Thank you to NetGalley and Aimee Donnellan for approving my request to read an arc of this book.

“I fell in love with you because you tried so hard at everything even when the world made it difficult for you, because you created beauty to survive the monsters in your head. And then, when those voices came for *my* head, you saw the value in me.”

I was first drawn to this book by the stunning cover, then once I read the description I requested it immediately. I definitely didn’t regret it! This book was absolutely fantastic. I loved the world building and the queer normative setting so much. The slow burn romance was written just right. It didn’t drag and it wasn’t too rushed. I adored the representation. Both in adhd rep and also demi sexual, nonbinary and lesbian representation, plus so many more colours on the rainbow.
I couldn’t put this book down, the danger and the plans kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn’t stop thinking about the characters. Arché and Lenora were such wonderful main characters and I really enjoyed getting to read their different povs throughout the story. I’m so happy that it’s going to be a series, as I’m not ready to say goodbye to them all yet.
There was such a lovely found family aspect to this story and the bonds that were built were so strong and beautiful.
As long as you’re comfortable with fantasy typical fighting and slight gore, then I’d recommend this book so highly. It was an absolute joy to read.

(3.25)
I really wish I liked this one more. The premise is great, the world setting is interesting and dare I say a little unique? The execution is just not the best.

In this world, Arché and Lenora’s village has a mixture of lycans and vampires living together, peacefully. The council for this town is made up of different houses that each has their heir. Arché is a lycan, Lenora a vampire and they're both the heirs of their respective houses. They've both been training for years on end to be able to live up to their family's expectations. Each heir is put on a team of two, consisting of one lycan and one vampire. When both their teammates die in a sudden attack on their town, they have to escape and find a way to save everyone whilst traversing their now new partnership.

The goal is clear, and even though it’s a classic hero story I was curious to see where it went.
When I started I immediately noticed the writing wasn’t for me, it’s very quick and straightforward.. and some interactions felt disconnected. Their feelings and actions seemed strange at times and because it all went so fast - you immediately get thrown into the attack (which sometimes works great, this just wasn’t) - I had no time to really care for what happened. The reason I kept going was because I liked the relationship between the two characters.

One thing the writer does well is creating a gradual romance story. The plot writing wasn’t the best so some scenes fell flat, but I liked Lenora and Arché a lot together. Arché even seemed to have social anxiety, or struggles with grasping other people’s emotions - it gets stressed in the book that lycans feel emotions heavier than humans and vampires. I liked that a lot. Lenora has depressive episodes and is demisexual (as far as I know, it wasn’t explicitly said). It made them likable, it made them real to me.

Unfortunately around 60% they already had a huge love confession, which then felt too fast paced again. I think it’s just difficult to write romance with a booming love confession, knowing that all their family members are at threat of dying somewhere at the other side of the continent. It can be done amazingly but it just - again - didn’t work for me. Sad but true.

Thank you so much for the ARC, NetGalley and Victory Editing, in return for my honest opinion.