Savage Blooms

• Author: S.T. Gibson
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: October 9, 2025
• Publisher: Orbit
• Series: Unearthly Delights #1

Thank you to Orbit and Oliver Wehner for sending me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

CONTENT WARNING: toxic relationships, alcohol abuse, sexual manipulation, under-negotiated polyamory, consensual non-consent, group sex, gender play, voyeurism, exhibitionism, themes of dominance and submission, child abuse, neglect, mention of past traumatic childbirth, hereditary mental health struggles, chronic illness, forced marriage, near-drowning, infertility, suicidality 

S.T. Gibson returns with the first book in a seductive Celtic-inspired dark romantasy trilogy set in the foreboding highlands of Scotland.

For as long as Adam can remember, the legends passed down from his world-traveling grandfather have called him to a crumbling manor in the Highlands. His closest friend, Nicola, longs for the same adventure, as well as for Adam himself. She’ll follow him just about anywhere—even to the remote wilds of Scotland—if it pushes the pair to surrender to their shared attraction.

But when a storm strikes and strands them unexpectedly, Adam and Nicola find themselves at the mercy of Eileen, the eccentric owner of the infamous Highland manor, as well as her brooding groundskeeper, Finley.

Trapped by the weather and bound by ancient faery magic, Nicola and Adam get more than they bargained for as they became entangled in Eileen and Finley’s world of mind games, deceit, and forbidden desire. As ancestral sins are unearthed, Adam and Nicola will have to reckon with the spell Eileen and Finley have cast over them—and whether they even want to be free.

Once the fae have you, obsession takes root and never lets go.

The summary of this book is basically a listing of things that make a book irresistible to me. I opened it prepared to love the book, although the last Gibson book I read wasn’t to my liking, I read this expecting it to be a good one. And can we talk about the cover? It’s beautiful and arresting and low-key sexual the way the fruit is depicted.

As soon as I started this book, I knew it was going to be the one that broke my physical book reading slump, and I was absolutely right. I couldn’t put this book down—it accompanied me to physical therapy, doctor appointments for me and Mom, and every free second I got. Just as Adam and Nicola start to fall under the influence of their host and her groundskeeper, I fell under the influence of her writing. Gibson has an incredible talent with words, and I’m always impressed with her writing style and vivid descriptions which make it easy for me to visualize the scenes in my head. 

As I would expect from a book with a cover that can make fruit look erotic, this is a very open door romance, and it addresses some dark themes. I especially loved that while there is ghost pepper level heat, we also get a better understanding of who the characters are and what drives them. It wasn’t simply romance: it was a fantasy novel, with a mystery at the heart, and even a few flashes into the past. It kept me hooked from start to finish, and I can’t remember the last time I devoured a book like I did with this one. 

There are a few tropes and plot devices that come to mind in the book, including best friends who secretly love each other, the chosen one, a manor in the Scottish highlands, a storm that strands them at Craigmar, and what amounts to an unexpected storm stranding them at the manor. I still consider this forced confinement, even if it also increases the Nicola and Adam vs. Eileen and Finley dynamic. 

The interpersonal dynamics in this book were all over the place. As you can see from the number of content warning items, this is a dark book that you might want to think twice about starting if any of the topics listed above are triggering to you. This is very much a gothic, dark romantasy that shows both the beauty and the harshness of the environment, so that it reads like a love letter to the Scottish Highlands. There are a good number of sexy scenes in the story, and they’re written beautifully. 

Although there is some serious heat in this book, there’s still the central mystery of the story—how is Adam’s grandfather tied to Craigmar and a woman named Arabella Kirkfoyle? Why does it just feel right to Adam to be on this wild land? Is Craigmar really the same mysterious and magical place about which his grandfather told Adam stories? There are more than simply these questions, including what is holding Adam and Nicola back from acting on their attraction? What is the nature of the relationship between Eileen and her groundskeeper, Finley? What is the secret that Eileen and Finley are hiding from Adam and Nicola?

Foreshadowing is used heavily in the story, hinting at something sinister and not right about the manor itself. The sexual tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife, and Gibson held off on allowing our characters release until even I was almost ready to explode. Yet her timing remains perfect, because by the time I was sucked into the mysterious setting I was already hooked, and she allowed the characters and setting to really take shape before complicating it with intimacy between strangers or long-term friends. I appreciated that Gibson really ensured that there was a gripping story in which to place erotic scenes, some of which portray aspects of BDSM.

Overall, I can’t get enough of the lush and transportive story, and before this book is even released, I’m eagerly anticipating the next. And not just because the story ends on a major cliffhanger. You know the kind where you flip back and forth a few pages to make sure you didn’t miss anything, only to realize that yeah, the author is that cruel? That’s what happened here, but if anything it made me even more invested in the story. I did wonder about the level of unpreparedness with which Adam and Nicola traveled to Scotland—he’s been low-key obsessed with this place since his childhood when his grandfather would tell him stories about Craigmar, yet he shows up not knowing where exactly it is, how to reach it, or anything about it. I’d have a written out itinerary and have gone over the plans and reached out to the current inhabitants of Craigmar well in advance, but I guess there are some people who can just pick up and travel with a minimum of hassle, unlike me. But other than that, the story had continuity and avoided major plot holes that I could see.

The fae in this book stay out of sight, but they are clearly more along the lines of Holly Black’s fae—scary, casually cruel and especially to humans, and not the kind of creature you want to cross or see. The way Gibson wove in her threads of Scottish Highlands folklore, such as leaving offerings of milk and bread, felt seamless and perfectly at home in this gothic romantasy. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but if you like gothic, romantasy, and/or spicy books, this is the one to pick up. The author is kind enough to include a page in the front of the book that lists any triggering content, so that you can easily decide if this is the book for you or not. I copied the content warning list directly from that page, and if that doesn’t push you in the opposite direction, trust me and check this one out.

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