I will be continuing to read the rest of this series. And I have high hopes for progress of the book qualities moving foreword. EDIT: The author went on to apologize in two TikTok’s, seeming kind’ve sincere in saying that Goodreads is for readers, and not authors or publishers. but then… she deleted them less than a day later? ok interesting…… The repetition. Piper obviously settled on a few key phrases to describe each character and then used them to death. After the tenth use, we get it- Amaris is the ivory, moonlit girl and Nox is the raven that smells like plums and cinnamon. Millicent wears too much vanilla. Etc.

I finished this book last night but forced myself to wait a day before writing this review due to the sheer amount of emotions I was feeling.Passing off someone else’s original work, simply with new names, as your own work, is a shitty thing to do.

The book is intended for the adult category, and while it does contain mature themes and content, I thought that the book read like YA. I would be surprised if it ended up shelved in the adult section - unless the series pulls an SJM and has to be moved in the future…. EDIT TO ADD: The author advertises this book as dual-POV, and it’s not. It does primarily follow the story of two main protagonists, but it’s a 3rd-person-omniscient POV that switches between all primary and secondary characters’ heads at random points in the text. The slow pacing makes this extra confusing to the reader.

For fantasy selling points, this book features fae, dragons, magic in multiple forms, and a map of the world you're exploring through this story. This book also has impressive religious commentary, exploring the multifacetedness of religion and religious trauma.

Nox throws a hissy fit because her powers of seduction don’t work on Ash, so instead, she meets a plot device child who gives her convenient information about where ‘the demons meet’. And Nox…asks this strange child if she can hug her, which is the weirdest shit ever. Who asks to hug a completely random child they just met? Also, the narration surrounding the hug is one of the creepiest things I have ever read. First, she wants to squeeze the little girl until she disappears. She says the hug is the best hug she’s had in years and then FOLLOWS THEM HOME. In an attempt to mimic the long-winded prose of the high-fantasy genre, the prose is overwrought. It's an attempt to be descriptive or lyrical, but comes off as a beginner attempting to mimic the greats. This also causes scenes to be far too long, ruining any sense of immediacy in dynamic scenes. The pacing issues are not limited to individual scenes, but the entire narrative as well. Piper herself was gracious enough to send me an early access copy for review. I bear her no ill will, and any comments trying to spark tension will be deleted. TL;DR: Read this book if you like sapphic rep, rich imagery, fae and magic, deep world building, and slow burns. DISCLAIMER: the ONLY reason why i am being so scathingly honest with my review is because of the author, editor, and other people bullying readers in the comments on goodreads for reviewing a book they have every right to give their honest opinion on WITHOUT getting shit on.If you guessed the Witcher you are correct. But if you guessed Piper CJs book, you are also correct.

But the reality is worse. The scandal is happening right now, and she brought it on herself. The behavior that she’s apologizing for is very much not in the past, and she clearly has not grown or changed (or been held accountable in any way, as apparently many of her followers are willing to fall for her lip service and instantly forgive her). She tries to excuse her bad behavior by calling it “a glitch in the matrix,” or attributing it to mental health, or claiming that being a new author has “a learning curve.” I’m sure it does! But she seems to be struggling on the learning curve of simply being a decent person. I’m also put off by the marketing of this book as the only sort of bisexual representation in fiction. There’s a lot of queer fiction, and even whole queer bookstores, which is not to say there’s ENOUGH queer fiction. The author stated (in her B&N live interview) that she doesn’t actually read much romantic fantasy, which really put a bad taste in my mouth. You can’t claim to be representative of a genre if you don’t know what else exists in that genre. Finally, I had issues with things having nothing to do with style. The relationship between the two girls seems underdeveloped. Basically, Nox and Amaris meet as tiny children, they spend their entire childhood together, and right before they part, Nox confessess her romantic feelings. It feels rushed and forced. There's nothing prior to this that indicates any sort of romance, especially on Amaris' part. (I'm also uncomfortable with the vaguely incestuous implications, even though they're not biological sisters.) To that end, I think much of this stems from the attempt at an omniscient narrator. There are times when the narration is so close to Nox and Amaris' perspectives that it feels like you're reading a third-person limited rather than omniscient, and then are jarringly reminded via scenes from other characters' perspectives. Third-person omniscient is an undertaking, and there's a reason it isn't often used anymore: it's incredibly hard to execute.

How poetic it would be to drift into the sea. Instead, she would bring the sea to her, as all the salt in her body poured from the bottomless well in her eyes.” (ALL THE SALT IN HER BODY is coming out of her eyes?) There are also sentences and metaphors that just plain don’t make sense or are ridiculous. “Curiosity pulled her forward like a physical tether, the desire to know burning hotter than the chill of the night.” To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. It is, simply put, not a good book. As others have said, it certainly COULD be, but it does not live up to the hype. The pacing is off, the prose is purple, and it’s riddled with easily avoidable grammar and spelling errors. But for a day or two, I remained hopeful about the rest of the series. Again: It COULD be good. Fantasy author with an M.A. in Folklore, who loves to take pictures, eat french fries, and live my life as an all-around creative forest nymph! I'm so excited to bring you with me on my journey as I step out of our everyday lives and into the new fantasy world within The Night and Its Moon fantasy series! I love reading queer fantasy, and seeing myself in the bisexual protagonists was a lovely experience. I was greatly looking forward to reading this book, but found it wasn’t quite my cup of tea after all.