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velvetlikesbooks
March 30, 2026
A fun and intriguing fantasy!
This book was very well done, especially since it was Nicole's first venture into this type of fantasy genre. I really enjoyed the romance of it as well as the secret plotting and toxic ex energy. I was a little thrown from the 4 different POVs at first, but once I got used to it, it made sense and worked with the story well.
I loved Arwen and Iro's romance! It was so pure and beautiful! It just made me giddy to read. The spice was for sure there too, and it worked with the plot very well. I also really loved how Iro was old-fashioned and that it didn't seem weird and creepy like it can sometimes come off as.
Nicole's take on vampiric lore was fun to learn and read about too. There were some standard things in there that are pretty common, but some of it was different in a way I quite enjoyed. Spoiler, but I liked that they didn't need human blood to survive, but just any kind of blood. That was a really cool take.
I absolutely despised Cassia, and I know I was supposed to, but Nicole made me hate her more than I thought possible. Another spoiler here, but her killing Mary so that she could be with Iro was so messed up that I swear I almost threw my Kindle at a wall when I read it. And I know that Zara did some bad things to Arwen, but I grew to understand and eventually like her as a character despite all that. She just felt much more complex to me than I initially thought she would be.
While the romance was for sure the main part of the book, Cassia's toxic plot lines…