Book Review: The Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli

The Crimson Moth (The Crimson Moth #1)
Publisher: Magpie
Pub Date: 20 February 2024
Genre: New Adult Romance Fantasy

Panda Rating:

(4.5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Enemies-to-lovers doesn’t get more high stakes than a witch and a witch hunter falling in love in bestselling author Kristen Ciccarelli’s latest romantic fantasy.

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Kristen Ciccarelli’s The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch…is falling in love.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Persecution for witchcraft, mass murder of witches recounted, slavery/captivity recounted, abuse (sexual, physical, mental) recounted, rape recounted, drug addiction, alcoholism, gun violence, torture, imprisonment.

TL;DR: The Crimson Moth was exactly what I wanted it to be and what I needed at the time of reading. If you’re searching for a new adult romance fantasy that will absorb you with its storytelling, keep you immersed with its cast, and grab you by your feelings with the enemies-to-lovers mutual pining and angst, then this is an excellent book to check out! With the slow-building tension and turns of events that lead to an action-packed and heart-twisting ending, I’m fully seated and ready to see where Ciccarelli takes us next. I just need it now! 🤣

Read More »