Heat of the Everflame

I don't usually like writing reviews for following books in a series, because of spoilers...but here we are. Tread lightly.

Overall, I'm not sure how I felt about this. In a lot of ways, I have more negative things to say than good. But, I still find myself swooning over the romance at times, and am really enjoying the world and magic system. Because of that, this book gets pretty high ratings. But, that being said, there was still a lot of things in here that I was not enjoying.

Firstly, why was this 1000 pages? There was absolutely no need for that and a lot of the middle of the book can be cut. I think mindless traveling from one place to another scenes are so boring and a lot of the ones that occurred here did not add enough to the story to really make sense being here. I also felt as though we were having the same conversation over and over of mortals vs. the Descended. We get it.

Secondly, Diem. Now, I've seen a ton of Diem hate, and lots of people finding her to be the most annoying FMC they've ever read. I don't thin

k she is that bad, but I am getting annoyed with the fact that she is getting crown after crown after crown. Like it's taking the choose one trope a bit too far. And it was also very predictable, when I assumed it was supposed to be a big twist. Also, for a character that claims to not want the crown, she sure throws around her many titles a lot to get what she wants.

Third, Luther.. I used to LOVE Luther, he was so interesting and the slow burn and their romance was fantastic in the first two books. Now that it is not really a slow burn and more of a miscommunication trope, I definitely disliked it a lot more. There were still a few lines that got me good here and made me kick my feet a little. But overall, Luther lost so much interest here and was just a shadow to Diem. Like I love a guy to fall at a woman's feet, but Luther stand up. I also personally have issues when main characters, especially romantic interests, get hurt in a book. It is so hard for me to believe that something could actually happen to them. I found myself with zero emotions when Luther "died" because, of course. He didn't. If there is going to be a death, or a near death, make it believable. Especially when a different character almost died of the exact same thing and then didn't. Loses my trust in the author a lot.

The ending had a nice cliffhanger...but again I have lost faith in the author so I know everything will be okay in the end. Diem will be fine.

That sounds like a lot of hate....But I did overall enjoy this book. I just find it easier to harp on the things I didn't like. Regardless, I will still read the next one, obviously.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 stars. Somehow.