Review: The Exorcism of Faeries by J.L Vampa

Name: The Excorcism of Faeries
Series: Stand Alone
Author: J.L Vampa
Publisher: Self Published
Format: Kindle (through Kindle Unlimited)
Genres: New Adult, Dark Academia, Fantasy, Gothic, Romance
Noted Tropes: Secret Societies, Touch her and Die, Found Family
Spice Rating: Explicit Open Door 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Rating: (Actual: 2.75)

Synopsis: Goodreads
She is the daughter of morticians, studying Botany at Trinity College, Dublin. He is her Morbid Anatomy professor. And the Fae are possessing the good people of Dublin. Only Atta and Professor Murdoch can exorcize the fae, but can they fight their forbidden feelings for one another in the process?

It is said they are but lore.
It is said they are but demons.
It is said this is but a plague.

Wayward spirits.
Ghosts.
Spectres.
Ghouls.
The truth beckons
Tick flick tick
The clock keeps time with the candle
Until they all get sick
Wax slides down the gilded stick
And the Fae invade with bramble

Review:

This is a gothic fantasy, it’s a stand alone, and it’s a Professor x TA/student forbidden romance… Interested? I was too!

I think if you haven’t read Nocticadia (by Kerri Lake) yet, then you would probably have a better time with The Exorcism of Faeires. I say this because I was able to predict where the story was going for quite a bit because I’d read Nocticadia first. These authors aren’t connected, they wrote separate novels, and I think this is just going to be a case of which ever one you read first you’ll probably like more.

Our main characters are both trying to work out what the heck this Plague is all about – when Atta discovers that there are plants growing in the bodies of the deceased where there shouldn’t be any… And she ends up going on a journey to disocver more about the plague, it’s origins and how to combat it. And I did like this idea – it just felt rushed and not very well explained in parts. Which is unfortunate, because with a little bit more writing, I think this could have definitely set it apart from other similar books.

That being said, I did love Atta and Sonder. Atta is our student facing financing trouble, and so she takes a job as a TA for Dr Frankenstein in hopes of saving her tuition at Trinity College (oh, before I forget, it’s set in Ireland!). Sonder is the aforementioned Dr Frankensein, working as a Professor and generally not well liked, though admittedly hot. We have POV chapters from both characters, and I did like that! I got to like both characters separate of each other before I got on board with the idea of any romance. Just a very quick complaint – the chapters weren’t numbered!! This might be one of those stupid peeves of mine because I was irrationally annoyed by this.

The slow burn for these two wasn’t bad actually! But I can’t help but question if that’s because I didn’t actually like the idea of them together until they were essentially together? Like, I really understood that these two did not like each other, did not get on, and wanted very little to do with each other – until that changed. But I definitely swooned when he started calling her darling or a stór – Sonder won me over quicker than Atta did in terms of believing the romance, for sure!

I also liked that each of them kind of brought together a found family – even though neither side necessarily began as a found family – by the end they were. And as you know, this is one of my favourite tropes!! I love the main characters being supported by a chosen family!

Unfortunately, I don’t think I will find myself recommending The Exorcism of Faeries (unless you haven’t read Nocticadia, then why not give it a shot) because it didn’t totally work for me. But I liked the main characters, and the premis was good – it just needed a bit more work!

Actual rating is 2.75 stars.

“If we need plausible deniability, we’re already fucked, a stór.”⁠

Reading With Tyler