Full Review:

Note: This is a dark romance with pretty unforgivable characters, check out the TWs below.

In Ember Glen, men control their urges by purging during the full moon. When Mercy runs from her duty and Arlo catches her, she is forced to find absolution through a series of brutal trials.

I really liked the FMC Mercy, how strong she was, how resilient. Most of the other characters though…I did not like. It's hard to redeem characters that have no redeeming qualities, you know? I will jump into the second book once it comes out since this one is left on a cliffhanger.

The romance in the book is iffy (non-con/dub-con) and I struggled a lot to like the MMC - I still don’t like him now. The plot/world-building was great and I’m looking forward to seeing more of this Dystopian era.

Tropes:
Forced Proximity
“Priest” and servant/slave
Enemies to lovers
Dystopian/Cult

Triggers: Rape, Torture, Murder, Misogyny-to-the-extreme, Branding, Bondage, Child Abuse/Grooming, Miscarriage

Some quotes I loved from the book:



Burn, sweet sinner, and I’ll bathe in flames with you.

“I don’t need anyone to stand beside me, least of all men like you.”

If this is the flavor of sin, then let me be gluttonous for it. Let me burn in hell for the taste of it.

Fuck absolution. Let me burn in hell with her.

The way she needs me is spiritual, holy, divine. In this moment, I am God, and she prays for me to grant her pleasure in mercy.

“I’m fighting sin, but, Mercy…” he pauses, leans close, and brushes his mouth over mine, “I want you to drag me to hell.”



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I dunno what the fuck I just read but I need the next one immediately and it’s NOT OUT YET