I was so interested in this book, I actually started it before I'd finished the second book.

Unfortunately, though it was a good read overall, it didn't quite meet my expectations.  Though the first two books contained an element of romance, this one was almost exclusively a romance from almost the beginning, and the big plot twist concerning the abbess was telegraphed rather early on, so that didn't work all that well for me.

But I did enjoy the interactions between Annith and Balthazar, and oddly, the part of the story that centered on the Hellequins was the part I found the most interesting.  I could have happily spent a few more chapters running around the woods with them on the hunt.

I read this as part of Halloween Bingo, and though the story is centered on Anne of Brittany and her struggles against the French, at least half the book takes place in the woods and forests of Brittany, where Annith meets up with Balthazar and the hunt, fights more than a few battles, and seeks refuge amongst the trees several times throughout the book.  So, I'm using this for In the Dark, Dark Woods square.

I put off reading this second book for years, because I didn't care for the allusions made in the first book that Sybella, the MC of this story, had a dark past involving parental sexual abuse.  But I really wanted to read the third book, and I can't stand reading out of order, so I sucked it up.

The allusions were not misdirection; Sybella's background is full of abuse and cruelty, and the author walks a fine line in terms of incest, stopping short by the strictest definition, if not the spirit of it.  Either way, it's distasteful and unpleasant; I'd have enjoyed the story more had it not spent so much time on the setup and background.

Once Sybella commits to her mission to rescue the Beast of Waroch from her family's dungeons, the story improves, as does the pacing.  There's a Deus-ette ex machina in Sybella's unexpected connection to The Beast that I'm not sure was really necessary, though it didn't really affect the plotting one way or the other.

Generally, not as good as the first book, but an engrossing read nevertheless.  I appreciated the author's note at the end outlining that while the story itself was whole cloth fiction, the events and many of the characters were historically accurate, though she owns to compressing the timeline for dramatic purposes.  If I can read and be entertained, and learn a bit about the Duchess Anne of Brittany at the same time, all the better.

 I read this for a Halloween Square - Paint it Black.

Death wasn’t the end, it was only the beginning…

Sybella has always been the darkest of Death’s daughters, trained at the convent of Saint Mortain to serve as his justice. But she has a new mission now. In a desperate bid to keep her two youngest sisters safe from the family that nearly destroyed them all, she agrees to accompany the duchess to France, where they quickly find themselves surrounded by enemies. Their one ray of hope is Sybella’s fellow novitiates, disguised and hidden deep in the French court years ago by the convent—provided Sybella can find them.

Genevieve has been undercover for so many years, she struggles to remember who she is or what she’s supposed to be fighting for. Her only solace is a hidden prisoner who appears all but forgotten by his guards. When tragedy strikes, she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands—even if it means ignoring the long awaited orders from the convent.

As Sybella and Gen’s paths draw ever closer, the fate of everything they hold sacred rests on a knife’s edge. Will they find each other in time, or will their worlds collide, destroying everything they care about?

*I received a free copy from the publisher via Netgalley and chose to leave a voluntary review. Thank you!*

I saw this book on Netgalley and it sounded good, it said it is a Duology, which it is, but it is still very connected to the previous trilogy, which I have not read.

That being said I was a little confused in the beginning and had to look it up. Thank heavens for Wikipedia because I did not have the time to read all three books.

Once I was caught up I enjoyed it tremendously. I loved everything about it. The story arc, the writing but I think most if all, the rich and vibrate world building and the characters.

I thought the world was awesome and descriptive , well enough to transport you right there but not overly to be annoyed with. Which can be a fine line.

The same goes for the characters, I couldn’t help but love and root for them, all of it … the good, the bad and the ugly.

The story once I had a better understanding of the previous books was fantastic, I read the book pretty much in one sitting and couldn’t put it down.

Its dark, its snarky and keeps you guessing and interested till the last page.

Overall I really enjoyed it and can’t wait for the next book already. I also will read the previous books in the meantime, I just really liked this author’s work.

I will rate it 4 ★, but just because I think we could have gotten a better background of the other books for new readers of this universe otherwise I thought this book was fantastic.

Will be available February 5, 2019.

Amazon *** B&N *** Kobo 

so worth staying up late for