Super hard to rate. I enjoyed the first 20%, appreciated the slow burn, the characters and the writing and when there was a shift in setting and characters, I was intrigued by the plot but started to not like the book anymore. The writing got super repetitive and the plot became inconsistent. There were so many points where I was so confused by some line drops, that I assume were supposed to be foreshadowing for the grand reveal but I would forget them as they were one liners and when the grand reveal/ plot twist happened, I was SO confused. But I also liked the plot twist?? Idk i’m very confused and don’t know how to feel. 2.5-3.

3⭐️2.75🌶️

Contemporary Fantasy
Dark Romantasy
Magical realism
1st Person
Dual POV
Fae
Enemies to lovers
Stockholm syndrome
Trials
Twist

Tw: sexual assault, confinement, murder

This is a fun time, more than a good time.

For how short this fantasy book was, there was a lot going on… It was trying to be a lot of things in 320 pages. Cliche dialogue, typical plot… but the ending had a decent twist that only had the tiniest foreshadowing. So it was a decent surprise.

The POV overlap was really not great. I was annoyed at reading the same moments but from a different POV. It slowed the pacing down a lot. The fantasy aspect didn’t start until almost 1/2 way through the book…it felt like a lot of build up in a world where none of the action took place. 

The FMC was portrayed as biology Barbie. Not really someone I wanted to root for. I was very confused by her as the FMC in a fantasy. It didn’t track. She starts out not cursing… and replacing words in a ‘The Good Place’ way, then curses in the second half of the book. She‘s inconsistent and not not a trustworthy narrator. 

The MMC is a prince who is numb except when he kills. That’s it. That’s his personality. Got it. And unoriginal with his shadow powers. It is what it is at this point. 

I’m hoping that the next book gets better. It was indie published and picked up before the second book was done, so maybe things get better with a good editor? It’s the same length… So jury is out. I’m reading book 2 because I got it from the library with the first one and I’m a little curious with the ending. If book 2 is the same, I’ll be done.

The longer I think about it, the lower i want to rate the book… but I was fine while reading it…

I thought this book was alright! Everyone hyped it up to be more than it was; so when the plot twist happened, I wasn’t super crazy about it?? It was an interesting twist!
Another bother for me: the characters weren’t well developed. At least Mendax wasn’t for me. He was this blood thirsty, sadistic fae that HATED Callie. Was going to kill her no matter what. Then all of a sudden, like a switch, he was in love with her and would kill anyone or anything for her. It happened so fast, I thought it was a joke! Then I remembered this is a romance.
 
Still very intrigued to see what the next book will bring!

First of all, I really enjoyed how different the fae were and the fae realm was in this book. I like the Seelie vs Unseelie courts. I liked the romance- the touch her and you die is a great trope. My biggest gripe with the book however is that the main character, Callie, is just insufferable. I found her incredibly obnoxious- which honestly might be a result of the writing. What I mean by that it is clear the author does not know how scientists actually talk and act. The use of random scientific names and stupid jargon when Callie was talking did not make her seem like more of a scientist, because that’s not how scientists talk. Additionally, she was just kind of stupid. It took way too long to get to the

three trials, and then the trials themselves were pretty boring

. I also found her falling for the morally black villain just way too unrealistic and they

fell for each other

too fast. There were fairly large gaps in the world building and unnecessary plot points- like

wtf was the point for her blowing up the bathroom???

I can see how the author was trying to plant the seeds for the twist at the end, but I really felt like it just fell flat. There was not enough building up of the twist- for example- for the twist to be that

she was in cahoots with the seelie fae the whole time- specifically Eli- who is Eli??? He got so little mention throughout the book it wasn’t impactful when he showed back up

. Idk. I got this rec from tik tok and it just was lackluster. 

This was fun. I think that’s the right word. I felt like the pace was a little off, and the only thing that keeps me from rating it 4 stars is that I felt there was some unnecessary stuff and a couple of weird editing choices that just really pulled me out of the story at times. 

The characters were interesting the MMC was a little two dimensional and the fact that either of them “fell in love” felt rushed and not believable. I’ll read on in the series, but it definitely could have used a bit more developmental editing.

Very much a slow burn type of dark romance and I LOVED it! I literally read this book in a day. I appreciate that their feelings did not just change overnight and it took time—almost the whole book—for them to finally start accepting and showing their feelings towards each other. I did not see the plot twist coming at the end either. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to get my hands on the second book the moment it comes out! 🖤

 Check the content warnings! The pacing is a major issue with this book. It takes 65 pages before the premise is even mentioned, with the first section of the book establishing characters and setting that have nothing to do with anything. Then from there the plot moves but has a cast of extremely unlikable characters. The protagonist is terrible and just finds people who feel a "need" to protect her for no reason. She is subjected to gratuitous, over the top violence and assault (there is a seen in a dungeon cell that is particularly gross and unnecessary). Other characters suffer graphic violence in such a casual way that it's nearly comical.

The "twist" at the end is completely unearned and reaffirms why these characters are unlikable. It's really just thrown in at the end so it can set up a sequel. Skip this.