Betrayed.

Not just by our allies, but by the dark goddess who sent me on this doomed mission in the first place.

Now, my monsters and I are prisoners of the dark fae warlord, pawns in his endless war games.

But nothing in Midnight is ever what it seems.

Not the warlord. Not our enemies. And not the vile magick humming beneath the surface, calling to me in ways I’m ashamed to admit to anyone…

Anyone but him.

For all his cruelty, my enemy might be the only man who truly understands the darkness inside me.

Because deep down, he craves it as badly as I do.

And that—more than the deadly creatures of the realm, more than the thought of losing the monsters I’m already falling in love with—terrifies me.

Because the longer I remain a prisoner of Midnight, the more I’m starting to feel like it isn’t a prison at all… but a home.

One that might actually be worth fighting for.

So, I may or may not have binged through this straight after finishing the first book. In my defence, it’s been raining heavily here and that created such a cosy book reading environment that I was pulled in with little complaint.

After the cliffhanger that caught me in the first book, I was ready for the adrenaline run of this book and that adrenaline ran me through the whole book. I read this in 3.5 hours.

Our FMC Haley shows off her confident attitude, her ‘no-fuckery’ nature, and her strength and darkness combined in this book. Between Jax, Elian, Hudson, and Keradoc, Haley has her hands full with tantrums, sexiness, anguish, sadness, lust, love, and just a smorgasbord of every emotion possible.

Haley is, sequestered in the Castle, free range but still captive-ish. Keradoc requires her for a ritual and requires the men for a more potent drug. I wasn’t sure which way the story would go, based on the narrative of the first book but I was open to all avenues. I definitely feel like I had more questions while reading this book and had less answers, but I am confident that I’ll be able to find those answers in the next two books of the series.

Elian is, spiralling off a high cliff. I was certain in the first book that he had a penchant for ‘foot and mouth disease’ but through the narrative of this book, I really felt that behind that chaotic lifestyle were a whole bunch of secrets that hid his real soul and personality. I’ve realised, I think, that his character is a lot more complicated than first meets the eye, so I am interested to see which way his character leans going forward.

For a fear demon, Jax certainly knows his way around Haley’s body and despite his protests that fear demons cannot love, he’s not all that convincing. It’s clear that his priorities have shifted towards Haley in a way that wasn’t quite achieved in book one. I think also, those changes have allowed him to revaluate his life a little and come to an acceptance of self that he didn’t have before. There is no doubt that he can cause immeasurable amounts of fear, pain, and death, but his relationship with Haley gives this perfect window into another side of him.

Hudson, our loveable Gargs, is firmly living up to the role of Haley’s protector and honestly, the idea of this big strong, gargoyle protective Haley – a character who has enough strength, determination, and talent to get herself out of most scrapes – is incredibly endearing. Here is no ulterior motive to Hudson’s actions which is completely refreshing. As the reader, we get to tap into a little more of Hudon in this book but I feel like much of his past is still under wraps and hasn’t been revealed yet.

Keradoc, the warlock leader. I always knew this character was going to be complicated because this series seems to be bringing the goodness out of the monsters. I knew he wouldn’t be a cut a dry character but more of a grey character with a hint of psychopath.

There are moments in this book where it is just Haley and Keradoc together and while they bicker, argue, and sarcastically taunt each other, there is a need brewing between them. We also have POV chapters for all the characters, including Keradoc and this really helped to cement who the character was in my mind and what scope he had for moulding into various aspects of his personality. Clearly, there is more to Keradoc than meets the eye, I’m just hoping that we get to learn his secrets before he goes on a rampage and kills everyone!

My thoughts and theories going forward are;

• Keradoc and Haley will have some kind of relationship.
• Keradoc is really Evander.
• We will learn why Elian ran from Blackwater Bay.
• The four sisters will reunite.
• We will learn Hudson’s past.
• The Darkwinter aspect will either make or break Midnight.

I have more theories, but I won’t list all of them, we’d be here forever, but these are the main thoughts swirling around my head.

I give this book: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Spice: 🌶️🌶️