Nichole

I did not enjoy this one as much. The relationship seemed forced even knowing they had the connection before she died. 

This was a solid debut! The writing is lyrical with very short sentences. There are also a lot of similes which in some cases became a bit excessive. The plot was engaging and mysterious. There was also a minor romance subplot which was a nice bonus. Where this book fell short was character development. We only learned the very basic about our two main characters. It was odd how little we knew about them beyond the bare minimum and the entire book focuses on their journey with the library so it was not like a bunch of characters needed to be fleshed out. On top of the Elara and James not being well fleshed out neither was the library. I wanted to learn more about it and how it fits in with the Gods. I did feel like the library itself was not well fleshed out. We didn't learn enough about it and how it worked. I feel like this would have made sense to be included as Elara learned about the library. This will be a good book for anyone who wants a gothic mystery with lyrical writing. Just do not expect any major character focus or development.

Thanks to Book Sirens and the author for the ARC!

So that was a massive disappointment. One of my most anticipated sequels of the year and it was a major letdown. The first book was such a strong start to the duet and the characters were unique. There was danger mixed with plot and spice. But all of that went out the window in this book. It felt like Jaymin and Tate rushed to write this book and we know it was rushed to get out with the editing issue. I think they should have delayed this and spent more time writing the book this could have been. The plot was nonsensical and felt like it was just a random trope generator with spice every other chapter. Eve was even stupider in this book and constantly put herself in danger for no reason. I also question the skills of the guys when they continued to make risky decisions that always ended up with a fight and someone trying to take out Eve. My other major gripe was the guys. Andrew, Haze, and Conner felt like completely different characters compared to book one. They did a complete 180 in this book with little explanation and it didn't fit with what we knew from book 1. 

Most of the book felt like it was done for shock factor more than anything else. Definitely dark so mind the trigger warnings. 

I decided to read this first before jumping into Twisted Obsession. And now that I'm a few chapters into Twisted Obsession I think it is super useful to read the prequel first. It shows us when Melody and Jacob first meet. I feel like Sara should have just included it in the book after the initial release since the background on the characters is somewhat needed.