grim is actually such a good, thoughtful guy. i love him. i also appreciate that it turned out that Vivien has some hidden depths. I like that she decided to choose who she is and sticks to it. 

No. Just no. What in the heck did I just read? Is this even the same author??

I. Kid. You. Not. I started this novel IMMEDIATELY after finishing book 1. I didn’t even bother waiting until the next day to start it after shamelessly swallowing the first one down whole. 

I adored the first novel. I gave it 5 stars!! I wrote a long and heartfelt review as to why I had fallen so deeply in love with it and how the characters had me totally enamored and thrilled to tag along for their journey. I waxed poetically about the first one SHAMELESSLY bc I loved it so much!💗💗💗

So wtf is this?

Who even are these characters anymore? Where am I? What the h€ll happened to all of the things I gushed about in my review of the first one that was supposed to make this series amazing for me? Why. Why. Why!

So let’s talk.

This was a hollow, fast fashion, cheap Chinese chachki churn-out of a novel. This, was garbage.

The FL’s wit and humor and scathing comments were juvenile and missed the mark dang near 90% of the time. In the first book yes, she had a very childish and juvenile sense of humor there too but it was spot on, and revealing, and perfectly on point, and HILARIOUS. Book 2? There were very few times I so much as smirked at a charm I had very much come to love and expect from the FL like she had done in the last book. 

I’m not even sure if I’m describing this right, but in book 1 she was shameless, fearless, crass, brash, and sharp as a whip. So how is it in book 2 she feels only childish and empty? In book 1, I felt she had been written perfectly, a beautiful balance of chaos, youth, audacity and charm. In book 2 she felt unsure and completely off base from what should have been the land markers for her character.

In this book she constantly felt less and less like her independent, never wants to do what she’s told, only does as she likes, character. She stopped fighting for her independence. She ACCEPTED another person- even the one she loved- had complete control over her without really, REALLY railing against it except for a little bit at the start. That, right there, was the largest transgression to be asked to go with and the biggest crock of bullsh*t to swallow by far in this book.

Look, I hated this book. To me, this lost EVERYTHING I had raved about it practically frothing with rabbid fangirl. This was an awful mashing of things seen and done before. This novel felt “safe” where the other felt like it had really taken its time so that before you knew it you were helplessly addicted to the characters it painted. Book 2 felt nothing at all like that.

And if I was upset about the FL, I assure you, the ML was no better. Grim also felt as if he had regressed as a character. In book 1 he understood himself well enough to know Viv was dangerous for him bc he liked her immediately but he tried to fight it and play it off and not succumb and remember his duty all while getting to know her. You can literally read from chapter to chapter in his POV how he’s forced to admit, he respects and admires the heck out of this girl. In book 2 he no longer read like a man who genuinely considered this woman to be his peer, but like this repetitive back and forth wave of, ‘I want her, I need her. Responsibilities. I can’t stop thinking about her. Responsibilities. She makes me weak. Responsibilities.’ and it’s not at all where I wanted him to be.

He admits- HE. ADMITS!!! To Blood Bonding them for purely selfish reasons and that in terms of cost, for the life of Jamal, the bond was at a far greater price. That fact is easily glanced over tho and never examined again. He is WRECKED when she refuses to go near him- but bounces back so fast like everything’s fine again when she finally does. To me, he should be doing everything to woo, grovel, and show earnest distress bc he understand EXACTLY the position he put her in. But he never does. Both of them are just, business as usual and then eventually they make up enough to sleep with each other.

Neither of these characters to me felt like they properly stewed over the messed up sht of their situations. Neither of them felt like they truly grieved or mourned the loss of who they were before as they came to grips with the new reality of their now, officially well and truly bonded. And tossing that chance for raw emotion and angst out in favor of barreling through to a blunder of a plot? I felt completely robbed as a reader and betrayed as a budding fan.

Last thing I swear, that sht with the uncle at the end? I skipped ahead at like, the 67% marker so I have no idea what happened between that and the last chapter but the uncle twist felt like an upchucked and recycled, FL obsession plot device from the first book. You remember the master right? Ugh. And that’s the last thing I say before Goodreads decides to put a letter limit on these reviews. 💀💀💀

I'm not sure which of these two I like best so far. They were both pretty awesome! It's a mystery of which God is trying to cause unbalance and which one is on which side. Meanwhile, Vivien is still trying to figure out how she feels about being blood bonded to Grim. He's stopped fighting the fact that he feels strongly about her, but now that she's mad at him and possibly hates him, he knows that the road with get won't be easy. Not that there's much time to worry about that at the moment, since both the world and his life are in mortal peril when something is taken from the hotel he owns.

My only disappointment is that the epilogue wasn't longer or more detailed!

Discoveries are made, more questions arise, and I can't wait to get into book 3!