loved this one! I only think I've read one or two red riding hood retellings so this was fun to see a spin on that story! I was hooked from start to finish and literally couldn't put it down.
I loved Ryder and Wotan and I would definitely be interested in reading more of the two of them. I can't wait for the next book!
the writing was amazing (not surprised tho, I love Anna Fury's writing. I'm gonna have to check out some of Amy's books soon!). pacing was great, spice was hot. loved every second of it and I definitely recommend if you're looking for a fast paced, enemies to lovers, with hate spice, and primal play. just make sure you check TWs.
dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

You know sometimes you just think to yourself, I need a book that is simply scorching smut and MCs just draped in red flags, with the barest minimum of plot. That’s this book; if you’re looking for something with a robust storyline and wholesome MCs with good character growth, this ain’t it. If you’re after a mythical nightmare monster railing a hot witch in a world that doesn’t quite make sense, then by all means, read ahead. 

This is a *very* loose retelling of Little Red Riding hood, but also with Beauty and the Beast vibes I feel? The world is interesting - it’s sort of post-apocalyptic, sort of high fantasy dark fairytale. Long story short, the humans fucked up the planet and caused a rift in the veil between the human world and the supernatural world. This caused all the supernatural baddies to fall through and they settled into 4 factions (syndicates) - earth, wind, fire, water. Or like, earth, sky…. Volcano maybe?… and sea? Idk. Elements. 

Our big bad MC Wotan is leader of the Wild Hunt and and Earth syndicate and runs a club on the outskirts of a forest (I know I know, it doesn’t need to make sense, shush). Anyway, Ryder, sexy redheaded fortune telling which tries to trespass on Wotan’s land in order to reach his (evil? Evil ✔️) grandma. And y’know, gets captured, railed in the big bad’s sex dungeon. You get it. 

Now, I hear you screaming, Jen, you obviously hated this book, the plot sounds like hot garbage. Yes, BUT ALSO NO. I have read other books by these authors before and they are SO FUCKING GOOD. The writing was great, the smut was great, the characters, whilst flawed as shit, were super engaging. So you know what? Four stars. Because I love monster smut. 

And I have been told that book 2 is *excellent* and contains a great deal of vampires so yes, I will be continuing with the series. 
adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Wotan and Ryder

I read these out of order, so I have already known about Tower prior to this book. It was good to see the whole story. This book starts off with a bang and progresses quickly. The story is good enough for how short it is, but leaves a lot of questions or details unanswered. Still a good read and addition to the Beautiful Nightmares series.

I don't think I like dark romance as much as I thought. The
dubcon elements were too close to noncon
adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark 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

pure filth and i loved every second. loved the tropes, short and sweet and the fairytale retelling. i kept pronouncing wotan’s name as wonton in my head though and could stop which pulled me out of it a bit.

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Absolutely delightful. I’m glad I picked it up during a sale.
adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I wanted to like this book, I really did. Prologue is kind of jarring, but the worldbuilding is fascinating. It’s post apocalyptic meets high fantasy. I wanted to see how dark it would go. 

But it fumbled hard. 

It took me a while to get into the flow of the story, and my biggest issue comes down to Wotan. I strongly feel like the author waffled on how to characterize him. Wotan begins as someone dark and dubious, but then he gets chopped up into a saccharine lover. 

It begins when Wotan is given anxiety about their mating bond. He said the bond was permanent! But then it backtracks to Acktually if Ryder rejects the bond it will break. Artificial vulnerability fucking shit. Cowardly in fact. Almost makes me want to DNF.

Considering how proud Wotan was in taking what he wanted from Ryder, it then becomes tedious how much Wotan ruminates about consent. It’s artificial filler for drama and suspense that’s not earned. Cowardly backpedaling to make Wotan more palatable. 

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