Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood Book Review!

 

Title: Within These Wicked Walls
Author: Lauren Blackwood
Publish Date: October 19th, 2021
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy!

What the heart desires, the house destroys...

Andromeda is a debtera—an exorcist hired to cleanse households of the Evil Eye. When a handsome young heir named Magnus Rochester reaches out to hire her, Andromeda quickly realizes this is a job like no other, with horrifying manifestations at every turn, and that Magnus is hiding far more than she has been trained for. Death is the most likely outcome if she stays, but leaving Magnus to live out his curse alone isn’t an option. Evil may roam the castle’s halls, but so does a burning desire.

Penelope's Review

This is a debut, standalone fantasy novel marketed as a Jane Eyre retelling. I have to be completely honest and let you know that I actually haven't read Jane Eyre yet (I know, I know... the classics are on my never-ending TBR list lol) so I went into this with a completely open mind and basically no back story. I ended up really liking this book, and am looking forward to whatever she comes out with next!

Within These Wicked Walls follows Andromeda (or Andi for short), a debtera hired to cleanse a house of the Evil Eye and all of its manifestations. I will admit, it took me a bit to wrap my head around what I was reading - we get off to a bit of a slow start in the beginning, but once things picked up and I really understood a debtera and their job, the book moved along much quicker! 

I loved Magnus and his humour, even when he wasn't trying to be funny lol! His personality was on point, and I really liked the conversations between him and Andromeda. I was also a fan of Jember, though I'm not sure I was supposed to be haha. I just felt like I really understood where he was coming from, and how he felt that everything he did was for the betterment of Andi. I don't want to say too much more, just know that I liked his character alot! And then of course, we have the main female lead Andromeda. It was great watching Andi grow into the character she becomes at the end. I tip my hat to the author for being able to write her changes throughout the book while keeping her core essence the same. It made her growth realistic and relatable.

The plot itself was quite interesting and unique in my opinion! Once the story really got going, I loved everything about it. I almost wanted to see and read about more manifestations! They were so cool! I feel like things ended the way they should have, and I love that this was a standalone that wrapped up nicely. Great debut!

Rating: 4/5 Devils!