Phantasma by Kaylie Smith

Ophelia and her sister Genevieve are orphans living in New Orleans, Louisiana. Bustling with mystery and night life, the city welcomes a new attraction, a deadly game in a haunted mansion called Phantasma. When Genevieve goes missing one night, Ophelia tracks her down via her journals into Phantasma where she tries to look for her while going through a maze of deadly trials. 

When they begin to overwhelm, a charming and handsome phantom named Blackwell comes to Ophelia’s rescue and promises to help her through the games with a bargain: ten years of her life. Ophelia has choices to make, trust Blackwell and help him retrieve parts of his missing life, survive the trials and find her sister, or risk everything for the bond that is drawing her and Blackwell together. 

This book is a whole lot of fun! I rarely say that about books because I normally read books that end with me in a thoughtful trance, but this book is dark fantasy romance so take that for what you will. I thought the gothic elements were enticing, the romance was palpable (though I thought they fell in love too fast, but due to time constraints this made sense). I liked the fact Ophelia had OCD; I rarely see mental health representation in fantasy. I also enjoyed the twists and turns and the ending, which I didn’t see coming. Now that I think about it there were signs but I ignored them.

I think this could have gone through at least one more round of edits because there were repeat phrases throughout but other than that, this was a solid book.

The cast wasn’t very diverse but due to the nature of the story I’m…glad it wasn’t diverse. I don’t think the cast needed to be diverse in this case, and I still enjoyed it. 

There is a second book after this one called Enchantra and it comes out in April. I already pre-ordered it so if you’re on the fence about reading it, I’ll be there.