Oh my god I loved this book. Right from the get go it starts off with a bang and it just kept going. Even the lulls in the book were interesting and kept you wondering what was going to happen. I loved the characters, let's all be real I’m in love with the dragon. Ugh so cute and sassy I love her. I spent half the book rooting for one character’s relationship with Katerina, the female main character, only to suddenly decide nevermind and change my mind. The spice was so well done and fit into the story well, it wasn’t like it was just randomly thrown in there for the sake of having spice.

The characters are all so loveable, or hateable depending on who they are. Looking at you Darian. Honestly the characters are all so important and no one felt like they were there just for a miniscule plot point like some books have to just forget about them later. The friendships between Kat and the other characters are fleshed out and they all have their own purpose of being there. Daeja is still my favorite though.

The world building is not overwhelming in the least, theres no just world building dump on you, you get the information as you need it and I love that, it makes it easily digestible and easy to remember. I will also say I LOVE the chapter names, honestly we should go back to chapter names in books more often. I love them so much and they give off a sneak peak without spoiling anything about what that chapter is about. The last thing I will say about this book is OH MY GOD THAT CLIFFHANGER, I have so many questions now about this book and so many theories about what that all means. I can not wait for book two.

I had the opportunity to ARC-read this fantastic story, and here is my review.

I loved it. The beginning might be a bit slow, but everything picks up wonderfully. I would have liked to read more about Kat and Daeja’s bond, but I hope the next book delves deeper. The spice, the raw emotions, and, of course, Darian were on point.

The entire premise had me hooked from the beginning. The characters' personalities, stories, and interactions had me reading non-stop. Courtney’s writing style is right up my alley, and I can't wait for the continuation of this promising series.

What a cliffhanger!

Holy cannoli, what a ride!
I did NOT expect this pacing, storyline, characters OR cliffhanger from a debut author.
Courtney Whims has this ability to make you fall in love with the most morally grey MCs, wish you had a dragon like Daeja and friends like Marge and Archie and hope to one day be as fearless as Kat.
This was such a great reading experience from the first sentence to the very last.
I'm hoping that the second book will follow quickly, in the meantime I definitely will be rereading!