Review Time | This Fatal Kiss by Alicia Jasinska

INFO:

Title: This Fatal Kiss

Author: Alicia Jasinska

Release Date: September 24th 2024

Genre: Dark Fantasy; Romance, LGBTQ+

Editore: Peachtree Teen

SUMMARY:

Spirit away with a whimsical fantasy filled with dark magic and flirty, polyamorous romance.

Cursed to haunt the river running through the magical spa town where she drowned, Gisela is a water nymph who dreams of returning to the living world and the family she left behind. All it takes to regain her humanity is a kiss from a mortal...but everyone sees her as a monster.

And then there’s Kazik, the brooding, interfering, spirit-hunting grandson of a local witch. He's determined to rid the world of unholy creatures like Gisela. After Kazik botches Gisela’s exorcism, she strikes up a deal. She won’t tell the other spirits that he’s losing his magic, if he agrees to play matchmaker and helps her get a kiss. But Gisela’s plan goes awry when Kazik also falls for the devilishly handsome young man that she sets her heart on—someone who could be linked to Gisela’s troubled past.

Finely crafted with a magical setting, this delectable quest through the spirit world is an enchanting read for fans of queer romantasy.

REVIEW:

This Fatal Kiss is Alicia Jasinska's debut novel, a dark fantasy filled with Eastern European folklore and creatures as fascinating as they are deadly. Like the FMC, Gisela.

Once a teenage girl, now a water nymph (a "rusałki"), doomed to infest the waters where she died, terribly close to the nearby town and its exorcist, a boy named Kazik. Clever, cunning, a little arrogant and for sure antisocial, Kazik has learned the old ways from his grandmother and seeks to extirpate evil from Leśna Woda, especially since last year his grandma was viciously attacked alongside him by a forest demon (a "biesy") and that established the downfall of hers, who died mere weeks later.

It's not rare to see Kazik and Gisela fight, especially since the latter has been dreading to kiss a human, the only way to regain her status as a human. The other way to unbid her fate as a rusałki is forgiving or avenging her death, but it means ascending.

Gisela sets eyes on Leśna Woda's Golden Boy, Aleksey, who is also Kazik's crush, and makes Kazik join her as a team to get this kiss. The plan is going well, as Aleksey is smitten with both, but it also spreads doubts, as Kazik stars to question his beliefs, while also getting dangerously close to Gisela.

And dark forces are lurking near, closer than they all imagine.

...

This Fatal Kiss has instantly smitten with me. I'm all in for a dark fantasy exploring less known folklores, and Slavic is one I always look forward to reading it. Jasinska's prose felt magical, dangerously lush like the book itself and its setting.

Leśna Woda's town was magnificently descripted, and I felt it like I was in the own book, with all my senses. But if I have to be honest I think I was way way more intrigued with the characters.

Gisela, the rusałka, is still the young girl she was before dying, and I really liked how she hid her pain with jokes. It's not a game, she wants her humanity back. She misses her life, her young brother, her family... being alive. And she still doesn't know how she ended like this. It's a void which will create a solid plot thread.

Aleksey is the sunshine of the group, the human boy who doesn't know he's being won over by a literally water demon or who tries to hide that he's also attracted to boys. Especially one. But he doesn't want to lose the girl too.

Kazik was the star of the bok, the one with more growth. Short and somehow funny in a non-comical way, Kazik hids himself, is scared of people. But when he sees more, he's not that willing to return into the shell.

I loved the sisterhood in the rusałki group and in its "leader", a kind of water goblin named Wojciech, who feels like a father figure.

The plot twists were crazy, and I don't know how I survived.

From the ending, I hope there will be a sequel because yeeesssss I'll read it for sure!

Rating: ★★★★.25

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I want to thank PeachtreeTeen for the digital ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) via Netgalley. I'm not affiliated to the author, to the publishing house or any other person/agency. My review is honest and based only on my thoughts/feeling while reading the book.

Anais by The Bookish Scorpio