Mariel Pomeroy

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 (bonus)
🌶🌶🌶🌶 /4

** Spoiler alert if you haven't read book 1, but I'm keeping it spoiler free for book 2 parts**

Welcome back to the world of light and dark that we first discovered in Helfyre, and get ready for our view of that world to expand and grow throughout book 2.

We pick up right where we left off on a cliffhanger in book 1 and we get to see the aftermath of of the battle and Aheia's death. As you might imagine... for an immortal race descended from gods.... death isn't always as it seems.

Where the first book introduced us to this new world and our main characters, this one really dives into the wider cast. We get multiple POVs from nearly all of our favorite found family members in Aljira, and through their eyes we get to learn about both them and the place and people Aheia has come to join.

With the soul bargain broken in book 1, Ari and Aheia have to navigate what they mean to each other, and how they're going to move forward together in a world full of things keeping them apart. But this isn't a love story, not really. It's a series of internal battles to find out who they really are.

We dive so deeply into Aheia in this book and get to really see the true darkness of her past. It's a hard story at times, but we get to see things through her eyes and hopefully that can give readers a better perspective on had topics like abuse (both mental and physical), trauma, PTSD, memory blocks, triggers, and a whole host of resulting mental health complications. Aheia has to learn to fight for herself. She has to choose to live, instead of just accept her existence. Her journey at times felt like someone had reached inside my chest to squeeze my heart, but seeing her evolution. Seeing her peel off the layers of shame and trauma one by one, and seeing Ari be whatever she needed him to be in order to help peel away those layers. That's what this story is. It's not a love story, it's a journey of becoming.

That could have been it, it could have just been about them. But instead we also get the benefit of an extremely vibrant cast of other characters. From Kar's empathy to Luc & Tariq's inferno of a connection, to Shiron's secrets and on and on, I can't wait for this series to continue so that we can learn even more about these beings and everything they have to offer this world.

Pick up Helfyre now and then dive right into Honey because this world is incredible. (But definitely read the trigger warnings first, Honey has even more than Helfyre)

As always with this author, the writing is gorgeous. Here are some of my favorite quotes (most without context):

~ "The ones that nourish you and the ones that poison you can look the same."

~ "Apologies don't mean a fucking thing. It's just words said by people who want forgiveness and can't figure out how to earn it."

~ "I don't speak for her. Now stop wasting her fucking time and keep your mouth shut until she tells you otherwise."

~ "Pleasure comes at a price." "Pain?" " Trust."

**I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review **… (meer)

"Never again would she smile when she wanted to cry. Never again would she be so weak."
"Lions aren't afraid of wolves."
"She meant nothing. She meant nothing to anyone, and it was that thought that cracked a fine line down her center."

After the death of her mother, Aheia finds herself stained by more blood than she can hide in the perpetual daylight of her home of Keloseros. She escapes the realm but pays the price: giving up her immortality and her powers--once a Mithra with light at her fingertips, she becomes near-mortal. Her desperate search for asylum leads her to the doorstep of the only place out of her abusive family's reach--a realm that deals in death and darkness unapologetically--Alijra. But nothing in this world is free, and to buy her way to dubious safety, she's forced to give up the only thing she has left to barter. Her soul in exchange for seven days in the devil's realm. Arioch, the ruler of the Nephilim, is eager to dangle his new little pet in front of the Mithra who have caused irreparable damage to his life, but he doesn't expect the effect Aheia's soul has on both of them once it's stamped on his arm. The pull between them is all-consuming--they crave each other, between sharp words and angry exchanges in an increasingly passionate bond that threatens to shatter the delicate balance of everything.

This book shattered the delicate balance that is my soul. Dead serious. I was not prepared for this book in any way. The author had no right to destroy me or see me in the way that she did. It was beautiful and I don't think I'll ever recover. Aheia's pain is portrayed so perfectly that you know exactly what the feeling is, even if you wish you could deny it. The fact that this is a dark fantasy should suggest that this isn't going to be a healthy perfect relationship and it's not. But it works because both Aheia and Arioch can give the broken pieces of the other exactly what they need.

I knew from the first time we got Arioch's point of view that I was going to love him even with his flaws... and I did. But not nearly as much as I loved the fierceness that resided in Aheia. She spoke to me on a level that a character hasn't in a long time and it was needed. But to the romance: it's dark, it's twisted, it's full of rage and hate, it's full of banter and tension. It's got it all. Mostly though this book has left me needing more so all I can say is stop everything you are doing and read it. Like right now. Stop reading this and go read Helfyre.… (meer)

A sort of Hades and Persephone story. Involves Mithras and Nephilim. Atheia is forced to run from her home after a disaster - she runs across the world and ends up running directly to Arioch, the leader of Alijra which is the stand-in for the Underworld. She gives up her soul, the only thing left to bargain with for safety.

This opens up a connection between Atheia and Arioch that explodes in steamy desire and creates loads of problems.

Well, it's not bad but there's some parts that fell flat for me personally. I enjoyed this overall and will look for the next installment.

**All thoughts and opinions are my own. Read using my own personal KU subscription.**… (meer)