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“Every time I see you, you’re more beautiful than the last,” he murmurs.
“And every time I see you, I want to get you naked,” I blurt.
4.75 smutty stars
“I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”
First off, let me tell you, the spice was spicing, so, um, here are some, ahem, quotes.
I’ve been dealing with a half hard-on the entire drive, so the second the vehicle is in park, I wrench the door open. “Leave everything. We’ll deal with it after I’ve fucked at least two orgasms out of you.”
“Good fucking God, the way you look right now,” he makes a deep sound in the back of his throat and the right side of my mouth curls up. He doesn’t look like the sweet, polite man who snuggled with me on the couch last night. He looks like he wants to devour me.
I pop off again—“And how do I look?”—before I cover the head once more.
“Like those pretty lips of yours were made to be wrapped around my cock.”
🥵️
This was exactly what I was hoping for in Sidney and Skye’s story! Skye is basically Violet in terms of everything and I was living for it (I guess Violet is Skye since Skye is her mom, but you get the point). I don’t normally go for the single parent and second chances trope, but I love all of Helena’s stuff, so there was no way I passing on this one!
Skye delicately lifts one of the calamari rings with her fork and inspects it for a moment. “Sort of looks like a deep-fried cock ring, doesn’t it?”
I adored their little meet-cute, even tho Sid had noticed her before, which so cute, and Skye’s absolute awkwardness about anything and everything. She is completely unfiltered and it was just perfection.
Buck, being the ridiculously agile and not-clumsy soon-to-be-stepbrother that he is, picks me up and sets me on my feet, then hands me my glasses.
“Thanks. I wish my feet were better at their job.”
Getting to meet young Violet and Buck was everything! They were so amazing, Buck was such a sensitive muffin for certain things, and we get to see the scene that’s mentioned in Pucked, where Buck “hits” on Violet and that whole scene was great.
“Oh wow,” I mutter. “He cleans up nice.”
Dad squeezes my arm. “Inside voice, Skye. Everyone can hear you.”
I shrug. “Looking good, babe!” I call down the aisle.
This review is pointless, it’s just me saying “the book was great” which means you have to read this book, then go read the Pucked universe as well!
Thank you so much to 1001 Dark Nights Press and the author for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review!!
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This was so good and it was everything I needed in the beginning story of the Pucked universe!
Full review to come
This was an emotional rollercoaster. A beautiful, emotional rollercoaster that made me feel everything the characters were feeling. I was angry when they were, sad when they were, frozen and dying when they were (you know, metaphorically). Phew. Hava was so broken that it was heartbreaking to read about her. She came off as childish sometimes times but then you had to remember the shit she’s been through, how awful her life was for the first, what, 16 years?
And the foxes 😭😭😭😭
And the foxes 😭😭😭😭
She clutched at him, his name on her lips a plea for salvation. He’d kneel at her altar and pray for their lives.
We start the book with Alessa on her way back from a celebratory trip and Dante having bought the bar where he used to fight – I guess they paid him for helping defeat those bug things?
Slayer of demons, she wore the spoils of victory on her skin.
Anyway, Alessa and her Fontes were away, and Dante was having dreams of blood and death.
No more demons. No more wars. It was time to begin the rest of her life.
Happily.
Ever.
After.
But no one believed him – and you know what? Alessa should have believed him.
Ciro and Diwata’s vessel was larger and more elegant than any of Saverio’s, but it was still a floating death trap. She eyed the smudged horizon warily. If the crew felt it was safe enough to depart, it must be. Then again, hundreds of ships had sunk throughout history after crews made similar decisions. Thanks to the Cittadella’s logs of maritime deaths and injuries, she knew of a dozen ways to lose a limb or perish at sea.
I wish the adventure part of this book was a little more detailed, or longer because I love when characters have to travel somewhere in books.
"What?” Kaleb clutched his chest in mock outrage. “You mean to tell me this gods-sanctioned marriage of convenience hasn’t evolved into a love match?"
I didn’t really care for Kaleb much in book 1, he was kinda just there, you know? But I enjoyed the fluff out of his character in this book. He was pretty much the definition of comedic relief and I highlighted a ton of quotes from him.
Dea and Crollo disagreed about whether humanity deserved to exist, so they made a bet, and we’ve all been pawns in every round since. But all games end eventually, and now things have changed.
I want to emphasize that I did like this book, it was funny (a saving grace honestly, the funny parts were great) and had some nice plot twists, but the negatives started to overpower the positives in the end for me.
Dante leaned, a mere sway toward her, then caught himself, dragging a hand through his hair with a low “Fuck.”
The banter between Alessa and Dante was still really great, I love how they respond to each other, but I do wish there was more of them in this story. If they had been separated for the book, that would have been understandable, but they were all still together and yet, not?
He never knew how to soothe her when she dreamed about his own death. It had happened a few times in the months after, and she’d been wracked with guilt each time, as though he might have forgotten that he’d died if she didn’t remind him.
Alessa was clearly having issues in the beginning and middle of the book, but instead of trying to understand them and manage them, she just hid everything or brushed it off as nothing. That isn’t a theme in books I like, so that was an issue for me. I get not telling her friends, she hasn’t had friends in a long time and she didn’t want to frighten them off, but not even admitting to herself or Dante? No.
He’d been too damn busy feeling bad for himself and mad at the world, and mad at her—there it was, yes, mad at her—to see it until that moment. Not mad because she’d taken the life he’d willingly offered, but because she’d given it back with a piece missing.
This leads me to my next issue – Dante. I realllly liked him in book 1. This book? Not so much. He was wallowing, whining, rude to the Fontes and Alessa, constantly thinking about how much this sucked, and just generally feeling sorry for himself. I know that his powers were integral to him, but it was kinda annoying. And when he stopped this internal (and external) behaviour, it was so abrupt that it was rushed and not well done.
I’d spend a hundred years in chains for one day with you.
The ending was also very short, I would have liked more of everything. Overall, I still did enjoy this book, but it wasn’t as much as I enjoyed book 1.
"I’m so sorry.” Alessa reached up to touch Dante’s cheek. “You have to let me be the hero this time.”
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and the author for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
“You just need to find the right person.”
“Ha!” Saida chucked a pillow at her. “Easy for you to say. You found your true love at eighteen.”
Alessa’s cough sent a puff of powdered sugar into the air. “And he died.”
“Yeah, but he’s fine now,” Kamaria said. “All’s well that ends well.”
“I can barely touch him!”
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Hmm
I have thoughts.
And the lemons on the cover make sense now 😂
This was so much better than I was expecting! I dunno why I didn’t go in with high expectations but I loved this!
The -0.5 stars was mostly because Alessa was a little annoying at times, but I still really liked her character.
The -0.5 stars was mostly because Alessa was a little annoying at times, but I still really liked her character.