I knew this place held secrets, but I don’t know if I’m ready for the truth.

I’ve come to find that knowledge is both a blessing and a curse as I leave behind my sheltered imprisonment to embrace the hope for a future at Trinity Falls Academy. And yet with answers come more questions than I can possibly keep track of.

For the first time in my life, I’m prioritizing myself, a luxury I’ve never been able to embrace until now. But that selfishness introduces a new problem I never saw coming … a battle between what my mind needs and what my heart desires.

Distractions are something I can’t afford, especially in the form of four irresistible wolves. My choices hang on the edge of the knife as the clock of the curse continues to tick.

I need to decide who I can trust and, more importantly, who I can’t or I’ll never make it out alive.

In this book, Wylder, Tatum, Asher, and Lincoln mess Polaris around big time. It gets to the point where Minnie is threatening bodily harm to each of them and urging them to pull their finger from their arses.

One of the endearing parts of Polaris is how new she is to this world. The author does a terrific job of ensuring that the locked-away life Polaris experienced for a decade isn’t forgotten. Every new experience is a wonder to her, and her outlook on life makes others take stock and realise just what privilege they are experiencing.

This book gives us more information about the blood kin curse. Specifically, the origin of it. It turns out that the blood kin curse came about from a witch who cursed all the lines after her men (multiple partners) died in battle. Polaris, it seems, has a lot in common with this unknown original witch – we do learn her name in this book, but I’m not telling you.

The factions don’t mix. That is something the book plot line has been very good at defining. Everything about Polaris’s relationships with Wylder, Tatum, Asher, and Lincoln shouldn’t work. They are wolves, she is a witch. And yet they are inexplicitly drawn to one another despite all odds.

Polaris learns more about the witch she is in this book. She studies, researches and practices. She is, unsurprisingly, the rarest kind of witch. Another thing that links her to the original witch of the curse. Polaris shows great levels of resilience. She shows that trust is earned, not given and trust broken is hard won back. She has a level of innocent badass-ness that seems unique to herself. She explores all the new sexual feelings and actions with the wolves, but she never loses sight of her own morals or boundaries.

There is quite a bit of sexual contact in this book, primarily between Wylder, Tatum, and Asher. Lincoln is still being a whiny little shit, so Polaris has taken to ignoring him. Wylder, ironically, brings out her wild side. Tatum represents her safe zone. Asher takes control away from her in the most delicious way.

There was emphasis that Polaris cannot survive without a coven, being the part of the witch that she is. However, I came to realise rather quickly while reading that coven is subjective. Never is it mentioned that the coven has to be witches only. In my mind’s eye, I can see the coven that Polaris has unintentionally formed, and it suits her much better than the coven box that stereotypes would push her into.

We also learn of The Crow. Who he is, what he represents. What he wants. How he bargains. He is, perhaps, an unknown force as not much is given, but it is clear that his presence between the main characters is a force to be reckoned with and a presence that will linger through the series.

The ending came suddenly. I was fully engrossed in reading, and I actually had to read the page twice to realise what had happened. It felt unexpected. I wasn’t looking for it. But the bit after, the last lines of the book, that I was expecting.