this was pretty fast-paced and kept me engaged, but definitely ended up feeling overly repetitive around the middle… i adore paedyn and kai though so i am super excited for book 3, especially bc i think this one set up everything for the final book to be pretty eventful 😏 

I absolutely loved this book! Can’t wait for fearless to come out and see how it ends 😆
Paedyn and Kai endgame for the win 💪

Just a quick note before I get into my actual review of this book...if you're reading the first edition, you will notice it has a good number of spelling and grammatical errors (I do technical writing for a living so I notice these things and it was a bit distracting). I think the editors (or Lauren Roberts knowing how getting book edits are done. It could have been a poor choice of editor or she may have just purchased 1 or 2 edit pass throughs, which can cause the issues you see.) could have done a better job with editing before publishing so my review is not based on spelling and grammatical errors I noticed. These errors will probably be resolved in another edition so I am reviewing this with this factor removed from the equation.

I enjoyed this book so much more than its predecessor (Powerless). I thought Powerless was decent but Reckless had me sucked in. I haven't read a storyline like it and it kept me on my toes the entire time. I loved the adventure of it all since you saw more than just an arena, castle, and the slums of the kingdom and it felt like you were part of the story. I also liked Kitt's POV and felt it added more to the character as it seemed like his character was pretty important in the first book.
The ended literally wrecked (pun intended) me with the emotional damage along with another point in the book

(When Paedyn was reading her father's journal)

that Lauren Roberts gave me and that's fairly hard to do since I'm not emotionally invested in a book like I was with Reckless.

Very vague spoiler but I had a feeling the exact thing that happened at the end of Reckless was going to happen, but I blissfully ignored it hoping it would never come to be as I enjoyed the story.

Now I have to deal with this emotional damage and the thoughts going through my head as I have to wait 9 months for the final book, Fearless.

I enjoyed this book a bit more than Powerless, despite the typos haha. I did find the action plot a bit lacking (focused mainly on character relationships), and at many points a bit repetitive, but enjoyed that the story didn't have such a parallel to an already existing story as the last one. 

Lots of angst (that was part of the repetition), but very good fan service for Pae/Kai relationship lovers. As much as i enjoyed it, the ending, despite feeling a bit rushed, was absolutely uncalled for and unhinged, and i will be impatiently awaiting the third book. 

(SPOILERS AT THE END OF THIS - warning included right before they are mentioned)

THIS BOOK ABSOLUTELY WRECKED ME. I don’t think I’ve sobbed this much over a book in a really long time.

The ending was exactly what I predicted (as a joke ofc) and then it became real which is not what I wanted and I’m very depressed about it.

It’s so hard to express how I feel without spoiling the whole book for the rest of you. So I’ll just say it was so beautiful and so heartbreaking. I loved every second of it (until I got to the end and my heart shattered). All I have to say is that I’m team Kai and Paedyn forever. They better get their happy ending by the time this series is done.

But also I still have hope for Kitt and I hope he finds his own happy ending as well. I just miss how they all were in book 1 and I really need it to end that way in book 3.

So I highly recommend this series but be prepared to cry! Lauren please this is so diabolical of you. I need book 3 rn!

Anyways keep scrolling down if you want my review CONTAINING SPOILERS.





⚠️SPOILERS (I’ll only be posting on here)⚠️‼️‼️



I’m so heartbroken by the way this ended. My poor baby Kai. I love him so much and he deserves so much better. I hope Kitt realizes how much this is gonna hurt him but I feel like the epilogue showed that Kai is stepping back and I literally cannot have him giving up on his happy ending with Paedyn. I will literally die. I need them to get their happily ever after bc they both deserve it more than any other characters I’ve ever read about.

Please if anyone has also read this DM me on insta! I NEED someone to discuss with because I’m so UPSET. 

Like how could Lauren have me read an entire book where Kai and Paedyn fall so deeply in love and then have them finally choose to be together at the end just for Kitt to ruin it all. I know he wants to be loved and I think he 100% deserves to find someone but just not Paedyn. That’s Kai’s girl. Even Adena agreed (rip Adena) Speaking of her Mak also needs a happy ending.

That will be all for now 😭😭😭