4.5 stars

Well, a few books ago in this series and you never could have convinced me that Gilly and William wouldn’t end up together. And even more, that they should be together. When Puck came into the picture in The Darkest Promise and we started seeing bits and pieces of where his storyline was leading, I wasn’t all that happy about the turn of events. Now, after having read this book, I am 100% for team Gillian and Puck.

The first third of this book is a lot of set up. It’s needed. It’s well written and enjoyable enough. But once the groundwork that is vital is taken care of, this story really takes off. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy the interactions between Gillian and Puck. She doesn’t back down, and he doesn’t want her to. Seeing them together really had me realizing how wrong I was about a Gillian/William pairing. Gilly would have never become Gillian in William’s eyes, no matter what she did or how much she grew emotionally. And Gillian would never be able to be the image William has put on a pedestal when she was just a teenager.

Alrighty, here’s the tricky part. I already feel like some of what I said is bordering on being a spoiler, and I detest spoilers. So I’m going to say as much as I can without making things confusing or giving too much away. William did not make me happy in this story. We all know he is an egotistical jerk a lot of the times, but we also know there is a soft heart in there when it comes to those he considers friends and family. William gets caught up in his own head way too much in this story.

Puck is beyond amazing with Gillian. At least once you get over his initial motivations and start to see the real Puck behind his demon. He’s patient and gentle, but not in a way that makes her feel broken or fragile. He knows when to push and when to pull back and is so attuned to the nuances in Gillian’s reactions that he often realizes what she needs (or doesn’t need) before she knows how to articulate the feelings. It’s really so swoony and lovely and I was rooting for these two to really open their eyes to what they could be for one another.

As for Gillian, talk about character growth. I loved seeing her come into her own. With the help of some new friends, Gillian really found her confidence and her place in the world. It was truly a beautiful thing to witness and I’m looking forward to the reactions of any of her friends she hasn’t yet crossed paths with while on this journey. I hope to see more of Gillian and Puck in future books, although with their unique situation that may be less than I would like.

There are so many things that happened off the page in this story. I’m sure we’ll be reading about what happened with the characters that we lost track of along the way and I’m looking forward to all of their stories. But most of all, I’m still hoping for William to finally meet his real match and find his HEA…without getting killed by them!

You can find more of my reviews at All In Good Time.