CW: miscarriage, death of a spouse, parental death, loss of life/murder, on page suicide (ch. 36), sexual manipulation of a minor & adult/minor relationship (mentioned but not depicted), discussion of mental health and declining ,entail health (depicted on page)

I’ll tell you one thing, this story was beautiful, heavy, and tragic all at the same time. It’s written in a way that allows us to take in all the main perspectives we need: Malachi, Ziva, Eliana, Violet, and Easton. They’re all key players in this story and the narrative treated them as such.

Now, I wanted to snatch up Violet a few times for getting beside herself lol. Her decision to secretly meet her biological father sets off a series of events that no one is prepared for. Malachi has been wanting a child for as long as he can remember and so when Violet shows up in his classroom, he’s shocked, but never hesitates to step up. Unfortunately that puts her adoptive mom, Eliana, in an uncomfortable position and unknowingly pushes his fiancée into even more unstable territory.

The love story between Violet, Malachi, and Eliana was beautiful. You get to watch their family connection grow and even though I didn’t always buy the chemistry between the couple, I always bought into the family dynamic that they established. Unfortunately, a good amount of the tragedy in this book stems from Ziva and the type of person her past has turned her into. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to beat her several times over, but I also felt sorry for her because of all she’d been through, that wasn’t an excuse for her to be a horrible person, but whew she really never stood a chance. Easton having to go through all this with his mama broke my heart, but I’m glad he had Malachi to help him through.

We were always headed to a confrontation of epic proportions, but things spiraled QUICKLY once we hit like...90%. Even with the trigger warning, I wasn’t expecting what happened. I knew the end result, but I didn’t know that’s how we would get there so that kind of threw me. Of course, in the end everything is wrapped up with a bow, but WHEW that ending was a lot.

All in all, an engaging read and definitely one to pick up if you can handle the heavy themes.

Ok so for a good chunk of the time, this was a cute fun read. There are some heavy topics toward the end (manipulation, murder, domestic violence, child abuse) so be aware of that. 

I had a great time meeting Aphrodite, her family, and Verity (who we’ll get to see more of in book two!). Evander as a character was… frustrating. He was pigheadedly stubborn through EVERYTHING even when it wasn’t necessary. I understood his anger and frustrations but I wanted to shake him all the daggone time!

There were times where I didn’t appreciate how he was talking to Aphrodite. Yes she’s naive, but she wasn’t stupid and a lot of times it was his own fault she was left in the dark. Also, I understood why he kept the secrets he did in part one. Once they were explained, his motivations made sense. What I didn’t understand was why, once Dite knew the truth, he insisted on acting like she didn’t. Because of the trauma he and Verity went through, I knew opening up would be hard, but it doesn’t make sense to withhold information when the other person already knows about that situation.

It also felt weird to me that the author tried to humanize the villains in the end. Being an illegitimate child or being of “low birth” doesn’t mean you should be treated like trash, BUT when you act like a horrible person, you get treated like one. We spent the entire book setting up the fact that these two people (three if you count the father) were horrible because of their actions. Am I supposed to feel sorry for them when karma finally shows up? No. ESPECIALLY not the mama after what she was doing to Verity. 

Also, no one ever told us why the nanny was doing why she was doing. I mean I can assume it was because she was in cahoots with the two villains, but it would’ve been nice to actually get confirmation. 

All in all, I think I just had some problems with the execution of part two, especially towards the end (and I’m still not sure if Evander learned anything), but I do look forward to reading more about Verity in her book. Hopefully we’ll see what Evander is like WITHOUT all this drama clouding his judgement.

LaDesmond got me in a chokehold and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love a man who will pop in a grill, pull out a piece and don’t play about his woman. Desmond had me cracking up from page one and as soon as I met Lei, I knew she was not one to play with. Watching them overcome Des’s hoeness and Lei’s reservations was a beautiful thing. And little baby Destiney??? Oh she is the CUTEST. Listen, this journey wasn’t always easy, especially not with his past running after them, but it certainly showcased what it’s like once you find a rider who will knock you square in your behind and teach you about love.

Listen, there are a lot of things that might be wrong with this book (misogyny, sexism, redundant conversations/sentiments) but you know what…it did a couple things right too (growth of the MCs, tension, sex and fight scenes). I’ll definitely be picking up book 2

BOMB! I had no clue what I was getting into, but I’m so glad I showed up for a good time. What starts out as a wild night of experimenting turns into a trip filled with secret hookups, each one hotter than the last. We also got to learn a bit about Kayadah and Nelly and catch glimpses of their personalities, quirks, flaws, and the influence they had on each other. I definitely need more and if that epilogue is any indication, hopefully we’re getting just that. I have my suspicions of what’s been happening, but I can’t wait to get confirmation.