sadly dnf'ed. this had so much potential but just wasn't really gripping to me, however I still encourage everyone to give it a shot since my opinion may not be the same as yours:)

2 1/2 stars
Essentially this isn’t a bad book, in fact it’s actually quite enjoyable at times, but I struggled at times with this one. Like I said, it’s typical YA, nothing new but it’s familiar and sometimes that’s the comforting read you need and the gothic side of things was enjoyable.
What I really struggled with though was the romance, enemies to lovers isn’t my thing but bias aside, this felt a bit of a stretch and there were sections I had to skim read. Wren, who couldn’t handle a boy in pain at the start of the book, and betrays her best friend and loses everything because she couldn’t bear it, falls in love with a guy who killed hundreds of people, including innocent civilians and CHILDREN, and it isn’t even that slow a burner because she starts checking him out pretty quickly. But it’s ok because even though he killed hundreds of people, he feels really bad about it and he says it constantly, I mean constantly, but he also isn’t so consumed by guilt that he doesn’t indulge in pleasure and pursue a relationship even though he admits he doesn’t deserve her. Genuinely I didn’t get how Hal was a mass murderer and it was turned into the love interest because on hindsight he knew it was bad of him. Wren too is unbearable at times, the message of this book is how it’s good (and not weak) to act out of kindness and to listen to your heart. But actually Wren felt incredibly selfish at times and she didn’t seem to guilty when she hurt people - her best friend Una, who she is apparently in love with, is suffocating at times yes but she’s being protective, she trusts Wren, tries to reason her side with Wren, and because Wren wants to do something, she uses her magic to betray and subdue her best friend. And then while away she barely thinks of this friend she was near obsessed with, or her other best friend who is missing - she is more distracted by Hal and her feelings for him. Oh but she doesn’t understand why Una might not trust her, after doing that to her. I wanted to like her but her entire character is about the need to be loved, by her Aunt the Queen, by Una, by Hal...I never saw her without being attached to someone and feeding off their addiction.

Una is an amazing character, truly the book needed more of her, she was complex, exciting and fantastic and, for me, the person I looked up to.

So many people have been loving this and ooh-ing and aah-ing over the romance that I thought I'd love it too, but I knew within the first 10% that this wasn't working for me. Of course, the two main characters hadn't met yet so I kept going just in case things got better, but alas it was not to be.

A simple story like this requires brilliant characters, but I found it lacking both plot-wise and character-wise. I was never invested in the war or Wren and her relationships, and nothing truly surprising ever happened; in fact, the story and the romance were straight out predictable. There was no depth to the characters, which kept me from becoming interested in them, and the romance was flat — Wren and Hal didn't have chemistry and instead just followed the ABCs of two characters liking each other because they're spending time together. There wasn't really a good reason for them to be together: it just happened because of course that's what we expect based on the synopsis.

I'd gone into this expecting a gorgeous fantasy with a sharp plot and an angsty hate-to-love romance crackling with sparks, but instead I got a rather bland, simple story that never managed to maintain - or even pique, really - my interest.

As pleased as I was to learn that the publisher had "granted my wish" to review this title, it sadly did not live up to my expectations.

The cover is fantastic and it drew my attention right to it. I was intrigued by the premise of a gothic romance. Unfortunately, I think I misinterpreted what this book was about. As I started reading, there was no gothic feel at all, and things seemed to be veering much more fantasy than I cared to read. This made it hard for me to really connect and want to read more.

And while Saft's writing is quite lovely, the story itself never held my interest. This is mostly subjective and nothing I can really pin my finger on, but it just felt overly long and I often found myself wandering off to read other books and never had that "gotta get back to it" feeling with this one.

Many thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for making this copy available for me to review.

Down Comes the Night was a very enjoyable read. Wren was a likable protagonist, and I loved her relationships with the other characters. The magic system was very interesting. I loved the Gothic manner setting. The only thing that kept me from rating this five stars is that I found the mystery/intrigue to be pretty obvious and lacking suspense.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinion was not affected by the free copy.

I'm afraid I'm going to put this on my DNF pile at 30%. I knew this would be a romance going in but I was also expecting a gothic feel. The first thirty percent of this book was not that at all. It was more like a war story, which is fine, but I quickly lost interest once that plot was abandoned. A part of me is curious to see if anything that was done in the first 30% comes back at all but for whatever reason the story didn't grab me enough to actually invest the time.

I wish that this was less about magic, though-- that Wren was a healer in the sense of a nurse or a doctor. I also wish that more was done with the idea of showing mercy versus a more hardened view of prisoners of war. I think that sort of topic would've been very interesting to explore. The gothic feel was missing and I'm guessing that comes in later, though that's kind of a weird tone shift from talk of the military and war.

Not much else to say. The book just wasn't for me.

I could not get into this book! Maybe it is because it was my most anticipated book? But I just couldn't read past half way.

There’s so much to love about this book. The atmosphere created by the author is truly stunning. So much detail is put into the world and everything about it. Details like the weather are explained so beautifully and it perfectly helps set the mood of the scene. Also, the house where a good chunk of the novel takes place felt like a character in itself. Reading the descriptions of the creaking walls and the chilling sounds coming from down the hall filled me with the best sort of spooks.

I really enjoyed our characters. Wren was a force to be reckoned with, a force of <i>good</i>. She was kind and smart and altruistic. She felt so many emotions and let those emotions be her guide and her power, and I can greatly respect that.

Hal was someone I was instantly intrigued by. I knew there was more to his story and I was eager to know it.

The way the romance played out was super unexpected for me but it was incredibly sweet and beautiful. These two people truly took the time to get to know each other and to understand each other’s backgrounds. In the end, I could truly see how perfect they were for each other.

Something to note is that this book is extremely dense with world building and themes. It can definitely be hard to follow at times, though it is worth it to reread a paragraph or two to make sure you understand. It took me about a week to read and I believe it was because of how thick the world building is and how dense the material is.

overall, I would absolutely recommend this to my friends. Especially if you enjoy moody, gothic atmospheres.

Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft was a book that swept me away! I instantly loved the story and characters, and all of it sparkled with the magic of Saft’s storytelling. I empathized with our heroine’s struggles of being overly emotional in a world that wanted her to be cold. I felt for our heroes every triumph and fall and raced through the book to reach the end only to be sad to leave these characters. While the story was somewhat predictable, it was in a comforting way of knowing things will be okay in the end even though they look bleak at the moment. Anyone who loves gothic fantasy, underdog stories, strong heroines, and enemies-to-lovers will adore this story!

Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft will be published on March 2, 2021.


Thank you to St. Martin’s Press / Wednesday Books and NetGalley for this eARC.

Thank you to Wednesday books and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! I absolutely love this cover. It captured the darkness and mystery of Colwick Hall quite perfectly. I loved this book. The beginning didn't hook me and was off to a bit of a slow start for me, but once Wren got to Colwick Hall everything changed. This book is incredible. There are so many things going on. The characters will take hold of your heart and have you rooting them the whole way through. Hal Cavendish, yes please! This book is gritty and emotional and dark and romantic and downright amazing. I was definitely blown away! Such a well written book that will appeal to all kinds of readers!

Romantic, chilling and eerie, this atmospheric tale has a little bit of everything that a reader could want. Wren is a soldier and happens to have the magical ability to heal, which certainly comes in handy in her war-torn country of Danu. However, a mishap lands her in hot water with her Aunt, Queen Isabel, and she believes her career as a soldier is over. While Wren is pretty much banished to a monastery, she receives a letter from a neighbouring country that could possibly change everything. And, to be honest, it does change everything. This book has the spooky vibes of a secluded, snow-covered mansion mixed up with a slow-burning romance that I did not see coming. This is a must-read for 2021! And thank you Netgalley for this ARC!

Thank you Net Galley for an ARC of Down Comes the Night. The forbidden romance was beautiful start to finish. Thank you

A magic healer accept a request to mend the nobility. Wren does this to avoid her superiors and the tense situation. But at the dark and old mansion she finds out the guy she has to heal is the enemy of the empire. I really liked Wren as a character. Just , empathic and kind even in war but she does have to struggling with helping the enemy. It's great to see a bisexual female character falling for a guy, to only depict on kind of love is bi erasure. I really enjoyed the writing but Saft was to verbose. And the pacing was of at times. I expect a gothic queer novel what the marketing promised but I found a warring wintery fantasy novel. Which many people will love .Were comes the night has debut problems but I can't wait to read Saft future work .

A fantastic gothic story with magic and romance.

This story is a detailed world of healers and mages. A young girl must find a way to save her country from the enemy but that could mean working with the enemy to save them both.

A must read for fantasy fans!

I really thought this book would be great and I'm glad to say it was! I really liked the world created and the characters too. The story was really captivating and escalated quickly while still staying interesting even when everything was at its peak.

If I were to critique one thing about this, it would be the characters of Jacob and Una. They seemed to only be developed as Wren knew them with no backstories that didn't involve Wren, and due to lack of information about him, I wasn't sure why Wren was so committed to finding Jacob in the first place.
In addition to this, I think the villain might've been revealed a little too quickly and obviously. However, I do think that this book was otherwise quite good and had a certain element of mystery.

This is great for people who like dark fantasy. Like I said before, it's very mysterious, although the enemies-to-lovers piece takes the stage more than the possible kidnapping/murder investigation. It's a great romance and better than okay mystery and I'd definitely recommend it. Again, my main issue was just with the supporting characters, not the book itself.

I did not love this book. I wanted to, it had all of the right ingredients--countries at war, magic, royalty, etc. But, in the end, there were just too many ingredients competing for prominence in the story. There was a love triangle, countries at war, forbidden love, family drama, magic, disappearing soldiers, religion, a mysterious lord, it was just too much. I think that the piece that seemed the most off to me was the love triangle (I am not a huge love triangle fan). I skimmed to the end to find out what happened, but the book failed to hold my deep attention.

Thanks NetGalley and publishers for the free EARC

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of Down Comes the Night.

The synopsis really sounded fantastic to me. Unfortunately, it didn’t deliver. This wasn’t particularly Gothic, although the setting had potential. Who doesn’t love a creepy castle in the middle of nowhere? But otherwise, the writing really lost me. It’s very detailed (which is fine) but I found the plot was lost beneath it. The beginning of the book had a totally different tone than when the MC ended up at the castle, and I didn’t love the transition.

I appreciated having a bisexual MC and her struggle to come to terms with her morals, values, and vows as a healer against the morally difficult situations she often found herself in. But the plot was more of a romantic murder mystery for me, and it just didn’t give me the story I craved. The romance wasn’t my favourite, I’m not a big fan of enemies-to-lovers.

I recommend checking out some other reviews however, as many people really enjoyed this and maybe it was just me!

This book was filled with gorgeous prose and a completing romance! Enjoyed seeing the main character's medical knowledge mix with her magic in a unique way!

I received this book for free as a review copy.

I had such high hopes for this book. Really I did. But unfortunately I DNFed it 238 pages in.

My two main issues with this book were that there was way too much telling and very little showing and the characters felt held at arms length. Both of those things conspired in a way that I just couldn’t connect with this book or feel invested in where the story was going.

I think Saft had a decent world to work with, but it felt underdeveloped as a whole. While the political/war aspects of it were given a good amount of detail, the hierarchies and general environment of the world were lacking in detail. The magic system also felt like Saft needed just a bit more time to fully develop it, though I know from peeking ahead that the magic system is discussed further along, so it’s possible this was better developed before the end of the book, I just felt like 200+ pages into a 400 page book, I should understand how the magic system functions.

Wren was the best developed of all the characters, which makes sense, since the book is from her perspective. All of the other characters felt a bit hazy. Even Hal, who we sent a considerable amount of time with felt flat. It felt a bit like the side characters would pop in and out of the story without any real rhyme or reason.

I feel like i’m being overly harsh, which i don’t intend to. It’s not that it was problematic or terrible, it was just average. It had the feeling of a 3 star read for me, and at this point in my life, I know I have books on my selves that I will enjoy reading much more.

Book: Down Comes the Night
Author: Allison Saft
Rating: 1 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Wednesday Books, for sending me an ARC.

I think I am one of the few people who did not enjoy this book. There really is no other reason than the fact that it wasn’t for me. In terms of YA, I would call this one average. However, it’s win this book tries to stand out that makes me lower the rating. I can tell that the author did try to make this a little bit different than other YA books. However, it was missing something to make it really stand out. The author did attempt to make this different, but it just didn’t stand out. That is getting to be the struggle with YA that I have. It’s getting to the point where each story is starting to become the same and nothing really stands out anymore. Now, there are exceptions to this and, sadly, this isn’t one of them.

I felt a really deep disconnect from the characters. I could tell that they were really complex and thought out, but I just felt nothing for them. There was just something missing from them. I found myself really wondering if I was supposed to be cheering for them or what. The fact that the author was at least attempting to make her characters stand out. However, it felt like we had seen this done before and it just doesn’t work. It felt like Allison was trying to work all of the aspects of YA that she enjoys into her characters and it doesn’t work. She should have stepped out and thought a little bit more about the elements of YA that she liked and made them her own. I really don’t know what they needed to make me feel for them-I guess.

The world was interesting at first, but I soon found myself like of disconnected from it as well. The first few pages did manage to grab me and hook me, but I just found myself losing interest in it the more I read about it. It almost felt like the author was trying to make her world stand out, but failing at it. It felt like a cookie cutter world, which is normally fine. However, it felt like the author was trying way too hard to make her world fit into what she had in mind and it doesn’t work. She should have let the world form on itself and let it go from there. I think this would have given the book a better touch and take.

However, I do think that this comes all down to the writing. Like I said earlier, the book did hook me in the early stages, but I found myself losing interest. It’s clear that the author can hook an audience, but something needs to be done to keep that interest. I read a lot of fantasy and I’m used to the first book in the series being about the world. However, this just didn’t work. The writing was very detailed, which is fine. However, this detail got in the way of the story and caused the story to be lost. This is a problem and one that needs to be fixed. The writing is supposed to carry the story, not lose it.

This was just a case of the book not being for me. This book comes out on March 2, 2021.