*Thank you to Penguin Michael Joseph for gifting me the books in this series!*

This series has reached a point where it really is quite juicy and entertaining, reading these is a lot of fast paced fun. I, however, have no idea why this instalment was so big. It was really unnecessary. It took me almost two weeks to get through because even though I was enjoying it, I was just so put off and intimidated. It could have been at least 200 pages shorter. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the alternative perspectives in this book often serve no purpose and just feel like filler. I really don’t enjoy them.

Because of the size of this one being wholly disproportionate to the actual plot and events we had going on inside, the middle of this book ended up being a bit stale for me. I honestly would have dropped down to a three star if the ending had picked back up in pace again and drew me in. There was a whole lot of nothing going on in the middle, it was pretty repetitive waiting for the big build up to the ending and all the drama which I enjoyed. I felt like we got higher stakes in this book though and the end was fantastic.

This book has actually finally earned its title as a dark romance fantasy series. If you were wondering when this series was finally going to have some consistent spice, this is the one you’ve been waiting for. You’ll have to wait a tiny bit, but I think the payoff was pretty good i you love that sort of thing. We get to watch Auren and Slade also fully enter their villain/payback eras in this and honestly I loved it. They’re both kind of insane actually, especially when they’re doing things to protect the other. I loved the unpredictability and chaos of their partnerships against the tenderness and trust that came with their romantic partnership. They have such an interesting dynamic, I love it. It was nice in this one to see more of Slade’s childhood and to understand him as a person on a deeper level. I do think the flashbacks were a little oddly written, but nothing too bad.

Though it has been a common theme throughout the series, I think this book especially has some really great conversations an thoughts on sex work. It offered a couple of different perspectives on how the world and society views sex workers, how they view themselves, and how at the end of the day sex workers are still working people who deserve love, respect and basic human rights. Seeing it reinforced so thoroughly in a book where a lot of the subject matter is pretty dark was nice. I think this has these conversations really well, never seen anything similar in other fiction before.

I am still pining for proper female friends and a wider support system for Auren, even though we’re getting there slowly I wish there was more emphasis on it at times. I like Slade and I think he’s really interesting, but this is Auren’s life at the end of the day and I wish she had more than just a man at her side. She’s been through so much and she deserves happiness and love in various forms, not just romantic.

If there is another book coming soon, I pray it’s a sensible length otherwise it’s going to take me a million years to push through.