Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋 
Emotional Depth: 💔💔 
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑 🍑  
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 
Humor: Only a touch
Perspective: first person and only the heroine’s point of view


Should I read in order?
I don’t think you need to. There is only minor mention of Circe in the first book and in this book only minor mention/page time with characters from the first story. 

Basic plot:
Circe goes to sleep on Earth and wakes up in a corral of women on an alternate universe. She is hunted by Dax Lahn who takes her as wife and makes her his queen.

Give this a try if you want:
- You must be okay with endless content warnings and dark romance feel. Like, it’s a lot of rape and dubious consent
- Historical feel – heroine is from contemporary times on Earth but alternate universe time is primitive without current technology
- Medium to high steam – plenty of open door scenes
- Language barrier – our heroine and hero don’t understand each other for half the book 


My thoughts:
I am so so sad with this book. I was so looking forward to it! Especially after reading the first one that I really enjoyed. This one, maybe my expectations were too high. I’m not sure. But overall it didn’t work for me and I was disappointed in it. 

I’m just going to kind of whine and complain and may get into specifics. So.

I wish there was a more ‘complete’ feeling with the people switching to the alternate universe. I feel like it was a bit better explained in the first book but I’m still just wanting some better closer and wrap around with it. And maybe that comes in the later books of the series, I’m not sure. 

To me, the tension was destroyed early on in the book due to the hero’s behavior towards the heroine. It was hard to regain that when they were starting to form a relationship together. I hate that he raped her repeatedly and then they just started having good sex. I live for that built up of wanting and longing and I didn’t find that here because of that. 

The language barrier – I really liked that aspect, I have been craving that in romances lately. But here it was strange because when they started learning each other’s language the hero would copy these full sentences of hers and it just sounded kind of ridiculous. I have no complaints over how fast they learned it – that’s find I understand the page time needed it. And I liked how he would go and try to find the meaning of some of the words. But it was creepy when they would be having sex and he would just copy everything she said. Weird. Lol

I can excuse a lot. A LOT. But even this hero was too much for me. I am okay with dark romance and all the heavy content warnings but I hated that he hit her. I hated it so much. So so much. It was kind of irredeemable to me. And then when Circe just repeatedly forgives him everything because it’s the way it is it got annoying. I understand, ‘its the way their customs were’ but she would get so upset and then be put in her place by everyone and just forgive him. I was okay with it the first few times but when it just kept happening repeatedly I was so ready for him to put in some effort and repent. 

The ending I wasn’t sold on either. He said all those horrible things to her and she left and he just brings her back and basically says your mine and she’s like okay. I was just so disappointed, I think I could have really liked this book if there have been a bit more balance between the characters. If the hero had to give a bit more. 

This maybe could have been helped with time in the hero’s head but we didn’t get that. And I’m always sad over that. 

The writing isn’t my favorite. This is just personal preference, it wasn’t riddled with errors or anything. But the whole ‘ohmygod’ and ‘oh shit’ just repeatedly was so irritating to me. I am find with that language but when it’s said like 7 different times on 1-2 pages perhaps it’s time for a new phrase. 

I don’t know. I’m mad at this book lol. I enjoyed the first so much, even though it had a few things I didn’t like. Nothing like this though. The other books in the series, their synopsis didn’t really grab me so I’m not sure if I’ll continue. I might try another by her in another genre and see if it has the same things that bother me.

Content Warnings:

Lots of use of the word “savage” to describe people
Implied/remembered rape scenes
Lots of dubious consent
Slavery
Violence and death
Domestic abuse – hero hits the heroine and bruises her face for a long period of time
Note: the heroine is the only blond and pale skinned character and she is the queen of their Golden Dynasty

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

Pg 48 – fingering for her, doggy style
Pg 53 – her on top
Pg 109 – oral for her
Pg 139 – fade to black blow job followed by touches, fingering and doggy style
Pg 194 – fingering for her, missionary, doggy style
Pg 201 – fingering for her
Pg 243 - sex
Pg 285 - sex