Rise and Divine is the final book in the series, which I didn’t actually realize until I reached the end of it. It’s another good addition, these books still feel a bit twee and kitschy but they’re easy enough reads. I think this may have been the darkest one as it focused on Dasha Avramov, the resident death eater of Thistle Grove. I enjoyed it and it was a decent end to the series.

I used to love this series so much: the first two books were what really got me into romance novels. The sparkle's just been gone with the latter set though. In this case, I think it's just a mismatch of what I like in romance: I'm fine with a book starting with a relationship in tatters, but the situation sounds so disasterous that I'm not sure I can root for our main character, and it just got worse with Ivy suddenly being emotional/romantic at Dasha the moment things were dangerous. That being said, it's really nice to see all my old favourites and I love the lore about the other side.

I absolutely love this series and am so sad that this is the last book - but what a way to see it out!

Genuinely think this is my favourite Witches of Thistle Grove book for a few reasons:
1. The stakes are so much higher
2. I've had 4 other books to fall in love with the world and characters
3. Dasha is such a rich and complex character
4. The spice was spicing
5. It touches on so much more than love and magic.

There were a few more layers to this story than I think there were in the previous books. Dealing with Dasha's sense of grief was so accurate and heart wrenching, it made me really fall in love with her as a character as she was so fragile while still being incredibly strong.

While I still figured out who/what was behind everything going down, I really enjoyed the journey and getting all the details. It really was the perfect end to a series that I have enjoyed so much.

I hope we get more books from Thistle Grove in the future but if not, the way the series ended and the fact that all the previous characters played a part was perfect. I will happily re-read this series repeatedly for comfort until my copies are falling apart.