YOOOO THE OVERALL WORLD PLOT IS GETTING WILD I'M SO INTO THIS.

Spoiler

FAITH'S DAD IS A NEW COUNCILOR? DOES CALEB KNOW HE'S PART OF THE REBELLION?? CALEB CONTROLS THE DARKMIND??? FUCK. SO MUCH IS GOING ON!

Getting it out right away: every single one of the covers for this book have white washed Clay. Disappointed, but not surprised.

I really liked Clay and Talin, but there was one big aspect of this I didn't enjoy as much... (tw: sexual abuse)

Spoiler

Clay was mad at Talin for sleeping around AS A BROKEN, TRAUMATIZED TEEN/YOUNG ADULT WHEN HE WASN'T IN HER LIFE as if that was Talin cheating on him and he just accepted that and they moved on?? UUUGGGGHHHHHH. She was sexually abused as a child! She had trauma! SHE LITERALLY TELLS HIM AT TIMES SHE WASN'T EVEN AWARE SHE WAS SLEEPING WITH MEN BECAUSE SHE WAS IN DISSOCIATIVE FUGUE STATES THAT SHE DIDN'T REMEMBER AFTERWARD. SHE WOULD COME TO IN A STRANGE MAN'S BED. WHAT THE FUCK, CLAY. FUCK YOUR POSSESSIVE ALPHA LEOPARD BULLSHIT!

It ruined what I thought could have been a really great romance overall, but at least everything else about it was good - lots of push and pull and angst with the pair because their pasts left them with deep scars.

I also may or may not have screamed in realization when they figured out Talin's deal at the end. (I was in my car on my way to work this morning when I did, hopefully no other drivers saw me lose my shit.) I didn't see that coming, and it didn't feel like a random magical fix out of nowhere. It made sense! It hooked into an already established aspect of the DarkRiver world! It expanded on the history of the world as a whole! Damn, this series is good.

On to book 5!