Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - A Power Unbound

This was a perfect conclusion to the series. All the threads of our mystery are entangled within our now-expanded cast of characters. It's a joy to have all three couples together for this final installment, and the sense of found family sets this apart in the trilogy.

And first, I have to note how much I LOVED this audio production and narration by Josh Dylan. I would highly recommend this entire series on audio, but I particularly enjoyed this one.

This romance has a harder edge than any of our others, but also resulted in perhaps the most heartfelt declarations of the series. Role playing scenarios from Alan's erotic stories allows Alan and Hawthorne to navigate the class difference and power imbalance inherent to their relationship. Consent is well-navigated, with both establishing boundaries within scenarios and ways of withdrawing consent. I felt it was really well done, and allowed both characters to be vulnerable within a protected space as they begin revealing themselves to each other.

And the mystery! I loved that in each installment we get a new piece of the history of The Last Contract. In this, we get a deeper dive into the fae bargain with England's magicians, the ley lines, and magic houses (These! Magic! Houses!). I loved how this expands the world and magic system even further, and I thoroughly enjoyed every twist.

This is a book about mending and tending, and I absolutely adored it.

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offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious 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? No

4.75

Excellent end to an excellent trilogy

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blewballoon's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.0

A strong conclusion to this series, I think. I was a little disappointed by the 2nd book in the series, but I enjoyed this one much more. My favorite element was the found family aspect, I was really happy to have the whole gang working together and seeing how the romances from the previous books were still thriving. Jack and Alan are fine, but I wasn't as captivated by their romance and character arcs as I was by Edwin and Robin. Edwin and Robin are hard to beat, though. I will say I didn't really care for the type of spicy scenes we had with Jack and Alan, so I zoned out for those. All of the books in the series were great as audiobooks, so I do recommend reading the series that way if you're interested.

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cardanrry's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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r0secaptain's review

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emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

The main characters felt like they were there to just watch the story/plot happen, they didn't contribute much which is unfortunate. Really felt like the author didn't know what to do with non-magical characters. But the romance plot between Jack and Alan was amazing even given the relatively little time they had together; it swept me away and I think they've got to be my favorite match up in the series. It's only a shame they didn't get to spend more time together. Overall a good resolution to the trilogy though I think this book had more untapped potential.

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cleot's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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mallorypen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This was a fine end to this trilogy! Though this didn’t have the white-hot thrill of the first novel, I thoroughly enjoyed the two main protagonists and their story arc, and the last half of the book was full of wrapped loose ends, fraught emotional moments and nefarious plots.

The elements that brought this down from a 5 star read were mostly to do with the sprawling cast of characters. I did appreciate that Robin and Edwin played such a large role, and having met Maud and Violet in the last novel it did feel like the whole Scooby gang was finally together. That said, Jack was almost a little hard to follow from book to book, and that made his being one of the protagonists a little challenging at the get go. Similarly, Alan going from a C character to the other main protagonist further complicated my comprehension as a (admittedly) distracted reader.

Much like the second novel, I think reading this series back to back would greatly improve my enjoyment. But, even with gaps between novels and a bit of a slow start, I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

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