I have once again been tricked by a fun concept and a pretty cover into reading a book that is, quite simply, not good. The plot, setting, and characters are all underdeveloped. The romance--which is marketed as the central plot of the book--too often is pushed aside for a poorly-executed political plot. The singular POV is annoying and really drove home to me that I prefer dual-POV romances. And the writing is chock full of bizarre phrases and not-quite-correct word choices that crop up over and over and made me question whether generative AI had a hand in this, or the draft just needed a much stronger line edit.

I read the afterword. I know that the author wanted to write something lighthearted because the world is hard, and look, I get that. But this book as it is does not read to me as something that was ready to get sprayed edges and slapped onto a table at Barnes & Noble. And there's already another one scheduled for next Fall? Fuck me, but the publishing industry needs to slow down and focus on quality, rather than on the quantity of books it pumps out.

The one thing I truly liked about this book was Hex. He deserves better.