Ummmmmmm what’s going on? What’s happenin’?

This book is a gripping, extremely dark tale of a young woman’s fight for truth and belonging among treachery, betrayal, and violence. This book contains nearly constant on page depictions of SA and PA that may be disturbing to readers. Although the book is very mysterious and suspenseful, many questions are posed throughout and none are answered, leaving the reader confused.

This book definitely has what it takes to keep a reader interested, but there are several plot holes and a magic system that isn’t nearly as developed as it could have been. There are vague mentions of witches and psychic abilities, but they aren’t expounded upon. It is the hope that the reader gets more answers in the following book, but the way that first book is left is very hard to swallow.

All of that being said, I feel this author and book series have a lot of potential, but it just didn’t hit for me. In a dark fantasy romance, you expect some dark themes, but you also expect there to be a silver lining of some self discovery or romance. Poor Eleanor, like the reader, is left with more questions and a heart that has been broken so many times she is numb.

There was a gratuitous amount of PA and SA, that was not only troubling, but did not further the plot or really serve a purpose other than to depict awful abuse on the page. I truly hope that the intent is for the FMC to rise from the proverbial ashes and come into herself, for all of her pain to be worth something, but so far, there is no sign of that.

Overall, this book did keep me on the edge of my seat, and I will likely read the next installment of the series just for hopes of some redemption for the FMC.

DISCLAIMER: please read the warnings and triggers and take them seriously. When I say that there is nearly CONSTANT abuse both sexually and physically in this book, I mean it.

Thank you so much for the ARC!

You will hate this book if you want a HEA (Happy Ever After). The story's ending was not what I expected, and I was absolutely heartbroken. I caught myself bouncing back and forth between which character I trusted and who I wanted her to end up with at the end. Seeing how love was taken from her was the hardest thing about the book. The two of them (you will understand once you read it) did not deserve for their story to end before it began. From the beginning, we can see how little is thought about women in her world. We can see the different types of torture she is forced to endure. She truly does not have control of her own body for the entirety of the book. It ended on such a cliffhanger that I wanted the second book immediately! The dreams ended up being very important, so pay attention to them!

A horrible horrible book… the whole other is just abuse and rape and more abuse and rape. Expected a dark romance fantasy, not this. I wish I could unread it