omgsh im giving the characters a 3.5 just for liam, xaden, andarna, sygael(is that her name) and tairn. literally anyone other than violet i cant take her seriously. plot is predictable but honestly ive always wanted to read a book with all these tropes its just soooo fantasyyyy. anyways if i were you stop at the first one iron flame just ruins the whole series.(forced myself through it, tried reading onyx storm but dnf d at just 15% :( just spoil book 2 by yourself atp theres only like two things you need to know.)

this was definitely just a agggtm lookalike but to anyone missing the series, you can read! i liked the characters the most, but plot was a little confusing(the end conclusion) and honestly just not that intriguing because i felt like ive read it before. Not bad for an author's debut book though. loved the little small-town romance and academic rivals to lovers! plus nathan is such a cutie. also, the info in this book wasn't dumped all at once which id say is a pretty big accomplishment as a lot of writers dont know how to add world-building info or just backstories without adding them in a super boring way that doesn't feel like a story at all.

i read if he had been with me and in my opinion, even if the povs here may feel a little unnecessary it was just refreshing to meet finny again and i think the first book wouldve haunted me if i didnt get to. but definitely read, you've got nothing to lose.

so...SO SADDD. to some people, these might not seem enticing but i might be a masochist because the books that make me cry the most, are my MOST FAVOURITE ONESSS read these if you loved this book: the ENTIRE boysoftommen series by chloe walsh. x100000 more heartbreaking than this. (careful though there are a lot of trigger warnings make sure to check em out first)