This book was captivating and dark and sexy. I still have so many questions, but I think that's the point haha. Corvina was so easy to picture, she was described so well, and Mr Deverell gave me Lance Orion vibes 🥵
Verenmore was so full of secrets, murder and betrayals. I'd be massively spooked in real life, but I felt safe enough on this side of the page.

Overall a fantastically compelling story that left me both satisfied and wanting more.

My thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Having seen Gothikana mentioned online quite a few times I had high expectations and was looking forward to diving into it, but if I'm being honest with myself I was disappointed. I probably would have given up about a third of the way in and not finished it except I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for it to get better.

I found the characters a little flat, and struggled to engage with them. I wasn't invested in their story, and felt the chemistry between the two main characters was a bit forced. It seemed to go from zero to sixty within minutes of meeting, and stayed on the same trajectory without building a solid foundation first, The side characters also felt a bit one dimensional, more like stereotyped high school figures you might find in American films.

The teacher-student aspect is also something that didn't appeal. The abuse of authority and the controlling nature of the relationship - mentally, physically and emotionally - just left a bad taste. Needless to say I didn't warm to Vad at all.

I did wonder if there was supposed to be a sequel as the big mystery that was the main driving force of the book wasn't resolved and remained unexplained.

On a more positive note the writing itself was just fine, there were a few typos that can be ironed out with editing, but overall it was a disappointing read for me given some of the other reviews I've seen and it's not a book I will recommend.

I absolutely love the world RuNyx created with this book and how we are transported to such a beautiful and gothic world. I have to be honest, I was very intrigued going in, it's not my first gothic book, and the author literally blew my mind. I am obsessed with this book. The author went into great detail about the setting, and the plot is impressive. I hope to see more of Vad and Corvina in the future.

The vibes of this book were dark, spooky and utterly gothic. It was everything I was wanting and more!

We follow 21 year old Corvina as she embarks on a new chapter of her life at Verenmore university. A school that holds many secrets, forever raising questions and theories from the students and towns locals. Enter in the stoic and mysterious professor, Mr Deverell, and Corvina realises she’s potentially walked into a dangerous situation. Whether it’s her life or heart in danger, she’s unsure.

I was absolutely gripped while reading this book. The balance between romance and plot was perfect for me. There was never a moment where I felt bored, and every chapter left me needing to find out more and see what happens next.

I’m a big fan of tension in romances and we definitely get that from Corvina and Vad. They’re drawn to each other from the start, but they both try and fight the temptation due to a relationship between them being forbidden. Of course, as much as they tried to stay away, they couldn’t. The scenes where they finally let go and give in one another were captivating.

I love a book that plays like a movie in my head and this was definitely it! Every scene was so detailed and descriptive, making it easy to see the picture clearly in my mind. At times, I really felt like I was a student at Verenmore myself.

There is a mystery that runs through the entirety of the book and I couldn’t have called it if I tried! It really took me by surprise in the last few chapters and any theories I had myself went straight out of the window at that point.

If you enjoyed watching Wednesday on Netflix then I’m sure you will love this read!

Thanks so much Netgalley and Solaris Books for an advanced copy of this book.

I really wanted to love this book. I saw that so many people loved this book. But I....

I ended up DNFing this book as I just found everything far too cringey about it. I was 60 per cent in and I genuinely could not continue. Despite this book being promoted as a dark academia novel, it sounds more like the iconic fanfiction My Immortal than the dark academia books I have read in the past.

Our main character struggles with 'I'm not like other girls' energy. Her love interest is a lot to take in.

This book just wasn't for me.

Okay so I’ll start by saying that I decided the DNF this book whilst I was 65% in cause I can’t do this anymore. I would like to first say that I was first drawn to the cover and the tropes of the book and I had no idea that it used to be a wattpad book until my friend told me so. I found most part of this book super cringy. Specifically the romance and the smut? Like there was no chemistry whatsoever and the smut? Many words used to describe all the scenes were weird and cringy.. Also the plot felt like it was lacking..

*Thank you to NetGalley and Solaris for providing me with an ARC*

Unfortunatley I had to DNF this one one page 70.
This book had the potential of being great, but the writing style wasnt one i enjoyed. WIth this genre, the gothic, dark academia vibe, in my opinion the writing has to polished and sophisticated, so you feel like you are reading something both devastatingly beautiful, and ridiculously pretentious (aka The Secret History etc).
Without that, this one fell flat. A lot of this writing was telling me rather than showing me, which makes it difficult as a reader to engage because it feels like the book is just talking AT me, rather than showing me a story.
That being said, this could very well be an icnredible book, but personally the writing style made it too difficult to get through.
It also didnt surpise me in the slightest to find out this was a Wattpad book, theres something about Wattpad books that all give off a similar energy. Nothing against them, but theyre basically their own genre at this point.

Hmm, not sure what to say about this, but possibly I'm not the right reader for this book. I don't normally mind sex in a book, but I got a little tired of the sex scenes, and whilst I liked Corvina (in a Wednesday Adams kind of way) I really didn't like Vad. If I had had a lecturer like that at uni, I would probably have run a mile!

However, I probablywill recommend the book, to the right sort of reader, because I'm sure some readers will gobble it up.

Thanks to Rebellion and Netgalley for the proof.

I grabbed this one because the cover was plain gorgeous!! I mean look at that thing!!! But sadly that is where my enjoyment left with this one. I have to say that the writing was not up to par. The characters were a mess and the insta lust and everything doing with the romance was just ugh.

Unfortunately, this one was not for me. The concept was really interesting but the main characters felt weirdly two dimensional for all the details about them. The spice was fine, but I guessed the twist very early on.

1.5 rounded up to a 2

The creepy, gothic vibes in this book were great. The main character and the setting gave me major “Wednesday” vibes. But really, thats all that I liked about this book.

The romance felt very insta-lusty and it did not seem believable that a teacher would enter into a relationship with a student so quickly. I expected more tension and more reluctance before they inevitably got together. The relationship seemed very toxic and more about possession than love. I needed more of an emotional connection rather than just a sexual one.

The writing was quite basic and repetitive, and a lot of the dialogue felt awkward. Some of the word choices and dialogue used in the intimate scenes also made me cringe and made the scenes funny rather than sexy.

I enjoyed the mystery aspect for the most part, and there was a plot twist that shocked me, but ultimately, I was left disappointed. We are left with so many questions and no answers. So many loose ends are left untied, and the main character even mentions this in the epilogue.

I can see what this book was trying to do. But overall, it fell really flat for me.

Thankyou to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Going into this book I was not sure what to expect, especially given the authors opening message that they has never written anything like this before… I was intrigued.

I have read Ru Nyx’s ‘The Predator’ and ‘The Annihilator’ and while I liked them, I loved this. I hope she will go on to write more like this.

The book initially gave me similar vibes to Netflix’s Wednesday — but with more adult themes and without the monsters.

The plot centres around a morally grey professor and his boho witchy vibes student as they fall into lust and then love. There is no third act break up (thank god) and there is a happily ever after.

Together they work to unravel a century old mystery, missing person cases, mysterious deaths and murder, and all with a hint of paranormal meddling.

I think the author did a great job with the plot, and she wrote the characters in such a way I couldn’t help but loved them.

I also appreciated how well the author plotted and discussed mental illness throughout the book.

On negative side, I would have appreciated if the author had included more character descriptions early on into the book. For example with ‘Jade’ I felt as though I had built an idea of her then details of her appearance were revealed near the end and it was vastly different to what I had imagined.

There was also a handful of times that I found the wording of sentences and character dialogue to be strange. I think there would have been better phrasing that could have been used and that would have helped the flow.

But overall I think this is one of my favourite reads of 2023 so far and I hope the ambiguous ending means that a second book is in the works.

This book was a bit unique but lacking character depth. The plot itself was alright although when I read the trigger warnings I was expecting the book to be a little bit more dark. It was not bad per se because of this but I wouldn't say I enjoyed it very much or it will have a special place in my mind. Although the writing was good that it didn't put me off entirely.

I’ve been wondering how to best describe this book, other than a gothical romance which is what’s written on the tin! it’s a bit like a dark steamy version of Hogwarts minus the magic but with a forbidden romance in the mix. Set in Mount Verenmore, a university no one seems to have heard of. One which invites slightly troubled young adults to study there. People have disappeared every five years for over a hundred years. No one in the nearby village ventures up to the mysterious school situated at the top of a mountain because of the rumours of students disappearing, suicides, and the hauntings.
It’s a great and in its own way, a magically read- but it is very dark with some disturbing themes running through it.

An easy 5⭐️recommendation

It was a great concept but I found myself struggling through it at times. I was so excited to read this book and was thrilled to get it early but the relationship lacked for me and personally I’m not a huge insta love trope type.

Gothikana is a gothic dark romance and is so unique and magical than I don’t know why I have waited so long to read it. As usual, check the triggers before you start the book.

"𝐼'𝓂 𝒷𝓊𝒾𝓁𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝓎 𝒸𝒶𝓈𝓉𝓁ℯ 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝒷𝓎 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝓂𝒾𝒹𝒹𝓁ℯ ℴ𝒻 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝓈𝓉ℴ𝓇𝓂, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼'𝓂 𝓌ℴ𝓃𝒹ℯ𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝒻 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝓂ℴ𝓊𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝓊𝓃𝒹ℯ𝓇𝓃ℯ𝒶𝓉𝒽 𝓂𝓎 𝒻ℯℯ𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒸𝓇𝓊𝓂𝒷𝓁ℯ." 𝒮𝒽ℯ 𝓉𝓊𝓇𝓃ℯ𝒹 𝒽ℯ𝓇 𝓃ℯ𝒸𝓀 𝓉ℴ 𝒸𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽 𝒽𝒾𝓈 ℯ𝓎ℯ𝓈. "𝒴ℴ𝓊'𝓇ℯ 𝓂𝓎 𝓂ℴ𝓊𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓃, 𝓂𝓎 𝒱𝒶𝒹. 𝐼 𝒹ℴ𝓃'𝓉 𝓀𝓃ℴ𝓌 𝒽ℴ𝓌 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒹ℴ𝓃'𝓉 𝓊𝓃𝒹ℯ𝓇𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝒽𝓎, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓈ℴ𝓂ℯ𝒽ℴ𝓌, 𝐼'𝓂 𝒷𝓊𝒾𝓁𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝓎 𝒸𝒶𝓈𝓉𝓁ℯ ℴ𝓃 𝓎ℴ𝓊."
ℋℯ 𝓁ℯ𝒶𝓃ℯ𝒹 𝒻ℴ𝓇𝓌𝒶𝓇𝒹, 𝒽𝒾𝓈 ℯ𝓎ℯ𝓈 𝒷𝓁𝒶𝓏𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓀𝒾𝓈𝓈ℯ𝒹 𝒽ℯ𝓇 𝒻ℴ𝓇 𝒶 𝓁ℴ𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝓊𝓉ℯ 𝒷ℯ𝒻ℴ𝓇ℯ 𝓅𝓊𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀. "ℬ𝓊𝒾𝓁𝒹 𝓎ℴ𝓊𝓇 𝒸𝒶𝓈𝓉𝓁ℯ, 𝒞ℴ𝓇𝓋𝒾𝓃𝒶," 𝒽ℯ 𝓉ℴ𝓁𝒹 𝒽ℯ𝓇 𝓆𝓊𝒾ℯ𝓉𝓁𝓎 𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽ℯ𝓎 𝒷ℴ𝓉𝒽 𝓌𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽ℯ𝒹 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝓋𝒾ℯ𝓌 ℴ𝓊𝓉𝓈𝒾𝒹ℯ. "𝐼'𝓂 𝓃ℴ𝓉 𝓂ℴ𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝓌𝒽ℯ𝓇ℯ. ℬ𝓊𝒾𝓁𝒹 𝓎ℴ𝓊𝓇 𝒸𝒶𝓈𝓉𝓁ℯ 𝒶𝓈 𝒻𝓊𝒸𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝒾𝑔𝒽 𝒶𝓈 𝓎ℴ𝓊 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉."

Now, to the review…if this is your first time reading something written by RuNyx you are for a treat and if this is not your first time you know you will love it. Ru has a especial way with word, they surround you, the description and atmosphere clear in your mind and you can see, feel and experience what these characters do, see or feel.

You will love this book if you like
🖤Forbidden love
🖤Dark academia aesthetic
🖤Off limits romance: professor-alumni
🖤Morally grey character
🖤Mystery and spooky moments
🖤“I will burn the world for you”
🖤Dark romance.


Corvina or Vivi is such an amazing character. She is unique and accepts her uniqueness. She is who she is and she would not lower her standards because some may find her odd. Her journey with fear and mental heath is very interesting. She is not a damsel in distress, she is a badass who will fight for herself.
Love her witchy soul and her style.

Vad…the devil of Verenmore is everything we love in a morally grey character: mysterious, attractive, smart and passionate. He is incredibly supportive and he is a romantic you would not expect.

"𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓽 𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓭𝓪𝔂 𝓻𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓼 𝓸𝓷 𝓶𝔂 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓹 𝓼𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓻𝓸𝓸𝓽𝓼 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓻𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓼 𝓸𝓷 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼," 𝓱𝓮 𝓭𝓮𝓬𝓵𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓭. "𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓲𝓷 𝓭𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓱 𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓬𝓱. 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓫𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓽. 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓶𝓪𝓭𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼. 𝓐𝓷𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾, 𝔂𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓪𝓯𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓮."

The castle, the woods, the mystery. You are here for a spooky, witchy adventure and some of the moments are there to make your heart beat like crazy.
Just saying…that shower scene creeped me out.

Do I want to know the answers to those questions Corvina asked at the end? I do!
Do I want to go back to Verenmore? Definitely!

Overall, another masterpiece!

You guys know I can’t resist a pretty cover! Or for that matter a fantasy romance set in a mysterious university on top of a mountain. I’ll admit, I didn’t go into this having high expectations and it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great, but it WAS fun.

Corvina Clemm was invited to this exclusive university and sees it as a wonderful opportunity to begin her life anew. She was from a small village, though she and her mother (who had some sort of unspecified mental illness) lived outside of town near the forest's edge and she was very sheltered. When she begins at the University of Verenmore, Corvina is in her early twenties, though thanks to her upbringing she doesn’t seem that much older than the other new students. She’s not exactly naïve, but she is somewhat innocent and fortunately this aspect of her doesn’t get taken advantage of the way I expected it to. I thought she was going to be the weird new kid that gets picked on, but this is *university* and these kids/adults are so much more *mature*. I was pleasantly surprised that Corvina makes friends quite easily and in this way, the book defied expectations. 

While at first this is just about a girl starting a new life at school, there is a darker, more sinister plot as well. The grounds near the school have some creepy ruins and there are rumors that there was once a cult of some sort operating nearby, plus every so many years on a particular night someone goes missing. Oh, and lest I forget the most important part - there’s a hot graduate student who happens to also be a teacher and Corvina makes *eye contact* with him and they immediately have this connection. My eyes are making contact with my brain right now because I rolled them so hard. That being said, I also devoured this book in a single evening because I couldn’t put it down. The romance theme is very prominent, as this is fantasy romance, and there are several spicy scenes. It starts of with lots of tension, but things quickly escalate. I will note, the buzz online touts this as a romance with an age gap, which I think sounds pretty skeezy. In fact, Corvina is twenty-one and Vad is twenty-seven, so make of that what you will.

This was, like I said, a very fun read that actually had an interesting occult mystery element to it. There were a few scenes that were actually very unsettling and suspenseful and it was awesome! It also had some total cheesiness, like the names Corvina and Vad - don’t they just scream angsty, tortured souls? They both have dark and mysterious pasts and did I mention, he’s rich but is keeping it a secret? Vad is very much the dark and mysterious love interest stereotype. There are definitely an (over)abundance of popular tropes present and the dialogue is kind of stilted and awkward sometimes. I think had this book been read aloud to someone, the awkward dialogue bits would have quickly become apparent. This isn’t a masterpiece but dang it, if you want a dark academia romance this is a good fit!

Starting with the bits I did like, I think the overall atmosphere of the university was well done. The place was creepy, mysterious and dangerous. The plot started out pretty good and I got the sense that it was going to be a good murder mystery but it started to fall apart quickly.

The plot doesn't have a conclusion, there's no proper reason given for why things happen and we're left with lots of questions. There's no reason for the decades of missing people, there's no conclusion for Jade - everything just ends and then we get the epilogue.

I hated the portrayal of home education, people who are home-educated are not hermit crabs, they're not mentally ill, they're not lacking in social skills, and they don't have parents who never let them leave the house. This sort of portrayal is incredibly damaging to the home education system and it really makes me angry that authors use it as an excuse for their characters to be a bit odd and different from what society deems 'normal'.

The rules in the school are absolutely ridiculous, there's no way Vad would still hold a teaching position after having a relationship with a student, her committing suicide and then him going after another student. Not only that but he's so obvious about it that the other students even pick up on it, there's no subtly at all. There's also another professor in the school who we're told likes looking at younger girls during class.

The University ball that takes place is also a major issue in terms of school rules, the whole thing descends into an orgy...at their school?! There are boobs out and blowjobs...in their school hall. I'm sorry but in what world are school orgies a thing?

The relationship between Vad and Corvina is based on sex, there's no time spent getting to know each other. They're very intense with each other and the whole thing is very unhealthy. I enjoy reading dark romances but this wasn't dark, it was outright toxic.

3.75 stars rounded up

Thank you to NetGalley & Solaris for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This is a quick and entertaining read and while I didn't find the characters overly likeable, the vibes are everything. Dark academia can be a bit hit or miss for me but I quite enjoyed the plot here and just wished there was a bit more depth/complexity to the relationship.

The world building & setting are nicely developed and I flew through it in one evening so definitely a page turner!

What else to review on Valentines Day, than a romance? A dark, overly sexed-up, gothic romance, of course! 😉

Corvina Clemm has led a sheltered life, mostly alone with her mother and the pair treated as weirdos and outcasts. There are hints of something darker – but you’ll have to read the book for that thread of the tale!

Now 21 and alone, Corvina has no reason not to take up the unexpected offer to join a university aimed at people like her: those who have had few breaks in life, but would benefit from a little boost. Verenmore University, it turns out, is housed an old castle, on top of an isolated mountain, surrounded by spooky woods…

One of the professors there is the enigmatic Vad Deverell. Rumours are that he’s already caused trouble by getting involved with a student, but all the girls seem to be drawn to the young, sexy teacher. And he seems drawn to a new student, with striking purple eyes…

I’ve got highly mixed feelings about this book, if I’m honest. It was a fun, easy read, with plenty of secrets being uncovered – there’s a lot of mysteries, possible hauntings, and definitely sinister deaths. All of that is great, if perhaps not as strong as it could have been.

However, the ‘romance’ aspect… well. Hmm. I can’t help but suggest that the whole thing is borderline abusive, and definitely an abuse of power. Making Corvina that little bit older than her peers is supposed to help, but she’s so naïve and sheltered that it still comes across as a bit icky. And then there’s the sex. So much, fairly graphic, sex. Now, I’m no prude, but hooo boy. Twice a day, every day. Losing your virginity rather roughly and with this obsession with giant.. yeah. It made me wince, to be frank. It’s… fantasy, not romance. There’s nothing soft or nice about this, or frankly, completely believable. But, as fantasy soft-core porn, it has its merits, haha.

The tone over all was a little confusing. It seems to borrow from fairy tales (and is very not subtle with the namings!), but it’s very not that. It’s not YA – good grief, is it not YA! – but it’s kind of childish in some ways. Or, ‘young’, at least (hey – I’m old!). Is it horror? Are there supernatural elements? Or is it a thriller with spooky red herrings? It doesn’t necessarily matter, since it was mostly fun reading it, but after the event I’m still not entirely sure where it was aiming.

I think I would have scored it all higher if the mystery elements had been concluded more strongly, and without a few elements that cause a bit of eye rolling (students are going missing? Well of course that is normal behaviour in such events. Gah!). I’m willing to overlook the faintly ridiculous tone of the ‘relationship’ side – my opinion, other younger/less cynical readers may disagree 😉 Then again, it does faintly bother me to see younger (teen?) readers swooning over the romance of it all in their reviews, and I just want to shout ‘nooooo!’. Make of that what you will.

There’s a prequel due this summer, I hear, and I might give it a go – I suspect it could lean more into the could-be supernatural shenanigans, and that might work better, imo.