The Crimson Moth - A (Surprisingly) Decent Enemies-to-Lovers Book

    Recently, a friend recommended to me the book The Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli. At first, I was skeptical because it seemed like the usual cringy enemies-to-lovers with no plot, an annoying snarky main character and an even worse love interest, but this book spared me that pain. The book is about the unlikely love story between a witch and a witch hunter.

(WARNING: MILD SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON!!!)

The main character, Rune, disguises herself as a flirtatious socialite, using the men she puts under her spell (literally) to provide information to save other imprisoned witches who weren’t as lucky as her. I enjoyed this part of her character since she appeared to be shallow on the outside to ward suspicion of her being a crafty witch, a nice change from the snarky protagonists which have gotten more popular lately. She uses her status and her words carefully to accomplish her goals.

Unfortunately, there is a love triangle in this book. I despise love triangles, but this one was executed decently. Gideon, the witch hunter, has a brother named Alex, who happened to be one of Rune’s best friends, and helps her free imprisoned witches, unbeknownst to his brother. Although the brother she was going to choose was obvious from the blurb of the book on the back, the ending of the book was surprising enough to tie the whole dynamic together.

Additionally, another enjoyable aspect of the book was that the world building was well done. They explained enough about the history and the actual theory behind magic and spells to make the novel feel well-crafted rather than sloppily put together.

     And one last thing I enjoyed about it , the plot twists! The end slams you in the face with some insane plot twists (some more predictable than others) which really tie the book together.

However, there were some things I didn’t like about this book, one of them being Gideon’s (the witch hunter) annoying coworker Harrow. Harrow, in her suspicion of Rune being a witch, keeps egging Gideon on to deepen their romantic relationship, despite Gideon’s reluctance due to the fact that his brother had a big fat crush on Rune. I genuinely was crossing my fingers waiting for Harrow’s death the entire book, she was so annoying.

Overall, The Crimson Moth is a good read if you like fantasy books with a decent romantic side plot. While this book wasn’t really life-changing, I didn’t end up hating AND I finished it, which is very rare for me as I usually drop books with romance plots halfway through (especially ones with love triangles or worse, love squares!). Bye!

By: Sarah Bijoy