The story takes place in a fantasy setting where a plague has ravished the land and there are few survivors. It is told in duel POV format between Seraphina, a Jewish girl living in the castle and pretending to be a dead princess, and Nico, a former nobleman's son living in a nearby manor under the care of a man called Lord Crane. Those in the castle are not allowed to leave, or speak of the plague, and basically have to pretend nothing is going on to appease the mad King. But they slowly start realizing that things seem to not be adding up. Meanwhile, Nico starts to learn that the chivalrous Lord Crane is not who he appears to be. When Nico and Seraphina's paths cross, they begin to unravel the truth of everything that really happened. Its a twisted, wild ride and I'll admit that I really had no idea what was going on. The plot twist was not something I expected at all. The third-person omniscient narration is a little odd at times. It feels as though we are being told everything that the characters are thinking and feeling but we don't really feel it with them, if that makes sense? It causes it to drag pretty slowly at times because there is so much of "they are thinking this and feeling this and remembering that" which doesn't add much to the story. I also felt like the inclusion of Judaism and the constant references to it took me out of the fantasy setting. I understand that the author was trying to include some representation for people like herself, but having a real-world religion interwoven into a fantasy world didn't work for me. It felt too forced and unbelievable. We read fantasy to escape real world issues. Overall though, I thought it was a fairly good read. Would be great around Halloween when you want a creepy vibe. Oh, and the cover is gorgeous! Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read it!