I wanted to love this after enjoying the first book. Unfortunately Fallon drove me insane. She acted like a bratty child, her attitude and decisions felt ridiculous and it really felt like any character development that happened in the first book disappeared. I tried to push through but decided this was a dnf for me at 36%.

the first book in this series really drew me in! while this book did have some great world building and character development - the FMC was literally driving me insane. in the first book she was wonderful but in this book she was so freaking bratty!!!!! i actually had to stop reading a few times because she was frustrating me so much. i feel like the explanation for her change was put off on all that has happened but like… bffr. she was being nonsensical. i feel like the book still developed well like it wasn’t just filler but i just didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the first. also color me shocked @ bronwen. choosing to believe she’s not a two timing chess piece & is just moving along the prophecy. excited for book 3!!!

My review of the first book was perhaps a bit harsh because this series has become one of my favourites! The first book took a little while to get interesting, introducing you to the world and the characters but the reveal of Lore and all he is more than makes up for it in this book!

Lore appears to give Fallon her space, letting her think he's accepted that she doesn't want their bond and he's discussing "relations" with other nations (and princesses) and so we get all that lovely angsty, pining jealousy from both of them.

The historical timeline is sometimes a little hard to follow but you've got multiple battles in the history, allies becoming enemies and vice versa over the years, and the truth of the history being revealed to the main character along the journey so it's doesn't affect the storytelling much.

I would recommend this book if you enjoy romance/fantasy, a slow burn reluctant romance and spicy bath scenes!

5 ⭐️for the world.
-855 ⭐️ for character development.

The world building is great! I really enjoy the world but good lord do I hate most of the characters. Fal takes an entire mile of steps backwards, especially at the beginning and her character makes choices that I can not understand how anyone with a little bit of sense would make. And we’re expected to want her to be a queen and help rule?

Her motivation for choices she makes facilitates back and forth in the story so it’s never really super clear why she does what she does but also, no matter what, it’s stupid. Of COURSE you wouldn’t be looked on with open arms when going to fae country after just killing a fae king? And given HOW murderous the fae kings have shown them to be, how could anyone not expect going to stay with her friends would be putting them under higher scrutiny? Like????

Additionally Lorcan is no better. He doesn’t tell Fal a lot of what’s happening. For Reasons. He purposefully keeps things from her to keep her safe but also not telling her things makes her make bad decisions? To me it came off as super manipulative like how an abuser can manipulate what their partner does by what they tell them for their own good.

Their coming together came out of nowhere. Fal was refusing to fall for Lorcan bc he was going to marry someone and refused to even ask him, Lorcan refusing to contradict her when she was wrong and then oh she finds out not rly and now they can totally have sex despite her being angry and upset with him for additional reasons before.

All in all this book felt like the author had the beginning of a story in the first book and (I can only hope) an ending of where she wanted to go in book three, but no idea how to string everything together in the middle and it felt like it.

Will I finish the series? Yes. I do enjoy the world building so I will.

Will I recommend it to anyone? No, I won’t.

4⭐️ I definitely was more into this one that book 1- to me the pacing was better and I was more invested in the characters and overall plot. I was hooked for the first 100 pages, slowed down a little in the middle, and then read the last 250 pages in one sitting!

I legit think I highlighted every single thing that came out of Lore’s mouth… he was hands down the best part of this book

I think this series is just in general hard to read. With 2 made up languages, countless side characters with confusing names. and like 5 different countries with their own magic and political systems it’s just hard to keep track of everything.

I love Olivia and her books and she KNOWS how to write a good MMC!!! What a sressful cliffhanger eeek I need the finale ASAP

Der zweite Teil hat mir auch sehr gut gefallen. Fallon, die sich gegen Lore auflehnt und möglichst weit von ihm wegwill. Die Verbindung nicht ernst nimmt.
Gefangen zu ihrer Sicherheit im sky kingdom, macht sie es Lore nicht einfach.
Als er sie endlich entlässt und nach Hause nach Luce zu gehen, tut sie sich mit ihren Freunden zusammen und arbeitet von dort an der Revolution.
Als Gefahr droht, schleppt Lore, der natürlich immer in ihrer Nähe war, zurück.
Als die beiden sich endlich angenähert haben, ist mein Herz ein wenig geschmolzen. Fallon kann manchmal anstrengend sein, umso mehr mag ich ihren mate.
Alles in allem eine super Fortführung, die Verbindung der beiden, die geheime Kommunikation und die Nebencharaktere wie Syb und Phoebus machen das Buch perfekt

3.8/5
This book really redeemed the first 40% of the book in the last 20%. There were so many strings of plot swirling around which our FMC noticed but chose to never ask about or act on. And, just like in the first book, Fallon really shines when she's in her element around Lorcan - whose secret keeping and half-truths can get a little excessive considering his admission that he trusts her.
Syb and Pheebs are the best friends that a girl could ask for and I adore them. There are a lot of really interesting characters in the mix and I enjoy all of the conversations - though there's a lot of, 'we'll have this conversation later' / 'I'll ask such and such later' that would likely prevented some things from happening.

All in all though, I really enjoy this series and I'm so eager to see it through 'til the end. I'd definitely recommend continuing the read. Don't give up.

2,75?
A tad bit better than the first book. I'm hate reading at this point. I needed to know what would happen, but I was bored and annoyed and skipped parts.