The Cloisters

A Dark Academia story after my own heart! This isn't a plot driven story, but its atmospheric and mysterious. The occult themes and the growing toxic friendship between Rachel and Ann are mesmerizing. This story is like a stromy summer sky - something big is about to happen!

A mysterious and occult story, set in an old gothic museum. An intense read with a slow burn crime segment, toxic frienship and an unsuspected twist in the end!

Dark Academia at its finest!

Wow, Katy Hays ticked all the boxes for me when I came across this debut: a stunning and beautiful cover, a story set in the world of present-day-academia, "The Cloisters" as an actual real-life setting (a famous Gothic museum located in New York City) and last but not least shady characters, teeming over with obsession, secrecy and manipulation. After graduating as an art student of the Renaissance, Ann Stilwell applies for a summer internship at "The Metropolitan Museum of Art" in New York, only to be whisked away to "The Cloisters", the Met's local Gothic musuem and research facility for medieval art in Europe. Under the tutelage of curator Patrick Roland, Ann is set to the task of researching the origins of tarot divination, which Patrick supposes to be situated in Italy in the early 15th century. As Katy Hays is an art history professor herself, she expertly interweaves accurate historical facts with an obsessive fascination with the supernatural and the occult on Patrick's side. After having read this book, I would love to travel to New York and visit "The Cloisters" for myself - that is how extraordinarily Hays conveyed the musuem's mystical atmosphere as well as its priceless artefacts and paintings.

Amazing Cover, amazing atmosphere and a dangerously thrilling story. Could it be any better? The setting alone, ticked off all of my boxes. We are talking about an old, historic NY museum ,,The Cloisters'',sucking us in with its dark gothic vibes. After being rejected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ann Stilwell gets offered work at the Cloisters. Working alongside Rachel Mondray, studying the history of tarot, she stumbles upon a mysterious tarot deck. The compulsive story will definitely apply to the many readers, attracted to those gothic, dark academia vibes. Nevertheless, I still got the feeling, that something was missing, which is why it got four out of five stars.