About the Book

*Book one of a duet*

When Ophelia Winters accepts a scholarship at a prestigious Scottish university to prove that her parents' death was the fault of Cain Green, an American aviation tycoon, her plan is simple. Keep her grades up and her head down; the last thing she wants is to wind up in a mafia war or step on the toes of royalty.

Her plan gets off to a rocky start when the mysterious man that almost kills her on her first day turns out to be Cain's eldest son. As far as she’s concerned, Alex Corbeau-Green is a younger version of his billionaire father. A monster hiding beneath a beautiful facade.

Loneliness has been Ophelia’s only dependable companion for years, but when anonymous threats and mysterious occurrences start to haunt her time at Sorrowsong, she wonders if she really can survive there on her own.

Between being paired together for a project and ending up as each other’s alibi for a murder, avoiding Alex becomes increasingly impossible. She begins to fall for the soft heart that hides beneath his hard exterior.

Tormented by a malicious stalker and growing closer to Alex, Ophelia’s desperation for revenge wavers for the first time. Can she really bring herself to pull the trigger on Cain now that she knows the family it’ll split into two?

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Dark Academic Romance - Hate to Love - Slow Burn - University Setting - Murder and Mystery

This work is dark in places and contains several triggers throughout. Please heed the warnings before reading.

Review

I must give credit when due, and Autumn Woods deserves high praise for how atmospheric this felt. Nightshade felt how a dark academic story should feel. It’s very clear that she took her time establishing Sorrowsong University and wanted it to be this dark and mysterious place. I give her all the kudos for that.

She also had a strong setup for the story. Ophelia’s parents are killed in a plane crash, and she’s determined to figure out what happened to them—so determined that she’s willing to attend a university that she promised she’d never attend and do dangerous snooping. I unfortunately was not as keen on Ophelia had I had hoped. I sympathized with her and wanted her to find justice for her parents; however, she felt a little boring. She does have a decent back and front with the MMC—Alex, who has a tragic backstory as well. Though, he didn’t click for me either.

Alex’s father heads the company that produced the planes that Ophelia’s parents tragically died in. When she meets him, she’s oblivious to who he is. That felt a little odd, concerning that he is a public person. Anyway, she quickly learned his true identity and tried to stay away from him. That can only can only go on for so long. I enjoyed the lead-up to their relationship more than them being in a relationship. The book started to drag once they did eventually get together.

Final Thoughts

Nightshade has pretty words and amazing descriptions; however, it losing its steam in the middle. It felt as if the book took a pause for the romance, and then everything felt rushed at the end.

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