My power could unite the summer fae… or tear them utterly apart.

The truth is out. The whole Seelie realm now knows that the cure for their full moon curse lies in my blood.

I thought the gamble of revealing that secret would put only my safety on the line. But when one of the arch-lords sets his sights on me, it soon becomes clear there’s so much more at stake.

Claiming me is just one piece in a play for control over all Seelie kind. How can honorable men like my new lovers fight back when our enemies are willing to stoop so low? To save me and his pack, the lord who rescued me may have to turn into the thing he hates most.

With awful secrets unearthed and betrayals among our own, can I find a way to be my lovers’ strength in this storm—or will I become their fatal weakness?

There aren’t a lot of things to do when you have the flu…when every turn of the head brings forth another wave of dizziness that makes being on a boat seems like standing still. I can’t read any of my paperback or hardback books but somehow reading Kindle on my iPad with the black screen and the white writing works if I sit completely still and don’t move my head at all.

Competing with dizziness, nausea, dehydration, and hunger at the same time isn’t really something that can be considered as anything other that a complete chaotic nightmare. I’m lucky to have found both relief and distraction in being able to read. I might have gone crazy otherwise!

This is book 3 of the 9 books in the ‘Bound to the Fae’ series and while I thought book 2 had a large number of important events, this book blew up in my face! There were elements I expected but that really has nothing to do with the writing. I knew the unseelie would play an important part in regard to Talia because why involve them at all otherwise…! When TikTok recommended this book to me, the video I watched mentioned threesomes, 4somes and 6somes. So, I was generally waiting for that to come into play. Most spicy book recs on TikTok are sneaky in luring you in with the promise of something that doesn’t happen immediately but rather makes you read several books before appearing. So, I knew it was going to come at some point – I’m not saying it has come or giving away any specific details but there is a cliffhanger development centered around that subject.

I imagine that none of the books in this series will give the characters a moment to breathe fully. Having gained back something that was lost sees Talia wonder about her position within the pack and the longevity of staying there. It’s a reasonable concern. She’s surrounded by long-living fae while very aware of her own mortality and I think that is something that weighs heavily on her – I think it would be something to weigh heavily on anyone.

Yet, despite this she still shows strength and determination. She doesn’t back down. She wants to fight. She wants to prove herself as an asset. Her love for her men and the pack bloom through this book, it’s impossible to ignore the devotion she feels for those around her and how she refuses to back down for anything that puts her in danger if it means helping those she cares for. She takes the title of ‘lady of the hearth’ very seriously, even when the title is said in jest.

If anything, Sylas has more to deal with in this book that he had in the previous two and it is clear that it weighs more heavily on him. I think he struggles a little to find his footing at first, but he has a very strong sense of loyalty, and he always puts the needs of the pack before his own. His leadership style speaks for itself. He is a natural born leader who is probably the most selfless lord in all the fae realm.

August, steps up in this book, allowing his feet to propel him further into the strategy side of things and showing that he is both worth more than he has shown but also that he craves recognition.

It is odd to think that the cadre are kin of the Lord, that August and Whitt are both half-brothers of Sylas but from what I’ve read in this telling of the fae, while they cannot lie, they are also not as forthcoming with showing true emotions either. I think the three men have had such limiting or unpleasant encounters with emotions that that alone can almost rival the amount of trauma Talia has suffered.

Whitt also, shifts again in this book. We get more glimpses of him, and Talia and we come to understand his character in more depth. There are more revelations about him – one which I had already predicted – but they’re handled with such care and understanding that as the reader, no ill will or frustration is thought about him.

While Aerik and his cadre were the villains of book 1 and part of book 2, Ambrose and his cousin Tristan are firmly cemented as the aggressors in this book.

I’m aware the low regard this version of the fae have in regard to humans. I find it almost amusing that their attitudes haven’t changed considering what Talia represents. You catch more flies with honey and all that! But I suppose if that happened now, I would be wearier of the intent behind the actions than I did while reading through the unchanged attitudes.

Through Talia we got to explore more of the fae world, and it was an interesting experience having been kept on the edges for so long.

I feel like I have read every possible interpretation of the fae by now and yet it still sends a little thrill through me when I see it take a different turn or see the fae represented differently. There is such a rich element of world building in here, it was present in the first 2 books but here it was allowed to fly. With everything that is going on with the plot and the characters, it was good to see that the world building didn’t faulter or suffer in absence or neglect.

I said in my last review that I have all nine books of the series but in collections of 3. I have no doubt that they were grouped deliberately by the author. The ending of this book signified a change in direction and a departure from the home I’ve been reading and into the uncharted territory I see beginning to creep in for books 4-6.

A lot of patience was tested in this book, but I think looking forward, that patience will either rise to the occasion or crumble and falter.

I give this book: ✨✨✨✨✨