By Keri Lake (2023)

Romance

★★★☆ ☆ 3 Star Review

Nocticadia takes place at Dracadia University, one of the country's oldest and most prestigious schools, nestled on an island off the coast of Maine. It centers on Lilia, who witnessed her mother's tragic death four years ago from a mysterious, gruesome disease. Since then, she's been trying to understand what it is and how to cure it while also trying to support her younger sister. After writing a paper for one of her classes, she is invited to attend Dracadia. While there, Lilia meets a brilliant professor named Devryk Bramwell, known as "Doctor Death". Lilia believes that he is studying her mother's illness and makes it her mission to become his lab assistant.

“What separates monsters from good men is only a matter of perspective.”

— Nocticadia

Lilia is on the younger side, but I am glad the author did not write her as an immature or needy character. In this book, she made some odd choices toward the middle section, but I loved her relationship with her sister and her friend from back home. I appreciated that Lilias's background came through in her character, and she didn't roll over and take anyone's shit.

Devryk is a grumpy and sarcastic professor at Dracadia University. He is a cat dad, so he gets a couple of extra points; otherwise, he is the classic "hates everyone but her" type of guy. He is an interesting character—probably the best one in this story. I loved all his POV chapters and found his character arc to be better than Lilia's. His backstory was more compelling to me. His past and what he now does for a living were really entertaining to read about.

“That is the tragedy of women, isn’t it? We deny ourselves beauty for the sake of misleading men.”

— Nocticadia

Beautiful writing/atmosphere

The writing was gorgeous, the setting was atmospheric, and the romance was steamy. I loved the atmospheric gothic vibe this book provided. The dark academic tone of this one was perfectly done. I was truly creeped out at times and had trouble figuring out what was real and what might have been Lilia's imaginings.

Scientific language & mystery

The strong, spooky vibes fit the mystery aspect well. I LOVED the scientific aspect of the story involving the medical mystery. It was all so grotesque. You can tell the author put in the work, and that part was very clearly done well.

SLOWWW & underdeveloped plot

The beginning of the book dragged. By 20%, I had already wanted to be fully immersed in the story, and it felt like we were still in a "prep" period. Given that this book is a romance, I would hope the FMC had at least some interaction with the MMC at that point, but they didn't. The plot was all over the place, and things only came together at the end. It felt like there was too much going on at times and nothing going on at other times. Not to mention that parts of the story were very predictable. I won't spoil anything, but one of the biggest "twists" was something I'd seen coming from the start, so there wasn't much wow factor.

“He was moody, like rainy days and bitter coffee. Sensual whispers in dark corners and the slow burn of fine whiskey”

— Nocticadia

Disappointed in the secret society aspect

I really wanted to learn more about the secret society. It felt like it was dangled in front of us initially, and I was really expecting to dive more into it throughout the book, even if we could've learned a bit about how Dev ended up in the society, his place in it, and why he stays, beyond the medical research storyline.

Eh romance

Because I don't need romance in my books, I didn't mind that the FMC and MMC really only interacted until at least 20% in, which is a longgg way in for a 600+ page book. However, the plot wasn't there for me to fall back on, so it was dragging for things to heat up. But then, it went from 0 to 100 in three pages—a little jarring. I also never really got an understanding of why they really "fell" for each other. We follow both characters in first person POV, but I felt they were not on the same page in this world. I did appreciate that no miscommunication tropes were causing unnecessary conflict or drama. Lilia was open about the problems she was being put through, as it gave them time to resolve those things, and the fact that Devryck reassured her every single time. But I just never fully understood or felt the connection/chemistry between them. Like, why was Devryk her type and vice versa? Circumstantially, they're interested in the same things, but like, is that and lust all that brings them together? I don't know. I needed a deeper explanation as to why they were drawn to each other.