This is exactly the kind of dark story that I adore,  definitely a favorite. It is flawed though, the magic didn’t always make sense to me and I admit, Nedra is not my favorite main character, but I like Grey (despite his previous privileged ignorance) one of my favorite book boyfriends for sure. I don’t feel that Nedra detracts from the story though. As much as I might disagree with her decisions, she’s flawed, unlikeable and desperate and that’s kind of the point. At it’s root this is an anti-heroine story, a villain-but-not origin story and I enjoy that, it’s just kind of annoying when you’re reading from her point of view. The plot, romance and writing are definitely the best parts of the story that make up for its flaws in my mind. 

Along with Serpent & Dove, and the Shadows Between Us, this just added to my ever growing list of objectively not great, but subjectively I adore, fantasy romances.

One more thing I’d like to touch on is that this book has a pretty good representation of classism, just like the first one. It also shows a character who is privileged but trying to understand, as well as one who was not born quite so lucky and was in an environment where she was singled out for that. 
Over all, this was fun although definitely not lighthearted, and a good transition into fantasy from my reading slump.