3.8 ⭐️

My favorite quote: “The fact is, whether death takes you all at once, or steals pieces over time, in the end there is no such thing as immortality. Some of us just die slower than the rest.”

This was a good read that focused on origin vampire stories of different women’s lives that spans centuries. I preferred Maria/Sabine and Charlotte’s perspectives over Alice’s. Sabine and Lottie have more engaging personalities that kept me wanting to read more, meanwhile I found Alice boring. She wasn’t too interesting for me. I understand that Catty was her role model and she used her sister as motivation to get more out there in the world, but she still didn’t really have her own personality by the end of the book. Maybe Schwab did this on purpose to show the difference of a young mind versus the other characters who have lived multiple centuries. I see it as an emphasis of a naivety versus experience, but experience doesn’t mean being an expert either. Sabine had become soulless by the end and she had become overshadowed by her chase on Lottie that she was easily killed by Alice. While Lottie may have had good intentions, she was too focused on being free and getting away from Sabine that she was also another easy kill for Alice. Alice may be young and naive but she also used that to her advantage to win over Sabine and Lottie.

The pacing draaagggeeeddd. I found myself looking at the page number wondering if I was getting closer to the end. This is my 2nd book of Schwab’s and I feel like her writing style makes it slower since she uses more details rather than dialogue. I’m personally more biased towards a mix of dialogue writing and introspective details of the characters’ thoughts. The ending was so anti-climactic and rushed — Sabine being nearly 500 years old and she gets outsmarted by Alice who is barely 20. It could again be that Sabine was too confident and lustful that helped Alice kill her. But the way they did a slow burn towards Sabine’s eventual death was eh, I wanted more.

Schwab likes her toxic relationship stories and Sabine was the epitome of a toxic woman not just towards Charlotte but also to Hector & Renata and Matteo. But overall, I liked that the moral of the story is that immortality is not the forever you think it would be. Yes, you get beauty and youth, but there are always boundaries to balance the world.

3.8 ⭐️

My favorite quote: “And honestly, Hallie, I don’t want to start over with you. I want to accept that we went through some shit, you more than me. We hurt each other, and I made mistakes. And those mistakes changed us in certain ways, but in others, we’ve remained the same. It wouldn’t be our story if we ignored all the bad parts, so I’m not going to.”

Another cute romance story, so sad that it’s the last book in the Windy City series. It was a predictable Tomforde story, where there’s a particular life situation that happens and the couple has to figure out how to infuse it in their lives while also loving each other and figuring it out together. I do love a best friends to lovers trope and have to say this book solidified that it’s on my top 5 favorite tropes of all time. Besides the best friends to lovers, it was also a nice slow burn since it took Rio and Hallie awhile to figure everything out and love each other again. The fact that they both haven’t been with another since each other made their reunion sweeter.

I love that Rio’s story was last since it’s been teased in the previous book that Rio has been looking for love. He was shown as a playboy, but he really already had an amazing love story going, it just took Hallie and Rio awhile to find each other again. Rio’s tattoo reveal, why he specifically bought the house, and the reason he changed his number just proves that he has always loved Hallie even though they separated in bad terms. I do wish that Tomforde included a past breakup chapter to create more of an emotional connection for the readers.

When it was revealed why Rio and his mom were so mad at Hallie, I thought it was a little unfair for them to hold that grudge. Even though Mrs. Deluca didn’t know what Hallie’s mom said to Hallie to make sure she keeps it a secret, I found it unfair that Mrs. Deluca blamed a 19 year old kid. I understand that maybe it’s because Hallie looks like the woman that her husband had an affair with and it brings back unwanted feelings, but her expecting Hallie to tell her was unfair. She’s the adult and Hallie was just a kid.

I also love Rio’s friendship with the rest of the Windy City girls. They are all so supportive of him and just want him to find his person so I found it sweet when Tomforde included a part where Rio tells all the girls his and Hallie’s love story. There were so many good moments between the whole family that they have created. It makes me feel envious that they all have such a large group of people who support each other. It also makes me feel happy that they all have found each other and as a reader, we were all there to witness their individual love stories.

This book was a great ending to an amazing romance series. I’m worried I won’t find another romance series like this again and it’s ruined my expectations. But seriously, one of my favorite series of all time. I hope she makes more book series like this!

3.8 ⭐️

A solid, predictable romance that had its cute moments. I was a little hesitant towards the book when I first started reading it. But then I realized as I kept reading that for me, the writing matured along with Piper especially when she gets to Westport and meets everyone. I do love though that she still has her Piper sparkle once in awhile when we read the little things she does like the impractical outfits, but that’s just a Piper thing to do because it’s what she loves. I love that she changed for the better and still kept her own personality. That’s why I love Brendan so much. He wanted her to stay how she was and even encouraged her to keep the same hobbies.

I had heard that the spicy scenes in this book were good, but I didn’t really believe it until I read it. And let me tell you, they were GOOOOD. I just love a man who knows what he wants and Brendan is the epitome of that. He took control, but also wanted Piper to be as comfortable as she can. He was also truthful and blunt and since I can relate to Piper who is also in her head a lot, it was refreshing to read a MMC that would tell her to get out of her head and say it out loud.

Piper needed someone like Brendan to tell her that she has a big heart and that she isn’t useless. You just have to find a way to adjust to the environment and the circumstances and utilize your skills to make the world a better place.