I’ve made some pretty questionable choices in my life—dabbling in necromancy, double-crossing vampires—but summoning the dark goddess to save my sisters? That was just plain stupid.

Now I’m in her debt, and goddesses don’t exactly do payment plans. She wants the blood of the dark fae warlord of Midnight, a realm of exiles where the sun never rises and torture is a competitive sport. It’s a death trap only three men have ever escaped—my newly appointed escorts.

Jax, a terrifying demon whose icy touch leaves me trembling in more ways than one. Hudson, a hulking, fiercely protective gargoyle shifter hiding a past so painful he doesn’t speak. And Elian, a cocky fae prick with eyes like molten silver and a heart full of vengeance—a heart that once belonged to me.

I’ll do anything to settle my debts and get back home to my sisters, even if it means teaming up with my infuriating ex and the other sinfully hot psychos for the most dangerous blood heist in history.

But when it comes to the cruel fae warlord, not even my monsters can protect me…

Especially when we discover why the dark goddess really sent us to Midnight.

So, after that dreadful two star read, I needed something more intense to sink my teeth into. I might have perhaps shot my own foot in choosing to read another book I got on stuff your kindle day, but I knew after the first chapter that I’d picked a winner. This is, if the title hasn’t given it away, a reverse harem spicy story. It involves an FMC (female main character) and three MMC (male main character).

The characters in this book are all fully formed with a history that has already happened. This type of character can either read very well or leave the reader lost and confused. Luckily in this instance, it is the former.

The FMC is Haley Barnes, a blood witch. She is powerful, sexy, confident, vulnerable, strong, sad, consuming, talented, passionate…you get the idea. She has flaws, she has trauma, but she presents as a well fleshed out character.

Elian is part fae and part vampire. He is sassy, dominant, protective, serious but also is content in losing himself to drugs and fantasy and isn’t all that present in facing his past mistakes and accepting blame. Elian as we learn, is Haley’s ex-boyfriend, so there is a lot of tension and steam between them throughout the book.

Jax is a demon. He is rough, hard, strong, sarcastic, tempting, kind, and shares a lot of traits with Haley. They are attracted to each other and a lot of the spicier aspects of the book centre around the two of them.

Hudson is a gargoyle. He is silent, kind, compassionate, protective, supportive, strong, big, commanding. For the majority of the book his doesn’t talk but uses his actions and facial expressions to show what he is feeling and thinking. He shares a protective bond with Haley and much of Haley’s backstory and trauma is shown through her talks with him.

The book follows the story of Haley travelling to the Midnight realm to steal the blood of the ruling fae warlord and returning it to the Dark Goddess Melantha. It’s a solid premise for the book and though there are twists and turns, the plot does stay the course.

Keradoc, the warlock ruler of Midnight is a character we only encounter at the end of the book, but he definitely has a dominating presence, and I couldn’t quite work out what his motives were.  He is a character whose presence, I’m sure, will give out its secrets in due course.

So, I surprised myself because I read this in 3 hours. I wasn’t intending to read it from start to finish when I opened it but it was one of those stories where I knew if I put it down and took a break my brain would be thinking about it till I started reading again.

I think, in the realm of reverse harem, or just supernatural romance, we are all used to the angst, trauma, betrayal, and romance that floats around. So, to a certain degree we know what we are getting into when we read a book like this.

For me, I enjoyed the fact that Haley was already a fully formed character with a backstory because as the reader, I felt like I was getting a rawer zoomed in look at her as she moved through the book. Her thoughts and actions felt real and stood inline with her character. There is definitely more for her to offer, just simmering beneath the surface, and I look forward to seeing it come out.

There is a lot of complexity in this book, not just the elements I mentioned above but also a ton of secrets, lies, and misdirection’s. It amps up the tension and adrenaline while reading because I was always one step behind working out the next move.

You know when you get to a cliffhanger ending and you just know it was executed beautifully – this was that. On a scale of 1-10 cliffhangers, this was a 10. Wasn’t even on my radar as a possible ending and that made it all the juicier to read.

From the sounds of it, I feel like book 2 is going to open on some pretty rammed up emotions and actions and I CANNOT WAIT!

I give this book: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Spice: 🌶️🌶️