This second book in the Harem of Hearts trilogy was significantly slower paced and, unlike the first one which unraveled over a variety of settings and circumstances, mostly took place within the King of Heart's castle, which gave the story this slightly stale feeling.

I also noticed how it had more and more opinions that felt like they came straight from the author—and were not organic to Allison's character—about politics, birth control, the patriarchy, etc. No other of C.M. Stunich's female characters of any of her stories that I've read gave me such strong "self-insert" vibes. Didn't like that. Fiction is not the place for an author to voice their opinions on social and political topics.

Still, the events taking place were during this second installment were interesting, there was some serious enemies-to-lovers going on between Allison and the King (which we always love to see!) and the stakes seemed awfully high given how powerful and undefeatable the villains appeared to be—a good villain always makes for a good story. And the cliffy ending was evil! LOL Thank goodness the trilogy was already complete. Having to wait after that would have been awful.

Full review for the trilogy available on my blog.