iman

my first vivienne lorret and it was such a joy! really loved Magnus and the chemistry that pressure cooked over time between these two. I think the ending went on for way too long especially with that needless third act conflict. it felt like too much was happening in the back half of the book so the pacing was unbalanced. this book also had too many loose ends with multiple missing brothers and multiple mysteries going on. other than that, i loved their intimacy, how much Magnus protected Verity and the other characters. hoping that both Anna and the Reverend get their own books too.
4/5
2/5 on the spice scale
4/5 on the swoon scale

Nice conclusion to this story. Their personal conflict was getting quite repetitive. I really enjoyed the non paranormal side of Kresley Cole since I'm used to liking IAD. It seems like a lot of research was poured into this which made it feel complete in terms of geography, culture, backstories and BDSM. I overall enjoyed this story and am excited to read more.

4/5

i was all-in and loving this story for the first half, but the plot began to lag and the characters interactions were just repetitive. It felt stagnant and that there was little active work on the relationship that we got to see. I love a grovel, live for a grovel but this entire damn book was Dominic grovelling and Alessandra being like “no thanks sorry bye.” that was disappointing because if she agreed to work on their relationship sooner than literally 75% in the book, there would have been actual emotional intimacy on page. Dominic was trying a lot and it felt like it was dismissed. Certain logistical things didn't make sense like how his “resources” can supposedly do everything in the world including hunt down his enemy but they can't track down his foster sibling or find a leaked contract that showed up on tiktok like a week later. I'm also side-eyeing the entire “dark” brother subplot and the flower notes: these both just felt like afterthoughts and served none of the romance or suspense/dread they were supposed to. Dominic putting in so much effort and all of his sweet words to Alessandra had me weak in the knees. I liked her a lot in the beginning but as the book went on I wished she gave this man a bit more. Eventually it didn't seem like she had a concrete reason to not give it another chance since he definitely proved how much he loved her. Anyway, they clearly are so in love so I'm happy for them and happy that I liked this because I was about to give up on this series. This was by far the best.

4/5
3.5 on the swoon scale
4 on the spice scale

Really really enjoyed it. The third act lost me quite a bit. I just don't see the need to rush things and skip over something the reader would love to see. Steamy scenes were very good. Teddy & CJ did a great job.

4/5

it's agatha christie, so of course you'll be roped into this mystery and curious. there was decidedly far too little of Poirot in this book, which caused my interest to wane and made it difficult to stay invested. egg was such an irritating character and i hoped she'd be the victim or the culprit because i don't think she was worth putting up with otherwise. all in all i am satisfied, and my hunches were slightly correct so that is a win. but when i'm reading the poirot series i want poirot as much as i can get him.

3.5/5