley for the e arc. Unfortunately I did not finish the story. I read fifty pages of the story and the book lacked direction and depth. Also, while reading the book on my kindle the formatting of the book was off.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity

Not my cup of tea

Ich weiß ehrlich gesagt nicht, wie ich dieses Buch bewerten soll, da ich es aufgrund relativ kurzer Ausleihdauer (ohne Verlängerung) nicht lesen konnte.

Man, there was so much hype surrounding this book (not to mention the gorgeous cover), and it just didn’t live up. Given the whole context and aesthetic it sets up, I was looking for something with a sort of Moulin Rouge vibe – overwrought and angsty and dramatic. But I guess there was just way too much going on to really establish a coherent vibe. Basically our main characters Esme and Sybil, roommates and best friends who are also in love with each other, get roped into a scheme to steal Queen Mab’s jewels for the owner of popular club The Absinthe Underground.
There’s a lot of jumping around, from the streets of Severon to the Absinthe Underground to the main character’s brother’s house to Fae and back again. And there are so many different dynamics going on – Esme and Sybil’s relationship, Sybil’s family history, all the dynamics of Severon, the worldbuilding of Fae, the characters in Fae, and there just isn’t room for them to all get fleshed out properly. There’s nothing to anchor the story or hold it all together; it’s just a bit all over the place.

2.5 so rounding to 3 (for a great concept)

I have been waiting for this book for over a year like I added it on Goodreads before I even had a cover and unfortunately, I was so underwhelmed.
Sapphic, Friends to lovers romantansy with fae, a hidden world, and a Moulin Rouge vibe? Sign me up. I don’t know what I expected but this wasn’t quite it. I got through this pretty quickly and I overall enjoyed the writing style however, all of the characters felt off. Not quite one-dimensional but not fully formed either, somewhere in between. My favorite characters we only see briefly (Chloe, Hyacinth, and Lucien) and our two main characters are fine. But just fine.

I think the romance also felt a little odd because right from the start we know they’re in love with each other, clearly. They both think about it constantly and don’t get me wrong, I understand the pining for your best friend BUT I think it could’ve been done better. There wasn’t much tension between the, and I think that because you don’t get to see the build-up of their relationship, it’s just kind of eh. Like happy for them but I also don’t really care? I almost cared more about their dream cottage and cozy life than what was actually happening in the moment.

Everything also felt like it wrapped up just a little too well. If this were marketed as a low-stakes heist type of cozy fantasy, I think I would’ve had different expectations. But to be fair, I actually haven’t seen much marketing for this at all, a mutual on booksta (@amodelwhosread) recommended it forever ago and I’ve had my eye on it since. I came across the arc on net-galley (shoutout to NG for the arc in exchange for an honest review btw) and that put it back on my radar.

Overall, I liked this enough. It was fast-paced, low stakes, and the world-building was interesting (although I still have so many questions). I’d love to read more set in this universe and will likely pick up more from this author! Would love a sequel heist to get our girl Chloe involved too. Maybe a magic cat thrown in for funsies.

What is one of your most anticipated releases of early 2024?

One of mine is The Absinthe Underground by @jamiepacton! I have been looking forward to this book for months, as its mix of a sapphic love story with a 1920s inspired fantasy world was just too intriguing for me to resist.

Lucky for me, I was able to read an early copy of The Absinthe Underground for my tour stop today with @coloredpagesbt! Their tour celebrating the release of this fantastic new book runs from 1/21-2/3, so be sure to keep an eye out for posts from the other hosts!

The Absinthe Underground absolutely blew me away! From the first page, I was swept into Esme and Sybil’s world. With daring heists and thievery, romance, and Fae magic, The Absinthe Underground has something for every reader. The thing that really made this one a five-star read for me was its use of some beloved romance tropes (things like “friends to lovers” and “they were roommates”) in fresh ways, given the fantasy elements of the story. I am always delighted to see tropes reimagined and reinvigorated, and this book did that! I have read all of Jamie Pacton’s previous releases and I’ve got to say, this is my favorite book of hers so far!

In addition to reading a digital copy of The Absinthe Underground, I listened along to the audiobook version provided by @librofm, which enhanced my whole reading experience! The audiobook version was narrated by Jeremy Carlisle Parker, who is becoming rather prolific in the world of sapphic audiobooks! I really enjoyed hearing her bring the characters to life. The magical world and romance of The Absinthe Underground made for a compelling and easy-to-listen-to audiobook!

My Recommendation:
If you love fantasy romance novels, you need to grab a copy of The Absinthe Underground! I would especially recommend this book to anyone who has a love for the 1920s, with its world of jazz and liquor!

Thank you to @peachtreeteen for the advanced readers copy!

I was really excited about this book and was very happy to discover it. The setting in the city of Severon particularly appealed to me; it had a slight steampunk touch, which was further enhanced by Esme's passion for clocks. I also found the home of the two women very charming and unique – a bell tower full of cats is indeed an interesting choice.

I really liked the basic idea of the plot. The adventures of Sybil and Esme and the dynamics between them were captivating. However, I missed some information here and there, which made the plot sometimes feel too rushed. I would have liked to dive deeper into the various worlds and get to know the protagonists better. The author could have added more details in some places to make the story more tangible.

I especially enjoyed the romance between Sybil and Esme. It was slowly built and very sweet, just the right amount to avoid being cheesy. Their relationship developed naturally and was a nice contrast to the action-packed parts of the story.

Overall, I give the book 3 out of 5 stars. The atmosphere and basic idea were really good, but the execution could have been more detailed in some parts. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading it and am curious about more works by the author.

I was really looking forward to this novel. It was one of my most anticipated books of the year.
I don't think it was bad but I didn't find it exceptional sadly, I found it to be quite a slog.
Perhaps I had my expectations set too high.
That said, I loved that it has a sapphic romance.

"The Absinthe Underground" is the lovely, soft sapphic fantasy romance that I didn't know I needed. It's got magic, slow burn tension and doors between the human world and Fae, doors between classes and friends versus lovers. It was like a cup of tea in front of a crackling fire on a cold day. And one of the best friends-to-lovers arcs I have read in a long time.

Esme and Sybil couldn't be more mismatched. Esme is sensible and sensitive where Sybil is hotheaded and impetuous. Sybil is hiding secrets of her own, like a past of wealth and oppression that she escaped and her half-Fae heritage. Esme grew up poor with an alcoholic mother, and has found solace in books, fixing clocks and taking in stray cats. Sybil was her latest stray cat, and the two become inseparable friends, all the while pining for more and unable to say.

I usually dislike friends to lovers when there's no more angst or tension the moment they become lovers, but this delivered on the angst and a searing kiss that didn't happen till the last chapter. This was friends to lovers without dumb misunderstandings but real, believable tension that consistently crackled between these two fools in love.

Sybil makes her living as a poster thief, which Esme reluctantly aids her in. One night a job goes wrong and they wind up in the employ of the owner of the glamorous Absinthe Underground, who hires them to steal the crown jewels of the faerie queen. Will this latest assignment bring them the riches they've always chased or lead to their ruin?

Overall I loved these two characters and their dynamic, and that's what kept me enjoying this story. The conflict was often resolved too neatly but that's appropriate for a low-stakes, cozy romance. A nice palate cleanser after some of the high-stakes epic fantasy and horror that I've been reading lately.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily. Apologies for taking so long to review!

The premise is great, but I think I thought this was something else - or going to have something else - I'm not sure. I might read it at some point.

Somehow this book what should be a high-stake heist cozy and I won't lie, I enjoyed it. One could argue that heist needs set backs and hard obstacles that lead to tension and therefore a heist can't be cozy. They may be right and that could slow down this book for a reader. I say, come for cozy, slow burn friends to lovers romance, that's an easy read and you will be satisfied.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc!
I went in super excited for this story! I liked this author's previous work and was excited to dive into the romance. Unfortunately, I ended up not loving the story. I found it difficult to root for the main romance between Sybil and Esme; while reading the story, I felt there was very little romantic chemistry between the two characters. The characters are very different in ways that I think doesn't complement the romantic story-building; it's made very clear throughout the story that Esmay is compromising her ideals or opinions for Sybil because she loves her but is very unhappy with some of the things that are going on. This was a reoccurring issue and ultimately made me not want to root for this romance. I honestly found myself more intrigued by Hyacinth and Chloe's romance than Esme and Sybil. I liked them as characters and felt they had potential, but I think overall, we needed more development from them in order to make their story work romantically and in general.
In addition, I feel like the overall plot is very convenient and not as well thought out as I wish. The highest is unbelievably easy to the point of disbelief and, honestly, some confusion. Everything kind of just conveniently happens or works out without any plan or skill. They are both kind of just saved at every point by someone else or get unbelievably lucky time and time again. Oh I think they were just too many elements in such a short story that everything felt extremely rushed and not as well thought out as it could've been. There were elements that I was really excited to see done in the story but so many of them felt flat as there was very little explanation or development.

Overall while I was really really excited for the story, I think it needed a bit more development and unfortunately I didn't love it.

Very similarly to Pacton's earlier novel The Vermilion Emporium, the cover of The Absynth Undergound immediately caught my eye. Add in the expectation of a Sapphic romance, and the mention of a similarity between Pacton and Holly Black, and I was hooked. Sadly, what I hoped would be a quick Summer read turned into quite the slog. I took a number of breaks over the course of reading the book, which is never the experience one wants to have with a book.

I did think that Pacton did a wonderful job with the world building.

While I truly wanted to love this book, The Absinthe Underground simply did not strike the correct chord with me. I will put some of the onus on me as, at the time of reading, I was in a bit of a slump. I would maybe be willing to give the book another chance when I was more in the swing of things, less in a reading slump.

This was a cute, if simple friends-to-lovers novel. I liked the setting but overall it felt juvenile and more like a middle grade novel where everything works out perfectly. I feel like it would have been a lot better if it had been longer and if the stakes were higher, especially in the fae realm. The main couple was cute though, and this one was a quick read!

🌈Queer rep: FF main couple, bi/pan main characters.

This was a sweet and really good book and I’m not mad that it’s friends to lovers! I have to either really like the author or the trope has to be done well (to like the trope/book) – luckily both applied here! What I like most about Pacton’s books are her characters. She writes them so well you can tell she loves them and had fun writing their journey. That makes it easier for me to like the characters. They’re also easy to love! Well, most of the time. With The Vermillion Emporium I took a while to start liking the characters. With this book I almost instantly loved Sybil and Esme. They had fun personalities and they worked well with each other. You could tell they were real friends and not just friends because they roomed together.

I loved how easy it was to believe they’re friends and then when that changed to romance that too was very easy to believe. I definitely rooted for them to be together long before they actually were and that is… rare with friends to lovers because I don’t like how the trope seems to set up the idea that you can’t really have friends. That you’re bound to have crushes on them and that’ll ruin the friendship. Although, most of the books I’ve read that have that trope are m/f relationships so maybe that’s the problem/solution (solution being don’t read m/f friends to lovers haha).

The descriptions absolutely made me feel like I was in the book and there’s nothing more that I like when that happens. It’s something I hope that could happen in all books but unfortunately that isn’t the case. Pacton, however, is always so amazing with that so it’s easy to feel like I’m in the novel. I wanted to spend more time in this book – in either realm – so I was sad when the book ended! Pacton certainly doesn’t slack when it comes to her plots. It’s always well-written and I wasn’t bored while reading (always a pleasure when I have that). Plus the descriptions really just added to the plot, elevated them to a point where (at least I felt like) you couldn’t not be entranced by the book.

I could only get about 30 percent of the way into this book before I was just too bored to continue. Thank you for the opportunity but I did dnf this book.

This was a miss for me. The writing was a bit too convoluted and the characters fell flat. I didn't get invested in the story as I didn't care for the characters at all.

I think that this book had great ideas and a great premise, but the execution needed work. I'm always hesitant reading a book with fantastical/fantasy elements that is less then 300 pages; especially ones with other worlds. Even though Fae worlds are pretty common/a very popular world in YA and adult fantasy in the last few years, there still needs to be significant worldbuilding. There was next to no worldbuilding here, I finished the book knowing next to nothing about this Fae world, how it works, what kind of magic rules it, etc. That was this books biggest weakness, and its a shame, because I really enjoyed the main characters. They were well developed and interesting, and deserved more. The ending went by way too quickly, and again, nothing was really explained so it felt like nothing had any impact and everything was ridiculously convenient. Overall, the characters were likeable and interesting, but the story was too short and the worldbuilding was next to non existent.

I am sadly not into YA as much anymore. I think I have aged out. Totally a me problem, not a book problem. But did love the cozy and sapphic elements of this book.