This book left me with FEELINGS. By Feelings, I mean complete and utter rage. Specifically, the last roughly 10% of the book, which is so spoiler-filled, cannot be spoken about without delving into it headfirst.

I had a hard time getting into this book at first (after the Prologue); it felt like a lot of telling and not a whole lot of showing and overall aligned with what I recalled from my interactions with the House of Night series. I read in Middle School (this is not something I would hand a middle schooler, though).

This book read like something I would expect from an Anime. There is no adult supervision throughout this book; there is no dad in the picture, their mother dies a tragic, gruesome death at the beginning. They EVEN have an animal companion.
It just has no beach episode or beautiful art to try and sway the viewer to enjoy it.

We do, though, get an incredibly awkward and unneeded sex scene that left me feeling extremely gross afterward.

That being said, I enjoyed the middle of this book a lot, enough so that I had forgiven it for the rocky start. But what I can't forgive is the fact that this could have been standalone, and instead of any resolution ever happening, it just gets tossed off the edge in favor of making it a series.

I am not sure; I could honestly recommend this book.

For more spoiler-filled reasonings, see below.

Spoiler

Let's first start with my problem with Hunter's choice to rip Mercy's grief out of her WITHOUT telling her. It had been less than 48 hours since your mom died. PEOPLE NEED TIME TO GRIEVE, I get that shit is going down, but that doesn't solve it.

Also, we hear time and time again this is a small town; the Goode family plays a prominent role in the town and has always lived there. NO ONE questions that another Goode shows up.

Jock boyfriend dude, (like I legit can't remember his name and don't care enough to scroll thru the audio to find out). Is an asshole, and just exists to tear the girls apart, and is probs being set up as a mirror to Sarah's Husband in the Prologue.

Tyr!
As someone who has practiced Wicca for a long time, I am finding words to express my fury at how unempathetic Mercy is towards Hunter regarding having her EVEN consider cutting ties with Tyr, a bond that meant a lot to her.
That's without even talking about how they parted ways, or the fact she the Goddess she called to work with was one she called because that is what allowed Mercy's plan to work out best. Not because she felt any connection.

I don't even want to delve into how gender and sexual orientation are presented in this book and how that ties into how Hunter is expected to reject Tyr in favor of fitting the mold.