Fun & Fast Paced With Great Characters and A Steamy Romance

Thoughts: 💡

I loved Chrysantha. She was cold and calculating and so smart it was almost scary. She used what she had to make her place in the world, but she was secretly a sweetheart. And the angry hate filled enemies to lovers trope was brilliant. I really wasn’t sure that she would have a partner until almost the very end.

My favorite things about this story was all the complicated relationships with various characters. The romance was an important factor of the story, but the story seemed more about Chrysantha finding herself, gaining confidence in living authentically, and learning to trust people. Which admittedly wasn’t an easy feat when living in a complementary society that has little to no respect or protection for women, and the person you’re falling in love with is hiding dark and dangerous secrets and unaliving people in front of you.

The narration was perfect on this one. It was a single narrator, because the book is a single POV; but she was a fantastic storyteller.

I also really need to read The Shadows Between Us now.

Fun Bits:

⚜️ Hate to lovers

⚜️ He has secretes but isn’t hiding the dead

bodies from her

⚜️ Monster love for the win

⚜️ The best side characters

⚜️ An interesting and well crafted fantasy world

✨Note✨ This is a standalone but set in the same world as The Shadows Between Us with some of the same characters.

Stats:📊

YA: Lots of Steam, Fade to Black

Characters: 💙💙💙💙💙

Audio: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧

Narrator: 🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️

YA Romantasy: Enemies to Lovers, Hidden Secrets, Found Family, Morally Grey, Monster Love 📕

(Single POV)

⚠️: violence, blood & gore, death, sexual harassment and attempted sexual assault

Content Warnings

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved the first book to this duology, so much that I reread it before I started The Darkness Within Us. I'd hoped that the premise would be different than expected. Different than Alessandra expected, and I was very pleased to be right.

Chrysantha was amazing. I definitely have a preference still for Al and Kallias. But I really appreciated getting a peek into Chrysantha's head and seeing what the other sister thought. I liked the duality of the sisters, both using different means to manipulate the world into obeying them. The relationship between the duchess and her staff was also heartwarming after the first book. I thought the child seeing the first scene would be a gun on the mantle but that fell flat which was a little disappointing.

The ending felt cut off. Either like it was forced or like there were a few scenes cut out between the kiss, the betrayal, and Chrysantha's return. I'd have liked to see more of the sisters talking, and more of the relationship between Chrysantha and Eryx. It started slow and then did like a series of fast moves to the ending. It felt a bit jarring.

But overall, I enjoyed this book a great deal. I appreciated the ending, even if it was a bit stilted, because I like to root for bad people sometimes. I like to see them win. The narrator was also great! She had a solid pompous attitude that worked for both sisters, although I'd prefer if each sister were voiced by a different narrator.

Content Warnings

moodreaderhan's review

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Guess who is an arc girly now?? 🤭

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the arc in exchange for an honest review! I’m incredibly grateful!

3.75 Stars

“I think we are a good match.” “If you think fire and oil are a good match.” “Exactly. Together we could burn the world down if we wanted to.” “What if I don’t want to burn down the world? What if all I want is my quiet country life?” “Then I’ll burn anyone who tries to take it away from you.”

Keeping this short, sweet, to the point and fun just like this book.

In the beautiful words by Taylor Swift in ‘All Too Well 10 Minute Version’ also known as the only version to me (and by many many before and after her)… “F*ck The Patriarchy”!

TL’s fmcs are always unapologetic and real! I didn’t know how I would feel about Chrysantha in the beginning. It seems like other readers were set to not like her at all based on the brief mention of her in book one, but I held out hope and was not disappointed. She proved herself more and more, and in my opinion gives off the Slytherin cunning-feels more than her sister did. Honestly book 2 gave me more of what I was looking for in every aspect. Swoon worthy? Check. Trope Heaven? Check. Morally grey? Check. “Devilishly” handsome man with a “monster-ish” temper and smirk that makes you tingle? …check check check!

I crushed this in a day because of how consumed by it I was. There are a few downsides to this that lowered my rating, and that is because it had lulls where I would space out some. The plot lost itself at times. It became too clique and predictable every now and then. Put that all aside and you’re in for a good ol’ time still. Book one set up my expectations so if you enjoyed it, then you’ll get an even bigger kick with butterflies in the stomach from its accompanying book, “The Darkness Within Us”.

“I never hated you— well, maybe a little. Mostly I hated how easily you got under my skin.”

**Trigger Warnings**:
Death, Violence, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Sexism, Classism, Injury, Gaslighting, Poisoning, etc.

Content Warnings

More...