3.5 Tumultuous Stars ⭐
Spicy Level: 🌶️.5/5

I was so excited for this, and I can't help but be a little disappointed. I feel like I've been edged to the worst extreme by the book and the cliffhanger. Holly teased and played with me and my emotions and while there was some relief, the book ended way too soon leaving me wanting. Wanting more book, wanting more plot, wanting more Dacre, wanting more action... just wanting MORE!!!!

NOTE: This is a sequel to The Veiled Kingdom and cannot be read out of order, so there might be spoilers for book one in here. If you don't want to see them, please stop reading. If you do it's either because you do not care about spoilers or you have already read book 1... either way if you spoil something for yourself from book 1 - I did warn you....

This kicks off directly after the events at the end of The Veiled Kingdom. After being thoroughly used by Dacre and her identity revealed, Verena is on the run. She is desperate to get South to finally escape the Kingdom. BUT She is being hunted, as the name suggests she is being hunted by the king's men, who somehow now know she's on the run. And she's being hunted by Dacre and his father. Dacre's father desperately wants to get his hands on Verena to use her as a bargaining chip against the King. As a result, Dacre needs to deal with the dilemma of does he support his father's cause (which we know from book 1 was ALREADY on a rocky slope) or follow his heart and protect Verena at all costs - he only has to get her to forgive him first...

Look, this was a filler book and it's blatantly clear that is what it is... The pacing of this was a little off. 50% was tooo slow with not much happening except "travelling" and then it rushed through the end as everything kicked up into overdrive and went a little whack. The next thing I knew I was at 80% and I was dreading the end because as much as not much had happened, I was enjoying the crap out of myself. I didn't want it to end because then it would be over and I'd have to wait months again for the next book. Months for my next fix of Verena... MONTHS OF WAITING FOR MORE OF DACRES DIRTY MOUTH.

Holly Renee did say that the book is short, but I remember The Veiled Kingdom being pretty short as well and she managed to pack a serious punch in that story with plot, world-building, characterisation and vibes. This one was lacking on all of these... the characters didn't seem to grow much in this and Dacre lost a bit of his spark from book 1. He had such a deliciously dirty mouth in book 1 and turned generic in this... I could have plucked his dirty talk out of any book with smut... I expected more grovelling and a little more "fight" from Verena based on how her heart was stepped on and abused at the end of book 1. The only character that grew was Dacre's dad and he grew into an even bigger asshole than before and should suffer a very painful death!

I battled a little bit with the world-building and how the world is made up. I don't understand the magic system as it's something that was never really gone into detail to explain. The world also felt the size of a shoebox. "News" travels too quickly and she encounters her pursuers way too frequently and quickly for someone who is alone and can easily slink into miles of forest.

But I have to give it to Holly Renee, she knows how to entertain. I devoured this book - inhaled the pages and I thoroughly enjoyed being back in the world and seeing these characters again. I think the fact that she made me love them so much in Book 1, is why I was slightly disappointed in book 2...because I have to now wait for book 3.

The Tropes and Microtropes to look forward to are:
▶ Second Chance Enemies to Lovers
▶ Slow Burn
▶ Touch Her/Him You Die
▶ View is Amazing (Looking at Her)
▶ She Stabs Him
▶ One Bed
▶ Spicy/Steamy Bath Scene
▶ Cages her with his arms
▶ Hand Necklaces

▶ Fated Mates

Basically, READ THIS... While it's short, it's entertaining and if you loved The Veiled Kingdom this is a great little read to whet your appetite for the ultimate epic conclusion coming in book 3!!!

STAR WORD FACT: Holly Renee used TUMULTUOUS 5 times in this book...

Thank you to Holley Renee and Valentine PR for my gifted copy.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.