I love love loved it. Reminds me of Plated Prisoner series, where we get to see such a sheltered naive girl grow to be a stronger woman (I mean she's still a mess but we're - hopefully - getting there?). Kai's storyline was so good I didn't even get annoyed when we flipped to it. Hate Cainon but I feel like that's the point.

Only took the .5 off because I feel like, although we were working up to Orlaith convincing herself to hate Rhordyn, her actions at the end of the book didn't ring completely true for me. We'll see how book 3 goes! 

I really love Sarah Parker's world building - to the point where even if I don't love the romantic storyline (I'm torn on this one, which is probably the point) I just can't put the book down. She's just such a good writer! 

I really enjoyed going back to this world! I love Evie and the Villain, and all of the supporting characters are so entertaining. Super interested to see how this story concludes in the next book. 

Themes:
🖤 Dystopian
🖤 Sapphic Romance
🖤 Assassin & Target
🖤 Big Brother-style Corporation
🖤 Knife to the throat
🖤 Biohacking
🖤 Hunger Games-style Gauntlet
🖤 Surviving to Thriving
🖤 Lush Mutated Wilderness

Inesa lives with her brother in a half-sunken town where they make ends meet by running a taxidermy shop. Unbeknownst to Inesa, their cruel and indolent mother has accrued an enormous debt, meaning that Melinoë, an assassin (or 'Angel', as dubbed by Caerus, the company to whom Inesa's mother is indebted) who is the product of neural reconditioning and physiological alteration, is sent after Inesa after Inesa's mother offers her as a sacrifice. Despite Mel's reputation for cold brutality and deadly beauty, she is haunted by painful flashbacks. After her last Gauntlet, where she broke down on live stream, she desperately needs redemption.

!! Very light spoilers below !!

As Mel chases Inesa and her brother Luka across the apocalyptic wilderness filled with animal (and human) mutations, we see each young woman evolve. I found Mel's internal growth the most interesting as she has so far to come from. The connection between Inesa and her brother was so heart wrenching and intimately beautiful. Mel and Inesa's romance is so sweet and innocent - and because of that, also heart wrenching. 

As usual, Ava Reid does a gorgeous job of creating this contrastingly lush wasteland and placing us right in her dystopian world. The world she built was extremely seamless and I loved living in it. 

I truly loved the first scene in the novel, which really sets the tone of this world and the novel. It was hard to read at times, but handled very well and again, just so beautifully written. 

This book did end with semi-unfinished storylines and suggestions of further plotlines, so though nothing has been announced, I'm assuming/hoping there will be a sequel.

Beautifully written. Loved the underlying story of class-divides and family dynamics. So so good.

Overall decent romantasy. I found it hard to know Graves, and the plot lagged at some points. Writing was pretty good. I feel like the reveals at the end were kind of lost throughout the book with so much else going on and so many types of monsters. It kind of felt like 3 different fantasy worlds mashed together with the vampires/werewolves, Irish mythology, and Fae. I did like Keirse Gen and Ethan.

This sequel is so good and holds up to the first book in my opinion. The love story is so sweet at its core and I really adore the MCs. The political plot was good, though I found it slightly less enticing than the first book. Overall a very solid romantasy duology! 

Loved the enemies to lovers to enemies! Reminded me a bit of Powerless, but I loved that book and it was a good thing.

So good - I'm glad the characters generally stayed true to themselves instead of bending for a guaranteed happy ending. 

Wow lost love will always make me cry. And how dare Eod be so damn cute.