It's June, and I've found my favourite book of 2024. This is such a beautiful, hopeful story filled with so much sapphic angst, about two women who end up living alone together in the same castle. The romance is beautifully written, watching them navigate their own hurt and loneliness to finally find each other was so emotionally raw.

This sets such a high bar for romance for me, and the way Mina decides to simply turn up and annoy the Witch with her presence every just to get her attention is quite frankly, so me. They both start bonding over their interest in each other's experiences, sharing quiet breakfasts together, and parallel play even makes an appearance, something I really connected to.

Of course, there is the underlying mystery of why Mina is in the castle, and where her predecessors went, and there's a constant awareness that she may be going to her death in this castle. This story blends many fairytale stories together, and I truly had no idea what was going to be revealed when Mina started investigating. This ending of this story is so, so good.