This book had everything I don’t read: (childhood) friends to lovers and a second-chance romance. But I didn’t want to miss anything in the overarching plot for the planet of Dakkar, so I told myself to read it anyway. Well, joke’s on me! I absolutely ate this book up. For the romance!! I’m shocked by that, especially because, after the “before” chapters, I said there ain’t NO WAY I could ever like Kiran and I hoped Maeva would make him suffer. She held strong, but I was still kicking my feet by the end. The angst, the yearning, the groveling were- mwahhh chefs kiss! I grew up near the beach, so it was even more poignant while I reflected about my own little cliffside spots and teenaged unrequited love. Other bonus points- Maeva is 29yrs old and she’s a healer. Right up my alley! Relatable heroine!

This book focused veryyyy much on the romance. It sort of had to, in order for their love story to work. Kiran had a lot to make up for, and it had to be believable. I think irl, I have such a visceral hard-stop (now) to any “second chances,” so this storyline still would never in a million years work for me. But for a romantic fantasy, why not? The explanation of Kiran’s original rejection was still weak tho, but I understood the general gist. Could’ve been laid out more clearly, though.

In terms of the overarching plot, the reason I gave this book a chance to begin with… 😅 very little action happened. I found I didn’t mind. We got brief cameos from other Vorakkars, and mentions of things happening elsewhere, though. I’m looking forward to the next book, hopefully learning more about the Dead Lands. (Name coincidence? Hm.)

Well this book made me cry! I loved Vienne and Davik’s story. I also liked that more world building and fantasy elements were added in. I DO think this book needed another edit, though, as some sentences were repeated verbatim a few pages apart (as well as overuse of a few words). But not enough of an issue to really disrupt my immersion. This story had some dark stuff in it. My heart broke for Davik. I think Vienne’s character arc was perfect- I love a FMC who is strong in her own way. And this was my type of romance, it was balanced in the ways they kept from each other. I understood both of their hesitations and worries. I wish wish wiiiish we could read Viola’s story!

My stars are all for Nelle. Fuck off and grow a pair, Seerin. Seriously. This book woulda been 4stars and up if it ended before that ~80% mark /third act.

Updated thoughts: I think as a chronic illness girlie going through something, this book hit a sore spot for me and dug in. I felt like Nessa (and the reader) were repeatedly hope-baited. While I don’t have endometriosis, I related to Nessa’s struggles. Other readers may not be as devastated by this aspect or the story, though. I wish I had waited to read BoBH until book 2 had a release date / was already released. This book was emotional damage that left me hanging in a sad place! I can understand why some people would rate it poorly for that reason alone (how we are left feeling at the end of a book biases us!). Others might rate it poorly if they didn’t read the content warnings that mention dubcon and straight-up villain MMCs. I won’t knock any stars for that, i went in fully informed and even checked on the website for the full TW list. This book included things I normally don’t enjoy in romance, but I set aside my moral reservations just like Nessa lol If my rating was based on how I was left feeling after I finished, I’d rate this 1 star for my sadness and outrage 🥲 Instead, my rating reflects my immersion, overall enjoyment, and the quality of the writing, characters, world building & plot.

Overall enjoyment & immersion was 4/5 (invested, hoping for the best), quality of writing was 3/5 (see last paragraph of my review), quality of characters was 4/5 (wanted more from the vampire inner circle, and not just their relationships and general life info, but interactions w Nessa), world building was 4/5 (i was fully there in Dawnspear and Duskfell, and it wasn’t shoved down my throat in a huge lump of info), magic system was 4/5 (a good take on vampires, witches, humans, with lore that isn’t shoved in the readers faces), & plot 3/5 (this may be more of a editing issue).

Original thoughts: I’m so fucking pissed off right now so I shouldn’t review this book just yet but like damn. This was REALLY a dark vampire book full of blood, sex and violence, and the characters are indeed morally BLACK. I had an uncomfortably great time reading. Clutching my pearls, covering my eyes and peeking to read.. screaming and getting nauseated. A wholeass visceral reading experience at times! Overall, I have to encourage readers to take the content warnings seriously and not to read if you think it’ll be an issue. I was in the mood for dark and I certainly got it

I’m just so fucking pissed. To end like that. And then have the audacity not to have any kind of update on when the next book is coming out. I wanna puke.

Writing quality issues: could have done with some editing chops or plot reorganization (2 books instead of 1), and guidance with sentence structure and cadence. (Comma participle fragments galore. Repeat meanings as single-word sentences—usually in 3s.)