Want Me, Take Me, Haunt Me, Make Me
Author: Isabel Crowley
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Paranormal Romance | Horror | Fantasy
Format: eBook (ARC)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Synopsis
Hazel Lewis has survived a séance that went very, very wrong.
The man who hired her turned out to be a serial killer with a demonic contract, and the séance itself was a trap. Hazel escaped with her life, but not entirely unchanged.
A demon bite is spreading through her body, allowing pieces of the supernatural world to bleed into her reality. Even worse, the now dead serial killer is waiting for the opportunity to take over her body if Hazel dies.
Hoping to understand what's happening to her, and preferably keep everyone else out of the crossfire, Hazel retreats to an isolated house.
But isolation proves impossible.
There's a reporter looking for answers, an intriguing neighbor with secrets of his own, and something with glowing red eyes watching Hazel through her window at night.
The supernatural world Hazel thought she understood is much larger and darker than she realized and surviving it may require embracing the very thing she's becoming.
My Thoughts
This was a bit of a mixed read for me because the premise is fantastic, but I don't think the execution consistently lived up to how interesting that premise was.
And considering this is Isabel Crowley's debut, there's definitely potential here.
A séance gone horribly wrong? A serial killer with a demonic contract? A demon bite that's changing our FMC? Said dead serial killer potentially waiting to take over her body?
YES.
Give me the weird demon shenanigans.
In fact, I initially picked this up expecting the romance to be the part that interested me most, but I ended up staying for the supernatural storyline instead.
I wanted to know exactly what was happening to Hazel, what the demon bite was doing to her, how much of the supernatural world existed beyond what she already knew, and perhaps most importantly, what she was becoming.
The first portion of the book worked particularly well for me.
I wouldn't necessarily describe it as outright scary horror, but it had a spooky, unsettling atmosphere that kept me curious. The séance and its aftermath immediately created an intriguing supernatural mystery, and I enjoyed watching Hazel begin to realize just how badly everything had gone wrong.
And then we were introduced to certain supernatural... elements.
Liga. Cough cough.
Moving on.
Where It Lost Me
Unfortunately, once Hazel relocated to the remote house, I felt the story lose some of its momentum.
The pace slowed, but more importantly, the tension that had kept me engaged during the beginning seemed to fade with it.
And as that tension disappeared, so did some of my excitement.
That's ultimately my biggest issue with the book. The concept itself remained interesting, but I wasn't nearly as invested in the second half as I'd been in the first.
I kept wanting the story to recapture that slightly eerie, unpredictable feeling I'd enjoyed so much earlier.
The romance also didn't quite compensate for the slower sections. I originally expected it to be one of my main reasons for reading, but the supernatural plot consistently interested me more.
That isn't to say the romantic side completely failed for me. The spicy scenes were actually handled quite well, and there were elements of the romance I enjoyed. It simply wasn't strong enough, for me personally, to carry the portions where my interest in the larger story started slipping.
Final Thoughts
Want Me, Take Me, Haunt Me, Make Me had a genuinely fantastic premise and a strong opening that immediately pulled me into Hazel's increasingly strange supernatural reality.
I loved the concept surrounding the séance, demonic contract, Hazel's transformation, and the larger supernatural world beginning to reveal itself around her.
Unfortunately, the pacing and tension became less consistent as the story progressed, and I never quite regained the same level of excitement I had during the first portion.
Still, this is a debut, and there were enough interesting ideas here that I'd be curious to see what Isabel Crowley does next.
Not a bad read by any means, just one where I loved the idea and first half considerably more than the overall execution.
⭐⭐⭐
ARC Disclaimer
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.
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