Reviews

Oh, Parker, Parker, Parker - You really need to learn to trust and communicate! This was full of action, mystery, magic, and found family. I loved the ebook so much, I turned around and listened to it too! The audio experience just made me love this book and these characters more. The world is rich and vibrant, full of good, evil, and the in-between. The ending just left me excited for the next book!!

write_of_passages's review

Go to review page

3.0

A greater sense of ‘found family’ with a well-balanced plot. Perfectly paced save for a couple of moments. The vulnerabilities we get to see in Parker and Nick are beautiful to watch them work through as well. I only wish, as usual, for the chance that the stakes and angst would stay with us a little bit longer before the author brings us the comfort and healing.

Would I go back in time and still read this book, knowing what I know now?
Certainly. I enjoy this world and that it isn’t going to kill me emotionally.

See below for the four criteria I use to decide whether and when to read a book

CHARACTERS: Parker and Nick are lovely. They always are. But I’m especially in love with how solid their relationship is. There is an underlying current of devotion and love and trust that doesn’t change. So it gives them both the space to grow, be vulnerable, have conflicts. It’s healthy in such a refreshing way that I love reading it. The side characters in this story really shine as well. Especially Sugar and the Brownies. I truly enjoyed them. This story also began to feel more like a ‘found family’ than the previous books, which is excellent. I loved having Malik and Laurel there and all of them working together. I hope this continues into the next books.

PLOT: The plot here is more fast-paced than the previous books. I also felt it was more intense, perhaps because of how personally it was connected to the main character. The balance between plot and character is excellent. This plot also stands up well on its own, but also as a linking piece of the main overarching plot. I appreciated that. All in all I think this one really feels like a series midpoint.

EMOTIONAL INTENSITY: There is no good/bad here. Sometimes I just want a low-investment entertainment read whereas other times a high-stakes 'I need a therapist to recover' is what I need.

3 out of 5. Higher than the previous books, but I think that has to do with how personal the plot ended up being to the main character. The vulnerabilities are so important.

CATHARTIC FULFILLMENT: Is the emotional journey worth it? Do I finish this book feeling that I've crested the wave of the climactic moment and everything has been settled, leaving me settled and fulfilled?

90%. The author doesn’t dig into the angst enough before pulling us back out and into the comfort/healing. That, plus the cliffhanger ending are what give this one less than 100%.