Nova woke up in someone’s arms
with a mark she didn’t have yesterday
and six men staring at her like the world just broke.

Because it did.

The system was never supposed to create a bond like theirs.
It was built to prevent it.

Six men from different Houses.
One woman with no House at all.

That was already impossible.

Then Nova burst into flames.

Now there’s a mark burning gold and red beneath her skin.
Something the system declared extinct centuries ago.
And someone who saw everything.

The Nightmare Order is asking questions.
The Academy is tightening its grip.
And the system built to control power has realized something terrifying—

Nova doesn’t belong to it.

Now the six men forced into her cluster are the only thing standing between her and a system that would rather destroy her than evolve.

One refuses to let her out of his arms.
One is already planning how to break the system open.
One watches her like he recognizes something no one else does.
One smiles like chaos is a language he speaks fluently.
One stays close enough to catch her if she falls again.

And one is starting to understand the bond between them might be deeper than any of them were meant to survive.

Nova still doesn’t know what happened at that lake.

But the world does.

And it’s coming for her.

Okay, life update: I have a car again, and I’ve never felt so free.

The cliffhanger of the first book was so gigantic that I wasn’t sure what I would walk into with this book. So many questions are buzzing around my head, questions that the authors assure will be mostly answered!

I keep stopping to make notes, so the below might sound a little jumbled.

Nova is this magical shift between the supernatural and the innocent. Despite the cliffhanger ending of book one, her character personality hasn’t changed too dramatically, which I am pleased about. She is still a shy woman when it comes to romance, and a strong, resilient woman when it comes to survival and keeping herself safe. As they moved through different landscapes, I saw Nova relax a little more. She still struggled, her body not used to endurance and her mind not used to all the new experiences, but her strength and resilience have shaped her into a leadership role, whether she sees it or not. She has become the epicentre of the group and the glue that keeps everyone together, but also understands how everyone is different.

Rane becomes the third of the group to undertake a change. It comes differently from the others, not in a moment of panic or fear but in a moment of quiet and curiosity. Rane becomes the fourth man to have sexy time with Nova. So we now have four men in and two men waiting. I enjoyed Rane a lot in the first book; he has this bubbly, overpowering personality and literally never stops talking. I could see myself spending time with him, with equal parts annoyance and happiness. He is definitely a character that draws the reader in. I enjoy his consistency, the fact that he only changes for Nova but otherwise is the same person he always was.

Locke becomes the second of Nova’s men to have spicy action with her. It is hurried and unhurried at the same time. Their time together proves Kyron’s suspicions wrong and also affects Locke, who becomes more serene and less quick to anger. Ooh, Locke puts up with a lot in this book. I suppose it had to happen to one of the characters. It was written in such an immersive way that I found myself being carried along without question. If anything, it added more questions to my mind. We now have two shifters in the group, Nova and Locke, but I won’t tell you what they are.

With Vaelor, we get to travel to his home, to Memory. A place he hasn’t been in five years. A place he doesn’t feel particularly welcome. But the group goes, as it is the best lead they have.  It’s a reunion with a family member he never thought he’d see, and he’s welcomed. I think he experiences closure he didn’t expect and acceptance he didn’t realise he needed. As a character, he is a strong caretaker, always feeding everyone and making sure people are okay. Sometimes, when you are in that role, it is hard to acknowledge that you do also need to care for yourself. I think that in his own way, he began to understand that here.

Beckett is the third of the men to share some sexy time with Nova. It happens organically. They’re arguing about wallpaper one second and in the sheets the next. But it feels right for Beckett’s character and the moment is fuelled with contentment. I think had it not been for the urgency that surrounds the plot in this book, it might have been quite jarring to have so many sexy moments follow each other. However, I am impressed by the skill with which they have been written and by how perfectly they align with the characters involved.

Trey has struggled to find his place in the group. While Nova came from nothing and has had to navigate every life event with innocent curiosity and open eyes, Trey had been at the Academy for a while. He knew the system. Despite joining forces with the other men in the previous book, he sees himself as an outsider. I think it is a feeling we have all experienced one way or another in our lives. I can completely understand his emotions and fears at being “late to the party” and on the outside of the group. I don’t think he was expecting his inclusion to happen quite like it did. It was a commotion of sparks in an already heated moment. It fit perfectly with the narrative.

Kyron, though first and foremost in the first book, didn’t pull much focus in this one, and I was getting a little anxious about what was going on with his character, but I realise now that he took a backwards step to allow the other men to have more of a focus, which was needed at this point in the plot. He still gravitates towards Nova, and I think there will always be a special moment between them, as he was her first. He also shifts, in a moment of almost calculated panic. I really enjoyed the differences in the shifts between the characters, and how, even though they were born of different points of high emotion, they all resonated with each character’s distinct personality. I am happy that Kyron got to be the start of something that has expanded throughout this book’s plot, and I look forward to seeing where it goes next.

Okay, so those pesky questions I had running around my head. I did get some answers. They flowed naturally from the page in a way that made me sink further in and dull my awareness of the outside world. I had, of course, thought of many answers to the questions I had. Nothing so concrete, but enough for me to understand why this particular path was chosen. It feels right. It feels like the right avenue for the characters to explore, the one that will give them the most room to evolve and delve into the plotline in more detail.

The more I think about it, whenever a book says “it can wait till tomorrow”, it absolutely never can!

I’d almost forgotten that with every book there is an enemy. I’d been so wrapped up with the characters and how they were creating a space for themselves and working together to do some good that I had completely forgotten about what a dickhead Silas was and that he was bound to turn up sooner or later. There is something absolutely terrifying about facing someone who is so confident in a conviction they don’t realise is wrong. You can’t fight someone like that. He is so calm and calculated.

I’m interested in seeing what direction the plot heads next.