Phantasma by Kaylie Smith

Phantasma by Kaylie Smith

Series: Wicked Games #1

Published by Second Sky on September 3, 2024

Genres:  Fantasy, Romance, Romantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Gothic, Dark

Pages:  461

Format:  Physical/Book of the Month

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★★★★.5

🌶🌶🌶/5 spice

Welcome to Phantasma.

There are only two rules to the game. Stay alive. And don’t fall in love.

When Ophelia’s sister disappears, there is only one way to save her. Ophelia must enter Phantasma, a deadly contest inside a haunted mansion, and claim its prize—a single wish.

Phantasma is a maze of twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, of demons and temptations. Ophelia will face nine challenges, each more dangerous than the last. There can only be one winner, and the other contestants will stop at nothing to eliminate their rivals.

Every day the house creates new monsters. But just as Ophelia’s fears threaten to overwhelm her, a mysterious stranger offers her a bargain.

Charming, arrogant and infuriatingly attractive, Blackwell claims he can guide her through the lethal trials ahead. All he asks in return is ten years of her life.

Ophelia knows she shouldn’t trust him. Blackwell doesn’t seem dangerous, but appearances can be deceptive. Worse still, she feels a dark and irresistible attraction drawing them closer and closer.

Her life is on the line. But in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart…

A Court of Thorns and Roses meets Caraval in this seductive fantasy adventure. With steamy romance, a sexy morally gray love interest, OCD rep and jaw-dropping twists, Phantasma is perfect for fans of Rebecca Yarros, Nisha J. Tuli and Carissa Broadbent.

Phantasma was the PERFECT read for October. I absolutely adored this one and am so glad I picked it up from BOTM.

I loved the aspect of this creepy Devil run game that travels around the country and especially the setting of the house they stayed in. If anyone has ever heard of that horrid haunted house, McKamey Manor - this is what it reminded me of but add in hot ghost and some smut.

The games themselves were fascinating and I enjoyed seeing what each trial had to offer. I did wish that we would have gotten to connect with any of the other players a little more. Besides the overwhelming hatred for Cade, we really only see Ophelia interact with Blackwell and the other Devils.

I was thrown for a loop several times which I appreciated - the Sinclair thing especially. But I LOVED that was thrown in I was practically screaming at the book.

The chemistry between Ophelia and Blackwell was definitely SIZZLING. We got a solid 3-4 smut scenes in addition to all the horrors of the trials and the mystery of setting Blackwell free.

Overall I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good dark and gritty fantasy tale that also gives you a healthy dose of romance too. I wouldn’t say it was a dark romance but the darker elements around it made it seem like one.

I will definitely be reading the next in the series when it comes out. But until then I will probably check out some of the authors previous works because I absolutely adored the writing style.

*spoilers below - continue at your own risk*

- I do wish that things with Cade would have lingered and made for a huge showdown at the end. That would have made me love this book even more. Everything that happened just ended way too quickly for my own personal tastes considering how awful he was for the entire book.

- I called Blackwell being the head of Phantasma from a MILEEEEE away. That was a letdown for me but I get it was the big reveal and it makes sense for a great ending. Hopefully more people didn’t see it coming like I did from her first interaction with him.

- I also wanted more from that ending in general. We had literally nearly 500 pages of lead up (which was fine. It truly didn’t feel like the book was dragging) but I wanted that ending to be more drawn out. Or more consequences or something for them. It just seemed too easy.