
Member Reviews

I have been a fan of Tricia Levenseller for just over 2 years now and have been loving making my way through her backlist and staying up to date with her new releases with The Darkness Within Us getting me finally up to date.
The Darkness Within Us is the companion sequel to The Shadows Between Us following Chrysantha who is of the belief she has won until she discovers her younger sister is marrying the Shadow King and a man turns up claiming to be her dead husband's estranged grandson inheriting everything that should be hers, and now she is determined to kill him.
I found myself enjoying this book about as much as I did The Shadows Between Us and found it to be easily bingeable. Once I was invested in the story I couldn’t put the book down and wanted to see how the story would end.
I don’t think Chrysantha is my preferred sister however I liked getting to know and understand her better over the course of the story. My opinion on her massively changed over the course of the book which was great, she became a character who I really wanted to support and there were many parts of her that I loved and made me want to read more about her and what she liked.
I did find the romance developed a bit fast for me however by the end of the book I did find that I supported it. I really liked seeing the two interact over the course of the book with the tension reducing slightly as the story went on, however the banter and dynamics continued to entertain me and made me want to continue to read the story.
I love Tricia Levenseller’s fantasy writing, particularly with her world-building which this book unfortunately doesn’t have too much of, but I still had a great time with the writing in this book. I always find it both easy to read and quickly hooking me in, this book being no exception and something that makes me turn to Tricia Levenseller when recommending books to new fantasy readers.
I am so glad that I have now caught up with Tricia Levenseller’s YA books and while this was not my favourite book of hers I definitely do still recommend it and have a feeling it’ll be a book I return to in the future.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for my earc of this book. I loved book one and though I don’t think this was quite as good, it was an enjoyable read. The enemies to lovers could have been a bit smoother and it was a bit slow at times but it was a fun read!

Enjoyed this one! Flew through it pretty fast, just wish I’d read the first book before reading this one.

This was a very easy book to get into and subsequently fly through.
I love when there is a sequel that follows other characters and this did not disappoint, you could read this on it's own and still really enjoy the story, or if you have read the first it was great having a peek at how the original characters were doing following the ending of their own story.

I love nothing more than a Tricia levenseller book and this never let me down. The writing is incredible and absolutely stunning

This. This is one of my favorites. Tricia Levenseller never fails with her novels, and I’m so happy she decided to do another novel in the world of the shadow king. I never thought I’d like chrysantha but she is so different then presented from Alessandra’s pov.

I have loved all of Levenseller's previous books and as the sequel to The Shadow's Between Us it was phenomenal. A perfect enemies to lovers story following Chrysantha fighting for her freedom.

I devoured this in one sitting. I adored the first book in this duology and i felt the same about this one.
Tricia has such a way with words that I cannot ever put her books down. I need to dedicate a day for reading when she releases something new

⭐⭐.5 / 5
I was really excited about this ARC because I enjoyed the previous installment, "The Shadows Between Us." This book serves as a prequel to "The Shadows Between Us" in terms of timeline and follows Chrysantha (Alessandra's sister) as she is married off to an elderly and abusive Duke.
Overall, I found this book to be lackluster compared to the previous one. Chrysantha came across as immature, petty, and full of female rage. The romance felt very forced, lacking chemistry between the two main characters.
Read this book if you really miss this world and want want to see little glimpses of Alessandra &
Thank you Tricia Levenseller and Pushkin Press for providing me with the opportunity to read this ARC through @netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for giving me a chance to read The Darkness Within Us by Tricia Levenseller in exchange for my honest review.
To say I was expecting to read this book the moment I finished reading The shadows between us ,is an understatement. From the moment Allessandra's story was over, I wanted to get my hands on Chrysantha 's story the moment I learnt she would be the focus of the next book.
I was not disappointed at all. Chrysantha and her wit and expert maneuvers on and off the court had me so intrigued and the chemistry she had with the mysterious and handsome Eryx from their very first scene had the sparks fly in no time. Sometimes I didn't know if I loved her or wanted to shake her and tell her "get it together and act like the smart woman you are !" and that duality meant she was a beautifully written and complex character. As was Eryx. I would have wanted a little more high stakes at the final confrontation of the book, but that doesn't make the ending any less good.
If you loved the first book of the duology , you are sure to love the second as well ,if not more.

Even better than the first, I loved the first book but you can see the writing has come on leaps and bounds. The sisters supporting or trying to understand sisters didn't happen in the first book but in this one you see women lifting women (which I love to read). I enjoyed this book and all the characters and would 100% recommend it.

The Darkness Within Us is nothing more than the story of Alessandra's sister, the protagonist of The Shadows Between Us. Let's be honest, we didn't really like her sister much in the book, even though she only appeared through letters. Well, I really enjoyed reading her story. It doesn't reach the level of Shadows, but it was a pleasant read, especially because we finally discovered what lies behind our protagonist's innocent façade. I always appreciate girls who go after what they want without too much hesitation. For this reason, the constant bickering between the protagonists over the inheritance was hilarious (and I have to say, the sisters have more than a few traits in common, especially when it comes to dealing with troublesome fops).

5 stars
The Darkness Within Us takes place after The Shadows Between us and follows the sister Chrysantha. This book is just as unhinged as the first. I was worried that I would not like Chrysantha's character as much due to her actions in The Shadows Between us, but Tricia Levenseller did not disappoint. The pacing was fast and the plot easy to follow. An enemies to lovers storyline with loads of sass. if you love villains then you should pick these two books up asap.
Looking forward to reading more from Tricia Levenseller!
Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press | Pushkin Children's Books for providing me this book in exchange for an honest review*
This book was a lovely companion to the first one, The shadows between us. I loved every bit of the world building and the characters. It was a lovely read and I can't wait to re-read it.

I aabsolutely loved this — devoured this book in one day! I actually enjoyed this so much more than Alessandra’s book. Chrysantha was an incredible mix of female rage, girl boss energy, and morally grey. The enemies to lovers romance hit the spot. Tricia Levenseller does it again!!

This was SUCH a fun and easy read, I was immersed from the first page and read it in a couple of sittings. Chrysantha is such a great FMC and the whole morally grey aspect of things makes the story even more delicious! The interactions, chemistry, angst all very well presented and the world building was brilliant. Massively enjoyed this and I think Tricia is an extremely accomplished author! If you are a fan of the genre, you will not be disappointed. Happy reading!
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my review copy, all opinions are my own.

I was super excited to read this book after loving the author’s previous pirate series. I didn’t know much about this one but I hoped it would be the same fast paced and easy reading!
Sadly it didn’t really hit the mark for me, the FMC is so incredibly unlikeable that there wasn’t much hope in redemption even with the character development, and many of these traits persisted until the very end of the novel.
I also didn’t feel the romance at all! I get that with the enemies to lovers trope you don’t necessarily expect heaps of romance but for me there was nothing until it was everything which let it down.
It is the easy reading I was hoping for and I liked the mystery elements however I really dislike the candid talk of brothels & prostitution in a YA book… For me it didn’t fit and was just crass, trying to appeal to people who only read books with spice :(
I would still try other books by this author but this one was not my cup of tea! I have read the previous book and it was only slightly more my style with better development and fantasy elements.
2.5 stars
Thank you as always to NetGalley & Pushkin for my e-ARC :)

Thankyou to Netgalley and Pushkin Press | Pushkin Children's Books for a free e-arc in exchange of an honest opinion.
It had been a long time since i read the first book in this series however when i started this book it all came back to me very quickly. It was so fun and well paced and i loved the banter between the two main characters- the commentary on the role of woman in society was done really well. Very easy read and would definitely recommend!

Dnf at 65%
Struggled once I got the middle of this book. Before hand I would have said it was a solid 4 stars but at the middle everything seemed to stall and I couldn’t carry on.

The Darkness Within Us is a fun, fast paced fantasy story! I‘ve read other books by Tricia Levenseller and one of the things i‘d always enjoyed most is her writing. That’s because it’s so easy to get into, the world building is always very easy to understand and i am always entertained from the first page on. And all this was the case here too! I found it super interesting to read about our main character Chrysantha, since she and the main character in The Shadows Between Us - her sister - are not on the best terms. She is a typical strong female main character who knows what she wants! The love story was very fun to read about aswell! My only problem was, that it lost my interest a little bit around halfway through the book, and I kept forgetting some of the things that had already happened, because i think i was a bit bored. But after that little low, i was very invested again! If you are looking for a fun little romantasy then look no further!