“She was something more now – and something less.”

• This Fatal Kiss by Alicia Jasinska
• Published on September 24, 2024 by Peachtree Teen
• Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, LGBTQIAP+, Studio Ghibli Vibes
• Tropes: Monster Romance, Found Family, Enemies to Lovers, Matchmaker, The Hot Nerd, Denial Is A River In Egypt, The Heavens Want Me To Have Two Boyfriends
• Spice Level: 🌶️
• Anne’s Rating: 6.8 out of 10

The town of Leśna Woda has everything: bath houses, festivals, demons, water goblins, delicious food, an exorcist, dress shops, churches that the exorcist is not allowed to go into because he’s too witchy woo-woo for the clergy, hot boys, small-town charm, and rusałki (girls who died in the river and are now water nymphs). It’s a vacation destination for the wealthy, as the springs within the bath houses are imbued with magic that can heal you, increase your power, or make you more beautiful. This is a world where monsters are real, but it’s not a big deal.

This Fatal Kiss follows Gisela, a rusałka determined to regain her humanity by getting a human to kiss her – a cure that hasn’t even been proven to work yet. After Kazik – the local exorcist – fails to use his powers to get rid of Gisela, they strike up a deal: Gisela won’t tell anyone that it seems the saints have abandoned him as long as Kazik agrees to help her get her kiss. There’s just one problem: he’s also crushing hard on the boy she’s set her sights on – Aleksey. Kazik does his best to make Gisela appear as human as possible in order to convince Aleksey to like her – but Aleksey has secrets of his own he’s keeping from both them. Secrets that could change everything.

I really enjoyed the found family aspect of Gisela, the other rusałki, and Wojciech – the powerful water goblin who watches over them all. She’s not used to the adults in her life caring about her – and it takes time for her to realize that although she doesn’t like where she is, she’s found something she’s always needed. She’s found people who care about her and allow her to just be a girl instead of the caretaker she was for her brother. Then there’s Kazik, who starts out with deep prejudices against demons and spirits. He believes that they’re one-dimensional beings filled with hatred for humanity, and that they should be exorcised before they can hurt anyone. But the more time he spends with Gisela, the more he realizes how maligned these creatures have been by humanity. He begins to see them as individuals instead of collective terrors.

The world Jasinka has created can be a little confusing at times – not in the plot but in the setting. I spent a good chunk of the beginning thinking this was taking place in Ye Olde Days, only for phone booths and buses to be mentioned. There are certain turns of phrase that, while funny, seem very out of place – “Sky Daddy” and something being “a whole mood”. I think this kind of language was sprinkled in as a way to relate to the teens of today and how they speak, but it feels a bit like it’s dumbing things down just to be trendy. My main issue with this book is that it ends so abruptly at a place that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. It felt like there was around five or so chapters left in the story, but it instead stops at a place that feels almost mid-sentence. It doesn’t feel like there’s necessarily enough left in this story for it to be a series, but surely that must be the plan (even though I found no evidence that a second book is in the works). I really wish this had been a self-contained story, or that the next book had been better set up – because right now I don’t know what the next book would even be about.

Overall, this was a fun read. I think a high schooler would especially enjoy it – there’s enough romance and traces of spiciness without it being explicit. The polyamorous relationships are depicted extremely well and evenly – this is a group of people who all love each other equally, even though they are fiercely denying it to themselves for most of the story. It’s chock-full of queer representation (homosexuality, bisexuality, pansexuality, gender expression) which is portrayed in a very real, normal way. The Slavic folklore elements really help push the Studio Ghibli vibes – and the pronunciation guide at the start of the book definitely comes in clutch. If you’re a fan of YA fantasy and have been wanting to see other kinds of love depicted in the books you read, I would definitely pick this one up!