4.5 stars

This series always gets a lot of reactions from me. I’m often laughing loudly, gasping in horror, or cheering the characters on. I think I’ve mentioned before that my husband always knows when I’m reading a Dark Protectors book. But I didn’t have much hope that this story would bring any laughs. I knew, much like Hope’s mom Janie’s book Marked, this story is a culmination of a lot that has been building up through many years. It is do-or-die time in this book so I wasn’t looking for a lot of laughs. Yet, somehow, the author still got a few in there and was able to break the tension once in a while.

Overall, I loved this book. The first chapter was a bit shaky for me, I couldn’t decide if the author was trying to give us a recap or if the woman Hope was talking to was probing her for information. It just seemed out of place for this series and, since it was the first chapter, had me worried the author was veering to a whole different writing style for this book. That didn’t happen and, very quickly, the narrative settled into what I’ve come to expect in this world.

Having read all of these books, including the novellas and off-shoot series, it was wonderful to see another generation of Kayrs and Kyllwoods, along with their friends, taking some control. These young adults are highly trained and I loved that the elders trusted in the abilities of their offspring instead of second-guessing them, while the younger set took responsibility when they made mistakes instead of getting defensive.

Hope has often made me want to pull my hair out in past books, that was no different here. She is so trusting and hopeful and that causes her to have blinders when it comes to certain things. We often have to put blind faith in people to get anything done, and some characters are worth giving more than one chance, but she put too much stock in how she interpreted what fate held for her instead of trusting her head and heart to their fullest.

I’m going to get a bit spoiler-ish in the next paragraph, so skip it if you don’t want to know…

Paxton broke my heart over and over. When all of his secrets are finally aired (don’t worry, it’s within the first third of the story) it is hard to imagine the loneliness he had to live with. Later, when he explores where he really came from, he has to deal with a lot of internal bias. Hope never wavers in these times. They are meant to be and, although she may make a dumb decision to broker peace, her heart belongs to Paxton. It doesn’t matter what he had to do in the past or what his genes say about him, she knows he’s a good person. So does the rest of her family. It’s harder to get Paxton to understand that. Hope’s blinders when it comes to Drake are forgiven by me when it comes to her loyalty to Paxton when it is needed most.

I cannot wait to see what is in store for the rest of Hope’s cousins and friends, as well as some enhanced females we got to know a little bit in this story. This is one of those series that I don’t want to ever end.

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely.**