This is the second book in the dark fantasy romance series, Realms in Peril. Tropes include fated mates, shadow daddy, angst, mental health rep, morally gray MCs, political intrigue and trauma rep. There are dark elements and spicy scenes in this story so please read the content warnings. 

The Lovely: I love these characters and going through their struggles with them. Malina’s journey isn’t particularly pleasant, but it’s messy and realistic. Kya and Ryker have a lot of issues to content with as well. And finally, our new morally dark gray MMC (additional MMC, not replacement - don’t worry) - I wanted to hate him but he would do things for his love that made that hate hard to find. 

The Interesting: This book has a lot of big changes from the prior - new (additional) main characters, personal struggles instead of trials, darker and a lot more mystery. Right from the start we spend a lot of time getting to know those new characters. There is something that you might expect to happen that doesn’t happen until well into the book, which kind of threw me for a loop. 

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars 3/5 Flames 

Recommendation: I received an early review copy and my thoughts are my own. I thought early on I knew how the pieces fit together, then some things happened that made me think otherwise So then I had a new idea. But that was wrong and moral of the story is I should have stuck with my first line of thinking. This story is full of twists and turns with a lot of angst layered on top. Like, nail biting tension and gut wrenching hurt. I’m already anxious for book three and I don’t know anything about it yet. Other than I’m probably going to be a wreck.