I'm happy to know Jessica Jones is in a better place this issue than the end of last issue. Luke and her still aren't on the best of terms, which I can't blame him for. I'd be upset too if my wife just left me and took my daughter without telling me why, even if I find out later that it was for a good cause. I don't think there is any irreparable damage to their marriage, though. Jessica and Luke really care for each other and their daughter, so I'm sure they'll be able to reconcile. Danny Rand was a real friend to both of them this issue and even makes a jest at his odd relationship with Jessica. Issue #6 left me hopeful but also wondering what the heck is up with Maria Hill. The intrigue continues...

This wasn’t my favorite Grace Draven story, but it was still decent. I feel like the pacing could have been better and the main characters could have taken more time to get to know each other better before becoming a couple. I also feel like at the beginning we aren’t given very clear reasons as to why Martise is sent to Silhara. We are given a vague reason, but not enough to truly understand what is going on. I would have wanted to know more about the magic of the world and the nature of Silhara’s powers. I think it would have added more depth to the villain of the story and made Silhara’s concerns a bit more clear. Despite that, Martise is a very interesting and talented character and the author does a good job of implying that. She is obviously very knowledgeable, so much so that she becomes essential to Silhara’s search for a trump card against the chaos trying to take over him. The council only sees her as a slave but as Silhara spends more time with her he starts to admire her for her talents as well as her kindness, so I can see why he fell in love with her. There is not a lot of action in this story, so it is a bit slower paced if you’re looking for something with a lot of action and adventure, but the romance is interesting overall and the main characters are given a good amount of depth. The side characters are also fun and interesting, namely Gurn. It’s rare to have characters with disabilities in a lot of fiction or fantasy, so it was really cool that he was shown as someone that despite being mute functioned really well with his disability. The development of his friendship with Martise was one of my favorites. Overall, I enjoyed this story and think the pacing and world building could have used some work, but the characters were so interesting that I think it’s still worth picking up.

This romance sort of throws us into the middle of a scene that does an excellent job of establishing main characters as well as some side characters. The book functions under the assumption that the main love interests have already known each other for a year and each one likes the other without the other knowing it. You would think that without an establishment of scenes of how the main characters met the story would feel insta-lovey, but it doesn’t. I think the reason is because Penny Reid does an excellent job of giving us scenes with the characters that develop a sense of intimacy between both of them, not just physical, but also emotional. This sense of emotional intimacy we get lets the relationship pacing feel a lot more natural despite how condensed it is. Martin and Kaitlyn seem like very different people on the surface, and their differences are a source of concern for Kaitlyn in the development of their romantic relationship. However, as we learn more about the characters it become clear that they each crave things within a relationship that the other can offer. There is a specific scene in the book where despite only dating for a short period of time the characters have some amazing communication that really establishes what a good fit they are for each other. If you’re someone who wants to read something quick but also don’t like insta-love romances because they usually don’t have romantic relationships with depth, I’d strongly suggest this book. It’s short but the pacing is excellent. Be warned that it ends on a cliffhanger, though, so I’d recommend getting all the books in this series at once because it seems that this is how the series is styled.

I read Cry Wolf and the rest of the books in the series before reading this and now in retrospect I would recommend reading this first. It helps to give a lot more context to how mating bonds work between werewolves and also helps to give more understanding to Charles and Anna's relationship. I feel like I got to know Anna better and understand how abuse affected her first interactions with Charles. Very good starting point for the rest of the series.

It's hard to find good Hades/Persephone retellings and this is one of the good ones I'd say. Penelope is a character with a sense of naivete but still has a strong personality that challenges Michael which is very entertaining to read. Michael is someone that has been hurt in the past and has a hard time trusting people and deviating from his goal of vengeance. The author did a good job of building up their relationship and the miscommunication between the love interests was realistic and believable. I also appreciate that the sex scenes didn't feel weird. I've had my own bout with weird sex scenes in books (talking to you Sarah J. Maas). I'm looking forward to reading the sequels because I think Chase and Cross are really interesting suffer characters and we didn't get nearly enough of them here. Overall, I do recommend this if you're into this type of retelling.

It's crazy to think that everything going on in the story only happens in a span of days. The author does a great job of pacing everything so we'll though that the romantic relationship between Kaitlyn and Martin is believable and intimate. I like that she explores both characters as what they are, flawed people. Kaitlyn has problems confronting her feelings and speaking her mind about what she wants and is afraid of emotional intimacy. Martin has a privileged life but has a despicable family which makes him resentful and bitter at times. He can also be a bit of asshole sometimes because he has so many trust issues with the people around him.

My favorite parts of the book are the intimate conversations Kaitlyn and Martin have where we get insight into why they have the personality traits they do. It's also nice to see a male love interest have more emotional insight and be more open about his feelings than his female counterpart. It's not a dynamic that is necessarily super common. I also like that any issues the couple has with communication are addressed and nipped in the bud. They display am incredibly healthy relationship dynamic. I'm looking forward to the third installment of this series. Best romance I've read this year so far with characters that are very three dimensional and flawed and that I've grown to just love. Definitely recommend!



**MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD**



I think their breakup was handled very well. Kaitlyn and Martin obviously have very intense feelings for one another, but I'm hoping the breakup will give them the time they need to mature into better people. The breakup was more circumstantial than anything else, but I think it brought out the issues they still need to work on. Martin needs to determine if holding onto the bitterness he has towards his father is worth his happiness. Kaitlyn needs to continue her journey of growing into her own person and pursuing what she wants from life rather than becoming what everyone expects her to be. We shall see what happens.

I was very happy to pick up this standalone. I’ve been reading a lot of series recently and it can get overwhelming to be reading so many at a time sometimes. Reading this was a lot of fun. It is reasonably fast paced and leaves you wanting to keep turning pages because it does a great job of building up intrigue about what will happen next. Alessandra and the Shadow King are interesting morally ambiguous main characters that grab your attention the moment they are on the page. They also end up being very well-matched love interests. Alessandra is set on murdering the Shadow King to gain power initially and most of her decisions in the story are driven by this goal. She is a complex character that has had people in her life look down upon her including her father and her first lover. We quickly find out at the beginning of the book that her first lover humiliated her, so she murdered him. It’s very telling of the kind of person Alessandra is and we get to learn a lot about her in the span of a few pages. As she gets to know the Shadow King, she begins to learn that just as she does not like letting people get close to her out of fear of being hurt, the Shadow King has similar reasons for keeping his distance. They have a lot more in common than either of them initially thinks and the journey we see them go through as they develop feelings for each other is amazing. 

There is a lot of commentary within the story about the differences in societal expectations of men and women and the magic in the world adds flavor to an already interesting story. I also highly enjoyed the romance. Alessandra throughout her entire life has had to play a part in order to get what she wants from others and with the Shadow King the relationship develops in a way that he is fully accepting of who she truly is, secrets, crimes, and all. They both open up to each other emotionally in ways that they haven’t done with others and it shows a very sincere relationship dynamic. Overall, if you’re looking for characters that are intelligent, cunning, and morally ambiguous and a plot driven by intrigue with a good romance, this is a good pick.