If you could get rid of your worst memories, would you?
Juliette and her older sister Clare have always wanted to visit The Splendor. The magical hotel brims with decadence and luxury, promising to once in your life make your wildest dreams come true. Juliette dreams of it fulfilling the emptiness of growing up without parents at a children’s home. When Juliette finally saves enough to send one of them, she chooses to send Clare, the older sister who loved her and made the children’s home bearable. But then Clare comes back, and she doesn’t want to be around Juliette anymore.
Heartbroken, Juliette steals the rainy day fund she and Clare were saving to buy their own place and books herself a reservation at The Splendor to find out what took Clare away from her.
The glitz of the The Splendor and its magical illusionists will draw you in as much as it does Juliette, until you find out that all that glitters is not gold. Imagine being the star of a masquerade ball, or being able to wish a dragon chariot race into existence. But someone has to pay the price of all that magic, and slowly but surely, The Splendor’s sinister side is revealed.
Juliette bonds with Henri, the foster son of the Splendor’s owners and heir apparent. He blames himself for breaking her heart, since he’s the reason Clare doesn’t want anything to do with Juliette anymore. Henry removes unwanted memories, then reworks them for other people. He can take a perilous battle scene that’s giving one person PTSD and change it into a heroic experience for someone who wants memories of saving the day. He can rework the shape of a person’s life – at least in their memory. Henry sees himself as using his power for good, so learning of Juliette’s pain shakes him.
But the secrets of The Splendor go far deeper than either of them have dreamed, weaving a tapestry of lies around everyone associated with it. Henri and Juliette will have to work together if either of them will have a chance at escaping.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Review Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.