Savannah Davis

TLDR: Book lacked real fantasy elements and the spice was nonexistent. FMC is a bag of bricks and miscommunication/misunderstanding is the whole plot. MMC is there and kinda boring. Not a real alpha-hole.

Review:

This book was bad. Like really bad. The FMC is a vampyre (so they say), but there is nothing about her being a vampire except she drinks out of blood bags and occasionally her husband. We know the vampires can "thrall" aka mind control folks, but that's it. That's all we know. Oh they sleep during the day. These have to be the most boring vampires I've read in years. Even Twilight's vampires had something. These vampires - I feel are humans in disguise. Even Misery says the humans are stronger than them. LAME! The whole point of being a different species is getting some perks. Just boo! Also, is Misery digesting this peanut butter? Just a side thought since they don't eat human foods? No explanation there. Why don't they eat it besides they're better than everyone else? Does it hurt them or could they eat it? No clue.

The werewolves (which I'm pretty sure are just supposed to be called shifters, since werewolves and shifters are typically two different things, but they still go by weres here???) do what they do. I don't really have any major complaints about them. The humans were humans.

I kept forgetting about Ms. Paris. I can't even remember her first name now. I know the cat's name! Sparkles! Misery's bestie was forgettable and I felt nothing for her sadly. She just wasn't written well. That cat had more to substance than she did.

Lowe was not really the typical alpha-hole. He was an architect and gave everything up for his pack. He was an adoring brother. He's BIG. Like Big. Big shoes, (size 14), big hands, tall, big body, big dick. Everything about him is big, and you won't forget it. The whole book. We got it. He's big damn. He doesn't think they will work together, blah, blah, blah. The other wolves/shifters I've seen will go for their mates no matter what. At least making it known. This was just not the behavior we typically see, and it was lacking honestly. Sorry. There really wasn't anything that stuck out about him. He was just there. Sorry.

Misery is dumb as a bag of bricks. She was so dumb the entire time. She's a computer wiz. She doesn't care about people (a big reason for her and bestie's fight), but she latches on to Ana immediately and runs into the sun for her? Not sure how we got there. She took forever to figure out she was Lowe's mate. I can forgive her for hearing it at the wedding, but as time went on she just never put it together. It was right there. I hate misunderstanding tropes. That was literally the plot here the entire time. That and not knowing anything. She didn't know anything. The sex was randomly put in and just boring. It was boring.

Seeing into this world was non-existent. She was a horrible first person character to follow. She said she spent no time with the vampyres but we kept getting these paragraphs about what they do. She is so stagnant and boring. She doesn't make any real efforts to learn anything about the vampyres or the weres. She hates how she was the collateral, but instead of doing anything she just whines about it sits in her misery. Her brother was making some moves at the end of the book and Misery could care less. No helping him stop the collateral stuff or even helping to shape the people even when she noted how stressed he was. It's disappointing. She wanted to know about were culture and their "words", but only talked to Lowe. If everyone was so nice to her go out and ask them. Like? Duh... Anyways, this is something I wish I could get my time back on. This is a double skip for me. I won't be picking up another Ali Hazelwood book. This was my first & last.

WOW. Wow. WOW! When I say, "I want to read some Fantasy, High Fae, Romance, with Spice." This book was EXACTLY what I want. This will blow you out of the water! I love this book and it was a top highlight of 2023 for me! It is so well written, and so well weaved I felt like the ancient Greek Seamstresses were telling me this story. It was that good. I devoured this book! Let's get into it!

First off, I want to thank Nisha for gracing us with this wonderful book & second, for using words the readers want to read/see in sex scenes, especially in fantasy romance books. Those would be cock, pussy, clit, wet, thrust.

With a dedication like this I knew I was in for a wild ride.

For anyone who finds themselves driven by both love and rage.

Our main character, Lor, is an all-around bad-ass. She ate and left no crumbs in this book. The first line of the book is so iconic, and that first chapter had me calling two friends and telling them about the book. I was hooked to say the least. Lor has been through a lot, both physically and mentally. She's had to grow up in prison and that, along with her loving & also harden siblings), has shaped her into a truly brave and strong woman. I felt myself rooting for her every move and consistenly backing her up when she was telling someone off. Which was often & I rather enjoyed. It was very nice to see a hardened character taken out of that place and still have that trauma present. Not that I want Lor to suffer, but that upbringing and environment strongly shaped her as a person and it wouldn't have made sense to have her "all of sudden have healed trauma and forget about it all." I think she is a truly flushed out & flawed character. She makes stupid mistakes, but learns from them. She sticks up for herself and doesn't take shit from anyone. She knows who she is. I love reading about a woman who knows what she is and what she wants. She doesn't wallow in self-pity and "I'm so weak as a human". She continues to grow throughout the book and I loved reading every part of her journey. Did I mention she's older than 20? 24, darlings. FINALLY! & she drinks! She drinks to calm her nerves or after a long day. Finally a character that isn't looked down upon for drinking or characters that don't drink at all. She is amazing & the kind of women we need to see more of in these fantasy books.

The other characters... just as good! I felt myself telling off Gabriel and holding back from loving Atlas too much. I got to be hesitant with these first book men. The authors always swing something on us in book two lol. He was HOT, and loved Gold. So much Gold.

Was there sex? Was there spice? Was there tension? Was it actually good? YES! It had me looking around my room at one point, and I'm a 27-year-old living on my own. haha

The way my girl Nisha had Lor getting her coochie ate out. Girlll I was living for her!

We also meet the mysterious, Nadir. Let me just say all these Fae men are sexy. He's got some bad dad issues, but all very warranted if you ask me. Comes with the territory of an egotistical, power-hungry father. His sister, Amya, was just what a supportive sister should be. There to listen and go along with the plan, but call you out on your shit, too. Also, her style is top-tier! His parts are written in third-person and I loved learning more about The Aurora from his and Lor's perspectives. They are vastly different. One as a prince and the other a prisoner in the worst rat hole of a prison, at that.

Lor's POV is first-person, but the way it's written, you're getting all the action. Every detail. I have no complaints. I usually hate first-person pov, but this one was really good! Lor was lying to me the whole time, too! I felt betrayed at the end lol! I don't love the bachelor or competing for men, but I saw it as Lor did; a means to an end to help those she loves. I loved the trials, and how she found ways to get through them. The world-building was at the right pace. I was immersed and could keep up with what was going on. I'm excited to get the next book because I know we get to learn more about all the other rulers. We got a nice tasting at the ball, but I'm ready for more! Honestly, I love this world and the characters and it's just book one. Nisha killed it with this one! You won't regret picking this up.

WOW! I want to say I couldn't expect better after the first, but I was wrong. This one was even better! This one had me all over the place. Again, devoured. Nisha left no crumbs with this one again! I won't keep y'all too long, so I'll be quick.

First off, I want to thank Nisha, again, for gracing us with this wonderful book & second, for using words the readers want to read/see in sex scenes, especially in fantasy romance books. Those would be cock, pussy, clit, wet, thrust, back of throat, swallow. You got my heart!

• Lor: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Continues to grow and is still that bad-ass I love from the first book.
• Nadir: 🥵 👅👅👅 Listen, if you know, you know. I love him so much!
• The Aurora King: F that hoe!
• Atlas: F that hoe, too!

This book had it all for me. A strong FMC & MMC. Tension building & building & building. Romance. A MMC obsessed with the FMC. Sex, spice, tension (again), regret. "Say you're mine." It was giving shifter/wolf mates AND I'm here for it. I'm here for it all. Nadir's so smart, too. He's actually very cunning to be plotting against his dad and coming up with plans. Only complain is I wish Lor would come up with more plans instead of looking to him or her brother, Tristan, but she does in the end. So I was happy with that. She does have very limited knowledge of the world, so it's understandable she is relaying on someone who knows the world more. The tension and spice between them is hot, hot, hot. That BJ had me looking like 🤤🥵.

The world was very intriguing! We got to know more about the different kingdoms & especially The Aurora. We also got to see some histoy of Serce and Wolf in parallel to Lor and Nadir. Let me just say, Wolf and Serce were hot & crazy. Wolf was bending Serce over that table, and I had to take a minute because I was squealing. I love a man that backs his woman. Even when she's trying to burn down the world. haha

Buckle in for a wild ride again with this one because very second is pretty crazy. I enjoyed every second of it. Am I happy about the ending? NO! I need more now, Nisha! I can't believe we have to wait til 2024. I'm waiting patiently for the next book in this series. It was finger-licking good, hunny.

So... This was not what I was expecting. I'm sure plenty of folks say that that have read The Cruel Prince Trilogy and then pick this up. I know it was set in Elfhame, but it just didn't feel like it. I was intrigued by the story. The monster in the woods and the prince in the glass coffin/case. There's just something about this story that feels so off it's hard to out a finger on it. I feel like reading the Cruel Prince, I knew it was YA going in, but it didn't feel like YA. I couldn't put it down, but this book, even being set in the same world, was so different, but not in a good way. This is classic YA. As a ripe 26-year-old, this was just not my cup of tea. Which makes me so sad when I loved the Cruel Prince, another YA by Holly Black. I feel like if I was 12 or 13 again, I would have liked this. Reading as an adult, I found myself constantly rolling my eyes at some parts, but being intrigued at others.

I liked the idea of the boy in the glass casket, and the story behind him and the monster in the woods. Hazel wanting to be a knight and Ben being gifted in music. These are all great concepts. Such a great start to a story about the Folk. It didn't take off like I would have wanted. We learn about Ben and Hazel's childhood through the book, other Folk secrets I won't describe, but the book felt so rushed. The end was wrapped up nicely, but there was so much to explore with this. We barely saw the Folk, or got to know our Prince. I'm not even going to sit here and front. I wanted to hear more about Ben and Severin, and even Jack. Their story was so much more interesting than Hazel's. Jack was always hungry. I want to know more about changelings. We hear about them all the time, but I'd have loved to follow his story and how years from now, if he's still living that human life or how he navigates in Faerie. I'd have loved to hear about Ben's story learning to play and control his music. The Folk he plays for or how he visited the High king & High Queen of Elfhame to play for them; what his life is like in Faerie with his lover. I would have LOVED to hear more about Severin, and his sister, Sorrow. To hear how he carries on after the end of the story, what he gets up to in his time or challenges he faces. What he and his lover may face in the future. I would love to read a story about someone else besides a human girl finding her way into Faerie. We've got plenty of them. Can we find some about the Folk and follow them instead? We've heard Hazel's story before. Multiple times. There was nothing special about her story. It was almost a mirror reflection of my girl, Jude, whose story was much better.

The kisses were rather annoying. They were all over the place, and very much YA. I can't complain about those too much. They felt very YA, and then some were rather... explicit. There was one scene where Jack's pants were low on his waist and then another scene where they were low again and he reaches down to button them back up. I'm not sure how to feel about them since Hazel is 16. We all know what teens get up to these days, but the book used, 'make-out' and other times 'hook-up', but they were really just talking about kissing. It was kind of hard to follow when the book started as PG and then kept veering left and then back to PG. Just something I thought was weird for this book.

There was adequate representation in this book. I love seeing black folks represented. Jack and Carter, and their parents were nice to see in this book. Do I love Jack's mom being described as the same shade as the bark on trees? No. I tried to liken it to the saying,"White as paper", but I don't think that's taken well either. Regardless it was nice seeing different humans in this book besides just white, and the Folk being a range of descriptions. Additionally we had some queer rep in here as well. Ben is gay and later we find out that Severin, our prince, loves him. Additionally, there are times when Ben thinks back to previous dates with boys or kissing boys. The longer I sit here writing this, the less I like this book... It wasn't good. I wish I had those hours of my life back honestly.

Overall the plot & characters were there. The execution was not even with so much potential. The same story as every other Fae book with a human girl and a fae MC. Very much YA. Will not read again or recommend. Nowhere near as good as The Cruel Prince Trilogy.

This was absolutely delightful to read! Like every fantasy book, the beginning of the book with all of the world building, magic system, etc., can be a little difficult, but I love the world Edwards built! It's such a cool concept, and I love the way it was explained. The real highlight of this story has to be the characters. Rune & Brandon (Brand) are the cutest, and I love their banter. Everyone should have a friend like Brand in their lives. Their friendship is so sweet and the love & understanding they have for one another is very clear. I loved getting to experience it. Rune has been through a lot as has Brand. Rune's trauma and experiences are mentioned throughout the book and it can be difficult to read. Addam & his brother, Quinn, are sweet, too! Addam is honestly a really great love interest that I didn't see coming, but I'm glad he's there. I loved seeing all three/four of them interact and they had me laughing out loud more than a few times. Max was a cutie too!

The plot and mystery was very good! When I tell you I had no idea who we were fighting and who was behind the kidnapping, I ain't lying. It was just surprise after surprise for me. Even with Rune and Brand being top tier investigators. It was full of action and so many interesting places. Overall all the characters were extremely well-written, and the world was just so much fun. I can't wait to see more of everyone in the next book! Highly recommend!

Let me start with the tropes for all those curious... 😉

• "Touch her & you die"
• Only one bed
• Forced proximity
• Fake relationship (very, very brief)
• Found Family (ehh.. kinda?)

This was read for my bookclub. It started off strong with going to society balls and all the like. Also, pretending to be very human. It was good until it wasn't.

Characters

Envy

I really liked Envy. I don't typically enjoy jealous folks, but I thought he was jealous in a classy way? It's weird to describe haha. He had a pretty strong motive to help his court, but kept finding himself led astray by Camilla. A lot was at stake here. It just didn't make sense to me that he was 'so focused' on his court and would do anything to get it right. Literally this man thought about it non-stop. But was wasting time with Camilla when we had so much to do. He had so much on his shoulders, and I wish Camilla had a better part in this to play, but it felt like she was just there until the very end. He was vain and had a rule to protect his heart. To sum up his personality I'll say annoyed lol. He was always annoyed and in a rush. At the end of the book I felt like I didn't even recognize his character. The wrap up was not good for him or Camilla.

Camilla

Camilla, Camilla, Camilla. I wanted to like her so much, but I don't. I get really tired of women in these fantasy novels being "so gorgeous, but also plain". I liked that she had her own talent. She was a painter and loved art. She told Vexley to shove it. She was so determined in the beginning, but it just started falling flat. I know authors think they're doing something big when they make the FMC stand-up or talk back to the MMC, but we've got to give these women more. Sure she did, but that's it. In dangerous situations, she was constantly looking for Envy to find her and get her out of it. She just felt so so flat. She had silver eyes and silver hair, but nobody was questioning if she was really human except when Envy and his crew showed up? That is a huge main character energy right there as someone that watches anime. Then no one could figure out her truths? You're telling me this is the first time we've seen this? It's just not giving at all. Also, EVERY MAN wanted Camilla. Every single man they approached was beyond interested in her. This is so overplayed and boring. I hate that mess.

A big gripe of mine is her pretending to be human. This is sooo boring. We already have so many books of human women getting mixed up with the otherworldy. I'd love to read a fantasy book where we are the demons or the fae themselves. She wanted to be bad, so bad. SO be it! I'm reading fantasy to escape my own boring reality, and always being human is tired. It's worn out. When the truth did come, she was a whole new person. With no background in it or any formal training? But she's better at running a court than her brother that has lived in Faerie for his whole life? Please explain this to me? She stopped being human, but it still took forever for her to embrace herself. She was barely doing anything at that. Still being rescued, but everyone thinking she's this bad b*tch. Emilia wasn't giving either. We need better women in these stories. Overall I'm not impressed at all.

Wrath & the other Sin Bros.

I loved the brothers the most! They were the reason I kept reading this story. I love how big and messy and nosy they all were. Visiting them and each of their circle's was my favorite! Sloth and Gluttony have my heart lol.

Humans

They were pretty present in the beginning of the book, but became less so after a while. I hated seeing them tortured in the later half of the book. It was pretty gruesome. The Humans are uptight and very prude as to be expected. Vexley was a pest to say the least.

Fae (Seelie & Unseelie)

We don't really see any Seelie in this book. The focus is mainly on the Unseelie and their wonderful ruler, Lennox. This is a twisted court. I wish I could say they were better since they loved the moon, but no they were an awful crew. The visit to the court and torturing the humans was not my cup of tea.

Vampires

They didn't come to play. They reveled on their island and I loved it. Alexie was our only bisexual (or pansexual), and I love him for that. I don't know if Blade's name is a mention to the old movies about Blade the vampire hunter, but I cackled at that.

Plot

I liked the plot. I felt like the plot was def. there, and seemed really fun. I like the idea of figuring out riddles and playing a game. The last book I read that had a game was such a fun mystery to follow along with. It was overshadowed by the 'romance'. Really the romance wasn't there. It was just tension and sex and didn't really feel like a fantasy novel. There was a real connection for romance between Envy and Camilla. I feel like they had mutual attraction, but I was struggling to see where the love or romance came from. They both had on masks the entire time.. and suddenly they're engaged at the end. It was baffling. So out of character for him. You would have thought with his mindset he would wait more than a few months. See if this is what he actually wants. It's just too weird. It was a wrap-up done poorly.

World & Magic & Sex & Everything Thing Else

There were a lot of species and creatures in this book. We got to see glimpses of them. The Vampires and the Unseelie were main stars in this book. I did like the descriptions of the world. That was very well done and I felt like I was touring their homes myself.

We get that you can fast travel in these worlds and make clothes appear. It's magic. I got it. Please find a better way to describe this than 'magicked'. I felt like I kept seeing this over and over and over. It was exhausting, and very boring. Sad that we didn't get to see Envy's wings more.

The sex. What to say. No real queer representation. I saw someone else say, "you blink and you miss it". That is very true in this case. There was two mentions of it and that was it. There wasn't one couple in this book that wasn't heteronormative. Even the new vampire king was going to get a queen. Especially in a fantasy where everyone's immortal.. It was strange that they can all sleep together, but no one wants real relationships with the same sex or any non-binary folks. I do have a suspicion that the reporter they kept mentioning along with Gluttony is male, but I'm highly doubting it.

It was very slow-burn between the main characters. There was a lot of cat and mouse. Chase and catch. The build-ups were nice, but when I was at say 65% and these characters still hadn't had sex I was over the slow-burn. The one penetration scene we had was nice. I liked the other foreplay scenes better. The memory scene was done well I will say. Camilla and Envy I think have nice chemistry for sex. There was no real chemistry for them as a couple falling in love. He liked her mind and they both loved playing games. It was really giving the "I've never met anyone like you before" trope. Camilla told him off and didn't back down. I know she isn't the first woman to tell him off. Literally the Goddess of Death bosses him around and treats him like trash, too. Overall this was not what I expected to read. I wish I could get those hours of my life back honestly.

This was just as delightful as the first! Murderbot is very intelligent and a bit tough on himself at times. I love the introduction of another bot, ART. My favorite part of the book was Murderbot and ART watching their shows together, and how they talk about their humans. It was very endearing. I hope ART is in the next books, because he was a joy, and so clean! I wish the Comfortbot also got to stay. I felt sorry for them, and all of the Comfortbots really. I hope Murderbot can start to call them Comfortbots instead of sexbots in the next installments. The only reason the the half-point is because we should respect all peoples' professions, even those that work in the pleasure industry.

This is definitely character driven instead of plot-driven, but that's what makes me love it. I really love Murderbot! It's still packed with action & sarcasm. I'm very excited for the next adventure!

Hello friends!

This is a splendid book to start this series! Although SecUnit, or Murderbot, as it calls itself secretly, claims to hate humans and have "no feelings", that couldn't be farther from the truth. Murderbot is super shy and gives off tsundere vibes hard (platonically of course). It doesn't want to interact with humans or leave its pod (it's space with no humans & therefore no human interactions or chances to express feelings). Murderbot is really just trying to catch up on their dramas and keeps getting interrupted. The interruptions of course are packed with action, funny dialogue between the humans and Murderbot, and Murderbot being so shy as to walk into a corner of the ship to avoid attention. This book had me laughing out loud and saying "aww" more times than I can count. It was so sweet and cozy with action and mystery, and some very very bad guys. I'm picking up the second book immediately to see what Murderbot really wants.