3.5/5 stars
I really considered rounding this one down as it is my lowest rated SJM book ever ….
I really really struggled with this book. For one, it was way too long and there were a lot of unnecessary storylines thrown in to make it longer than it needed to be. Second, I struggled with the characters a lot more in this book than I have in others. Third, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, there wasn’t enough actual romance in this one. It was more like reading bad porn than a romantasy book during those scenes.

Spoilers below ⬇️

I’m going to go on a bit of a rant about this book and there will be spoilers so do not keep reading if you didn’t finish the book!!

1. What the actual f-ck is wrong with Bryce and Hunt? I stand by saying that they are her weakest characters to date (I’ll get to Ithan shortly). Bryce is the biggest hypocrite ever, always complaining about the males being alohaholes and she’s the biggest one. I’ve said it before and I stand by it but the stuff she says and does makes me cringe. And Hunt was so god awful in this book I didn’t know what to make of him. There was a point her actually, in the span of paragraphs, said he loved Bryce and then said he never hated her more and then was saying how much her hated her again ….. like what? And why the mix of emotions? Oh because Bryce was being the type of person she supposedly hates

2. More with Bryce. I was sooooo sick of her hatred of the fae by the end. She would go on and on about how horrible they were but then would gush over Ruhn and Dec and Flynn …. But they’re part of this awful fae race she bitches about. And she will talk about the fae and how awful they are in front of them like it’s absolutely nothing. I just don’t get it…

3. Ithan was actually the worst character of the story. His storyline added no substance to the story and was just him whining and complaining the entire time. Why was it even necessary?

4. What was up with the romance scenes? It was like reading bad porn… I think I actually cringed during one of them I thought it was so bad. The only decent scene was Ruhn and Lidia in this book. And most of it was Bryce and Hunt have a horrible dynamic. Like I don’t even think they know what love is half the time reading about them.

I have no clue if this series will continue but I really hope this is the last book. If there’s another one will I read it? Probably. Will I be happy about it? Probably not…

SJM there’s so many better stories for you to tell. Try to go back to your ToG writing days and find another badass heroine that’s not as cringey as Bryce and give us another adventure to go on please