I liked the story, it was so fun, but I HATED the Graphic audio. For the love of God can the background noises be any louder I can almost hear the actual story still. This was the only version available through my library and if I’d had any other version available to me I would have gone with it. 

Note: the actual voice actors did a great job! It was literally just the sound mixing of the background noises being SO LOUD that made it bad. 

I was so bored the entire time. Every single line I was fighting the urge to dnf. When I would put the book down I would lowkey dread picking it back up. How you make a hunt for the Arthurian relics to save your werewolf brother from a curse boring as hell is a feat in and of itself.  

You know that feeling you get when a you read the last books of a series that you’ve been following for years? That melancholy ache of knowing you have to say goodbye? That there are no new adventures with these people you’ve come to love? This book manages to capture that feeling in a standalone. 

A perfect mix of “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Princess Mononoke”. Simply stunning and beautiful! 

This was 15% romance and 85% political drama. Not what I thought I was getting into, but a very fun read! 

I would have expected the Title character to be… the main character? The actual “reluctant baronet” and Selina were very much a secondary characters to the Brother’s inheritance drama. 

Very cute. Very fun. Wild from start to finish 🤣

Steamy more than spicy. Closed door but suggestive, some over the clothes. 

Very cute and sweet. Loved the open communication. Very natural progression of a relationship. 

There is a third act break up and kinda cheating? It’s unclear if they were still together or not at that point. 

Cheesy and sweet. Oddly informative. 

I knew it! I Knew It! I KNEW IT!!! The second they went to that one party in book one I knew! Melissa tried to gaslight me but I KNEW IT!!!

(It does make so much of what Kira does in book to feel unnecessarily particularly when he KNEW about it.

They literally told Killian their plan to infiltrate the library!! Why didn’t they just use the glamor she has apparently already been using FOR YEARS?!?!? Such nonsense!

This books had such weird pacing. When it’s slow it’s SLOW but out of nowhere the energy and action will pick up for ten to fifteen pages, but for going right back to super slow. 

Overall it didn’t hold my attention as well as the last two. But at least with this one there is less important information happening off page (which was my biggest issue w/ bk2) 

Guess we’ll see what bk4 has for us eventually 

Impeccable vibes! Stunning world building! Niki has never let me down! 

Really slow start but one the story picks up it stays there. Beautiful imagery, a fun magic system that leaves space for growth (I can’t decide if I think it’s too casual or if I love how people treat magic as just an everyday tool) 

Lots of fun twists and turns. This author HAS TEETH!!! There are real stakes in place and the danger is tangible and directly affects the characters. Also that Epilogue hit me like a fucking truck!!!  

The romance felt a little forced, but I can look past that as it’s not really a driving part of the plot

up until that last little bit, so we’ll see what happens

 

Very much looking forward to reading the next book! 

Well that was… a book. That felt like such a weird place for the story to end. Not… not a lot happened when you get down to it. I remember getting to a point where I had maybe a hundred pages left and I thought “there is not enough time for something to go wrong to set the stakes for the next book” and I was right. I guess it technically ended on a cliff hanger but I’ll be honest we don’t see enough of Gaheris for me to actually care about him or be “afraid” of what he’s going to do. (And knowing he was definitely based off Snoke only made it worse) 

There wasn’t really a climax for this book. It really kept the same tone and energy the entire book.

Was it the wedding? Was that supposed to be the climax? That works fine for a Regency or even contemporary romance novel, but not when you are trying to push this war plot.

The romance kinda fell flat for me. It feels manufactured. Like, these characters seem to be infatuated with one another against their will.

On a totally different note, these characters are South East Asian. Every single one of them. The author has made that very clear. Can the fan art please reflect that? Yes I know this was originally a Reylo fanfiction. I get it, but can fan artists at least TRY to give them SOME Asian features? I feel like I’m not asking for that much. (If such art exists and I just haven’t stumbled upon it please send it my way!) 

Anyway here’s hoping Monsoon Rising more plot progression than this one did. See yall in December! (Hopefully)