scijessreads

This is book 2 in a series (of 3 I believe). The first book, The Dark King, sets up the world and the overarching “bad guy,” and this one carries it further. It is a happy end for our core couple here, but not for the family as a whole. Nor for the kingdom they control.

Tiernan and Fiona use the events of the first book in this series to jump right into their own series of (mis)adventures in an attempt to solve a whole host of mysteries that seem to keep befalling the Dark Fae court. And I highly recommend reading the first book, The Dark King, before this one to get the most out of this one.

Tiernan is on his way to becoming King after his brother’s abdication. Which is not what the self-styled rebel ever wanted to do. Leading was not his style. Until it had to be. And to top it all off, he is very much trying to sort out what to do about his feelings surrounding a certain housekeeper named Fiona Jewel. Not only do they have a fierce physical attraction, but they also have a building, somewhat inconvenient love for each other as well. And there are a whole host of issues that come up along the way to figuring out their relationship. Issues that include busybody council members, what Kings “should” do to preserve the bloodlines and power hierarchy, communicating needs around BDSM activities, and one persistent Light Fae villain in Edevane. Who is beginning to pop up everywhere to wreak havoc and drop information bombs left and right.

We also get to see more characters get involved this time around with Dimitri, Finnian’s vampire “friend,” and Tiernan’s 80-year-old human chess buddy with a sharp wit and no filter. With this book, I loved the continued look into the Dark Fae Court and all of the backstory that keeps unfolding. While this book could be read as a standalone, it makes much more sense in the context of the first book of the series and sets up book 3 in the epilogue. I loved Tiernan and Fi even more than Bryn and Caiden, and the whole story felt more well-rounded. More time with Tiernan and Fi together, and their relationship, would have been amazing, but overall this was fast-paced and fun and definitely makes me want to read on to the next book to see how everything fares with the last Verran brother.

*I received a free ARC from Netgalley and the publisher to read and review. All opinions are my own.