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Phantasma by Kaylie Smith

Paranormal romance

Phantasma

by Kaylie Smith

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Quick take

Welcome to Phantasma! A haunted mansion modeled on the nine circles of hell, where falling in love poses fatal risks...

Gruesome

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, 400

    400+ pages

  • Illustrated icon, Graphic_Content

    Graphic violence

  • Illustrated icon, Haunted_House

    Haunted House

  • Illustrated icon, Very_Spicy

    Extra Spicy

Synopsis

Welcome to Phantasma.

There are only two rules to the game. Stay alive. And don’t fall in love.

When Ophelia’s sister disappears, there is only one way to save her. Ophelia must enter Phantasma, a deadly contest inside a haunted mansion, and claim its prize—a single wish. Phantasma is a maze of twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, of demons and temptations. Ophelia will face nine challenges, each more dangerous than the last. There can only be one winner, and the other contestants will stop at nothing to eliminate their rivals.

Every day the house creates new monsters. But just as Ophelia’s fears threaten to overwhelm her, a mysterious stranger offers her a bargain. Charming, arrogant and infuriatingly attractive, Blackwell claims he can guide her through the lethal trials ahead. All he asks in return is ten years of her life.

Ophelia knows she shouldn’t trust him. Blackwell doesn’t seem dangerous, but appearances can be deceptive. Worse still, she feels a dark and irresistible attraction drawing them closer and closer. Her life is on the line.

But in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart…

Content warning

This book contains mentions of self-harm.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of Phantasma.

Phantasma

1

MIDNIGHT SPELL

Moonlight glinted off the gilded locket clasped around the corpse’s cold neck.

Ophelia Grimm unfastened her mother’s heart-shaped necklace with fervor before stepping clear of the spell circle and reaching beneath her loose, umber curls to secure the familiar bauble around her own throat. A shiver ran down her spine when the chilled metal settled against her skin, and her flesh prickled beneath it.

Ophelia sank to her knees on the left of her mother’s pale corpse, her sister, Genevieve, watching a few feet away in rapt silence. Tightening her grip around the silver blade in her hand, Ophelia pressed its sharp tip into the soft, ivory flesh of her inner arm. The slice was deep but precise, drawing enough blood that it dripped and pooled onto the ground before her and dyed the delicate white material of her nightgown a macabre shade of vermilion. The scent of iron and salt was pungent.

Ophelia let the blade clatter to the floor, and Genevieve flinched like a spooked hare. Ophelia ignored her sister’s cringing as she struck a match, relishing the hiss of the igniting fire in the dead quiet of Grimm Manor. She reached toward the nearest candle and waited for its wick to flare to life, tapping the side of the waxy pillar while she counted each touch silently in her head.

One, two, three.

When the candle finally lit, Ophelia nudged it into place within the spell circle, and the rest of the pillars around Tessie Grimm’s lifeless body instantly ignited. The Grimm sisters’ shadows stretched all the way up to the ceiling as the velvet curtains billowed violently.

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Why I love it

Enter Phantasma, where survival and heartache dance in a deadly game. Kaylie Smith’s latest novel will draw you into a labyrinthine arena of peril and temptation, a realm of shifting dangers and dark allure, that promises only one victor and one hell of a game.

Ophelia’s mother has died, her sister has disappeared, and her world has turned on its head. To rescue her vanished sister, Ophelia must enter Phantasma and navigate nine treacherous—and increasingly deadly—challenges. The mansion conjures nightmares and adversaries daily, pushing her to the brink and reminding her that she is all alone.

Except, she is not. Blackwell—charismatic, enigmatic, and non-corporeal—makes Ophelia a deal: guidance in exchange for ten years of her life. Blackwell and his offer are both a lifeline and a potential trap, and as Ophelia moves through the game, their relationship takes on a life of its own. The one thing Ophelia knows for certain: she must tread carefully, for in Phantasma, love can be as deadly as the game itself.

Haunting, thrilling, and seductive, Phantasma will envelop you in a gothic atmosphere where every corridor conceals danger, and love could result in death.

Member ratings (2,271)

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