The last 300 pages of this book I could not stop reading. It just took so long to get to the interesting parts! There was too much “will they/won’t they” in this book which I wasn’t into after reading about it for freaking hours. But once Poppy and Cas got over the annoying back and forth of pretending and realizing their feelings for each other, we could actually focus on the story and that’s what I’ve really enjoyed about these books!

I wish there would have been less dancing around their relationship in the first half of the book and more of the second half - with the battle between the Ascended and Atlantians/wolven, the journey through the mist of the Skotos Mountain, learning more about the night Poppy’s parents being murdered and more truths about the Ascended and their Queen. And finally what line of Atlantians Poppy actually descends from!!!! Ugh so much I want to know more about but have to wait!!

It made me cringe a certain points, but I'm not gonna lie, I ate this up.
adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging hopeful tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous emotional inspiring fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This kicked up the adventure from the first book, in a great way. Liked this a lot.

3.5 ⭐️
HONEYDEW strikes again
adventurous funny tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I was moved to rate and review, which I don’t do, because this book is so bad. I love a trashy read, but this is gar-bage. Where was the editor in this process?! How many times can Casteel be amazed by Penallaphe (just name her Penelope, for chrissake)? How many times can she reference her stabbing him? How many questions can she ask without moving the plot along? Hoo boy. The names for people and places are bananas. Names from antiquity are spelled a little different for some reason. Pompay, Atlantia, Stygian Bay, and…New Haven?!
adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes