After the first book I hate to admit it, but this was kind of a let down. It was like watching a car crash, so bad but you can't look away. Diem was annoying in the first book but I could overlook it but in this was she was just unbearable. I had to take a bit of a break in the middle of the book because I couldn’t stand it anymore. I think I only persevered because I wanted to see more of Luther. There's slow burn and then there’s... this. I don't need to read two full books just to get that they've built trust and are obviously going tot end up together, but I especially don't need two books of Henri planning to kind while Diem's just like "this is fine." I read this for the promise of romance but the fantasy elements were just average, right until the last 5%. I'm all for a last minute twist/cliff hanger but it really was a lot to get through and almost not enough payoff. Not even Prince Luther could redeem this for me. I’ll still continue reading the series because of the cliff hanger and I'm still trying to redeem the series but it's mostly out of spite now (and for Luther, who is in no way a perfect character but the only highlight left for me)

 

Thanks to Atria Books, NetGalley and Penn Cole for this e-ARC that I chose to read and review