A queer analysis of the horrors of the dating scene where you may potentially vanquish demons along the way. This narrative appealed to me the moment I saw a fiction related to the paranormal, a fixation on the undead, and a setting in the Bronx. The title grabs you immediately and you are hooked as soon as you meet Alan and his boyfriend. A dark comedic approach to horror that is quite delicious with visceral descriptions. This is not just another horror boring horror novel! What is more terrifying – the thought of ghosts and paranormal entities existing or being stuck in a vacuous relationship?
As a Bronx girl I wanted to see the setting come alive. Now the cheesy fake occult store fits in. What I would have loved to see more is for the setting to come alive with the story. The readers are invited through dialogue and sometimes scene building what this New York City landscape looks like. However, I feel like this novel could have taken place anywhere and given the same narrative. Boy meets boy and boy becomes deeply entrenched in the world of the paranormal. I may be harsher on this because I wanted to see more of this personally.
Finally, the plot was a fun adventure. The build-up comes alive through dialogue and the interactions with others and maybe otherworldly others. What are demons through a non-Christian perspective? That is a great discussion that this narrative deconstructs consistently and begins to pose the variations of demons we see in our lives. Is it Regan being possessed in the exorcist or is the stagnancy of the people around us that suck our will to live? I absolutely loved this narrative as a metaphor. All opinions are my own. Thank you D.A Holmes and Netgalley for this advanced digital copy.
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4.25 rounded to 4 for netgalley and goodreads!

thank you so so much to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc!!!

this was so good i could get on the ground and weep. i wasn't expecting much just by looking at the cover but oh boy this blew my expectations out of the water.

this is very much both a horror mystery as well as a queer 'love' story. i put the quote marks because it isn't love, it's the idea of it. but setting that idea aside first, i was very fascinated by the nercromancy bob's occult shop because 1) i am into the occult as an idea in media and 2) i love horror. so i was super excited about piecing together the puzzle of bob (robert shelley) and i thought the pseudo cozy horror setting of alan working in the shop and figuring out stuff, serving the regulars like norma and cat the pagan witch was fun.

and then it got darker and it felt more like the conjuring movies. spoilers ahead, obviously. i was expecting bob to be trying to raise the dead, but to actually be a murderer (the unnamed one in the first chapter no less!!) on top of grave digger and necromancer was crazy. i think the turning point was the seance when the candle got shoved in his eye. it got so dark and darker still.

like alan, i was charmed by bob and though his love advice was pretty shit i thought he wasn't shady, i too was tricked into thinking he had layers, trying to ressurect his dead wife. but the whole thing where he lied and is trying to make her take him back by ressurecting the dead mother in law who never liked him is batshit insane.

but nevertheless i think his ending was fitting. i liked that final act with the banishment ritual, it gave me conjuring vibes and i was here for it.

this whole thing with bob and ressurection is also am allegory for toxic love, as seen through alan and matteo. the gaslighting, narcissistic a-hole i refuse to speak more about, but i'm so happy that alan is finally empowered again after losing himself in men who don't care about him.

"that version of him might be lost forever. but he could at least try to fix some of those mistakes and, for once, stand up to the people who mistreated him." literally GO ALAN.

i am so excited to read the author's backlist and whatever comes next.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy!

This damn book!! What started as 'oh this looks like something I would enjoy reading' to could not put it down, I was very pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this read. D.A Holmes is great at setting the scene/atmosphere and character description, which made this horror/thriller/romance/dark comedy captivate me straight away.

I enjoyed Bob's introduction at first on the video, listing all of his services including 'personalised ghost tours around new York city, (limited to parties of 3 or how many we can fit inside my Toyota)'. His character development throughout was incredibly strong and descriptive, without revealing too much too soon at the same time. I was feeling sorry for him, then scared of him and vice versa throughout the book, and the author was good at changing this so often whilst maintaining a smooth storyline.

I loved Alan's character, and past me resonates to him so much!! Trying not to give out spoilers in this review but every time Matteo did him wrong I felt that so much, and I am so glad he did what he did in the end. Was rooting for him throughout! From the start of the book we learnt about his anxiety in general and surrounding his relationship, but throughout the book it seems that his realisations are more than just anxiety, they may also be partially true.

When the lines started to blur for Alan, that was when I really noticed how much was going on in this book, it was so much crammed into one book that it was packed with twists, lore, past lives of characters, I only wish it was a bit longer because I would have loved to have read more about this and more about Bob's life in particular. Aside from that I don't really have any criticisms that stood out to me, this book was like it was written for me its everything I love in one book, carefully written and haunting in more ways than one.

The ending was not rushed, but was written well and the author took their time to again set the scene, introduce the characters and avoid too much of the religious tropes that often come with banishing demons and the occult etc, which was quite refreshing to read as it can be overdone.

4.5 stars out of 5 rounded up to 5 :)

I read this as an Advanced Reading Copy on my Kindle, thanks to NetGalley and the Author, D.A. Holmes for the opportunity!

I went into this book with no expectations. I chose it in part due to the description, cover and title - all of which were appealing to me. It quickly turned into a page turner I could not put down, and I finished it within a few days.

The character development (specifically, Bob) is excellent, the descriptives are fantastic, and the plot itself is intriguing and so well-written. The story is unique, and moves along at a fairly good pace; not lingering too long in any one place. There was no point in which I felt like I was skipping over to the next words or chapter.