I dunno why so people don't like this as much as the first, but I know I did. I actually kinda like this one more.

This may be because I listened to the audiobook and the narrators did a lot of the heavy lifting, but I really loved that this was a duo POV between Alessa and Dante. Yeah, the romance definitely got more sexual, which I found a tad too much at times, but it was still filled with great banter and lots of cute moments. I also really loved that Dante's pov provided much further depth than before, even though it came at the cost of Alessa kinda floundering during a lot of the story.

The story, like its predecessor, hinged on another big bad fight sent by the gods, and it wasn't all that once it finally happened in the last 10 or so chapters, but I liked the focus on identity, belonging, and what we sacrifice for love throughout the buildup compelling enough. Besides Caleb and Adrick, the side characters from the first book are notably less present in order to make way for new ones, specifically Talia, who, despite understanding her motivations and reasons for being who she was, irritated me. I won't say why, but she was definitely not a girl's girl until the fight came.

All in all, I can't help but really like these books. I'm a sucker for good character writing, and the chemistry between Alessa and Dante is amongst my favorites out of everything I read.