Within These Wicked Walls: the must-read Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

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If the gothic imagery or the magic don’t pull you in, there’s a good chance Andromeda will. As her story unfolds, we find out about her past—her childhood years with Jember, who kept her alive but at arm’s length and acted in ways that were clearly abusive. You also learn how she got that scar that runs down her face, something she’s uncomfortable about, appearance-wise, in the beginning of the book. The characters were all either boring and flat or terrible and obnoxious. There was one i found vaguely interesting as a character but then his personality did a 180 for no discernible interest and I no longer cared. Andi, the MC, has whatever personality best fits the scene and Magnus, the love interest, is somehow both a complete idiot and extremely manipulative. He leads Andi on even though he's engaged and then manages to get her to apologize and make her feel like the jerk. He's crying or whining in almost every scene. I really couldn't hate him more. She raised her eyebrows, her gaze lingering too long on my face, but not looking me in the eye. My scar. I rubbed my cheek like I was soothing a sudden itch, wishing I could take the long mark on my skin with it. I always forgot it was there until I met someone new, and they stared at it like I’d grown a third eye. When a handsome young heir named Magnus Rochester reaches out to hire her, she takes the job without question. Never mind that he’s rude and demanding and eccentric, that the contract comes with a number of outlandish rules… and that almost a dozen debtera had quit before her. If Andromeda wants to earn a living, she has no choice. I loved Andi’s characterization. Her resilience, her survival instincts, her hunger for affection, intensity, friendship, her determination made me connect her. Magnus was charming, entertaining, a little spoiled brat who needs to be slapped a few times but I loved his snarky comments and dark sense of humor. Love story and chemistry between Andi and him was adorable.

I have to admit this is not Jane Eyre’s retelling: the only resemblances with the classic are claustrophobic mansion/ castle premise, names and resilient, young heroine. The horror was extremely disappointing, even more so because it had an interesting premise (evil eye cursed Magnus' father due to his greed, father died and the curse passed down to Magnu). However i was made clear from the start that none of the house manifestations can actually hurt them, so they're basically nothing more than vaguely creepy holograms? Plus, some of the characters seemed to sometimes forget how the curse even worked. The magic could have been really interesting but it was never quite satisfactorily explained so I was left feeling pretty meh about it. I looked like a homely, misshapen doll. But at least I didn’t look homeless. The last thing I wanted was Mr. Rochester to know he’d pulled me directly from the street. I just... really didn't like this. I was expecting brooding slow burn romance in a haunted Gothic mansion with a side of horror. What I got was immature insta-love with a repulsive LI and the occasional MG level "horror" scene.POP SUGAR, "The 55 Best New Books of October" and "11 New YA Books You Won't Want to Miss This October"

Thus, she finds herself at the cusp of adulthood on her own. She needs to start making her own way. When she gets offered a position to cleanse the mysterious Rochester household of a crippling case of the Evil Eye, she accepts. Simply put, i did not like this book and i don’t have a lot of positive things to say about this book. Some foreign travelers called it “exotic.” Others called it “hell.” The second was accurate, heat-wise. But to look at it? Heaven. Salt and iron crusted the land in yellow and rust, making the desert look alive with magic. But even a wonder like that wasn’t enough to get travelers to pass this way, not anymore. What I like about the story: The heroine, Andromeda, is strong, pragmatic, and focused despite the bizarre dangers and her growing attraction to Magnus. This is a story where she is going to have to save the “hero.” He is both the damsel in distress and the dragon she has to defeat, and not just by true love’s kiss or something easy like that. She has to actually fight, intellectually and physically, to save him. The evil manifestations in the cursed mansion are both terrifying and intriguing—bleeding walls, snowfall inside a room, an angry library where book fly at her like projectiles. I like the fact that Magnus is not the traditional alpha hero. He is alternatively charming, childlike, vulnerable, artistic, gruff, tearful, cynical, and sweet. I also enjoyed the side characters, including Saba, a supernatural manifestation who protects Magnus and befriends Andromeda, and Jember, Andromeda’s former teacher and surrogate father with whom she has a fraught relationship.A dazzling retelling of ‘Jane Eyre,’... promises readers a fantastical, edge-of-the seat, swooning-over-Magnus kind of experience.” - THE SEATTLE TIMES The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.

She spends her entire life trying to emulate Jember, which makes sense considering he’s both a father-figure and one of the best debteras to ever live, but she soon realizes that what works for him simply does not work for her. I love that Andromeda is self-aware enough to realize this without someone like Magnus or Jember having to tell her. She has no problem speaking her mind and fighting for what she believes in, even when she’s fighting against someone much older and more experienced. I loved the creep vibe and the narrative voice of Andromeda. She was a fun character to journey through this haunting house with. And towards end nothing really even made sense. There were rules established about how the manifestations work and when they come out and then suddenly those rules don't apply because... Andi doesn't want them to? The climax really didn't make sense and never should have happened the way it did. The evil existence at the castle too powerful, too threatening, too vicious to destroy by 19 years old girl who is not licensed debtera and hasn’t finished her proper education because of the conflicts with her master which resulted with her departure. Now she needs his help because if she accepts the defeat, this means Magnus will lose his life and she is not ready to let him go. She already fell too hard for him.Pixieltd on Reading The Wheel of Time: Taim Tells Lies and Rand Shares His Plan in Winter’s Heart (Part 3) 1 hour ago as a story about evil spirits and curses, however, this is pretty good. and i think readers who enjoy a good old-fashion exorcism will feel the same way. while the world-building is pretty non-existent, there is still a very spooky atmosphere surrounding the castle and its inhabitants. I do wish the audiobook would've gone with a different narrator as I didn't feel like the British narrator fit the setting of this story. I kept getting transported to Victorian mansion instead of Ethiopian inspired castle. I hate when British accent is the default for fantasies not set in even a fictionalized version of England. But I supposed it made sense. No local would dare step foot in a house so saturated by the Evil Eye. Hiring foreigners who were unfamiliar with the curse guaranteed employees would stay, as long as they were paid well.