The coffin on the cover first interested me and then the mention of feuding families – especially as I was eyeing the synopsis and thinking there’s possibly bantering to be seen between Miles and Gabriel. Which I’m happy to report there was! I liked Gabriel more than Miles at the start but did like Miles as more time went on. I’m definitely picking up the sequel to see what happens with these characters.

I love a good mystery and that was here with the history between the two families. Us trying to figure out where the issues began, what happened in the past that caused the families to not speak to each other now. It’s definitely not the end of it, I know we’ll get more of it in the sequel – since it’s a duology, it’ll finish up in the second book. Of course I’d have to reread this by the time October rolls around as I’ll remember nothing. That’ll renew my mind for the mystery and history’s that’s sure to come back in the sequel. I wasn’t able to understand everything of the history but I think that was more me not paying full attention.

I liked how the plot tied in greatly with the mystery but also with the two main characters, Miles and Gabriel. I do like a deadline (in books, miss me with that in real life) and in here it’s well… in its literal sense – a deadline. Always happy to have a “I hate you but I need to work with you” plot in books. Naturally that almost always progresses to a “oh, you’re actually… quite okay”. Plus in here there’s all that family history they have to work through first. I also liked the magic system in here and am eager to revisit it in the sequel. There was a bit of the romance, which I liked but then realised (only at the END) that there’s another book 😂. Yet another reason I can’t wait for the sequel.