There were a bunch of lessons a girl could learn from the story of Snow White. Some were valid in the real world, others… not so much.
For instance, no matter how often I sang Taylor Swift off-key, birds and forest animals weren’t ever coming to clean my apartment.
You could live with seven men and not end up in a free-for-all festival of fluids.
But I seemed to have forgotten the most valuable lesson my girl Snow taught us: don’t take apples from strangers.
It was a lesson I’d disregarded, and would later pay for dearly. I mean, there were definitely silver linings, but the world as I knew it was over as soon as I took a bite of that apple.
After finishing the first book, I jumped straight into the second because I didn’t want to forget a second of the first before reading the second. I read half the book on Friday, then got busy over the weekend, so when I came back to reading on Monday, it took me a little while to remember what was happening and where I was in the story. As I write this while I read, I don’t yet know whether this is the last book in the series or a second book in a continuing series.
This book introduces new gods/deities, but I don’t want to name them yet because I am not sure whether they’ll have a bigger impact on the plot. At this stage of reading, Wren hasn’t given birth yet, but the gods around her are all on board the party bus, meaning they’re all romantically involved with her. From this early stage in the book, I can see where the plot may be heading, but I am uncertain of how it will get there. I know it will be captivating and explosive, perhaps in a battle sense, but I am unsure whether there will be a surprising twist or whether I’ll figure out what happens before it does.
Okay, so there is a big twist to the plot right in the middle of the book. I won’t tell you what it is, but I didn’t see it coming, so it was a curveball for me. I am heavily invested in the characters in this book, and in the multitude of deities and gods introduced and made relevant to the plot. I thought, probably naively, that the plot would conclude shortly after the birth of Wren’s boys, but it’s meant to carry more weight than that, and I’m not sure why I made that assumption.
Over the course of this book, Wren shows tremendous strength and resilience. I don’t know many humans who could survive what she goes through and come out the other side unharmed. She now has all her men bound to her: Demke, Teron, Tryp, Erus, Nate, Milo, and Cy. It’s a lot, but she handles them all reasonably well, making memories and sharing her love equally among them. One plot twist I expected, only because it would need to happen for the book to have a HEA. But the rest of it, as I said, was a complete surprise. I feel like Wren needs tranquillity and a space to relax and breathe after everything that has happened to her in this book. It was comforting that her character didn’t change dramatically through her ordeals and that, while she evolved, she remained herself.
Demke, who resisted the most in the first book, is a powerhouse of ancient knowledge lost to time and has the most favours owed by various deities/gods, some of which he puts to good use in this book. His character arc has been interesting because, while he was resistant to bonding, he wasn’t repulsive, violent, aggressive, snide, or callous about it. I know I’ve spoken before about the difference between morally grey characters and characters that have no moral compass or ability to seek redemption. It’s a plot trope in Why Choose romances, and nothing gives me the ick more! Demke shows none of this. He’s a fully formed character who recognises he had a deep, expansive past before Wren came along. That past meant something, but he also realises you can only fight fate for so long; you can only live in the past for so long before something has to change. So he changes, but within the scope of his own personality; it’s fluid and makes complete sense.
Teron spent so much of the first book buying every medical machine known to man and reading every medical book he could get his hands on to ensure that he was in perfect condition to deliver Wren’s babies. It was honestly adorable to watch him be a mother hen because, on the one hand, he wanted to ensure that Wren had the smoothest delivery, but he also enjoyed filling his brain with new knowledge. Gryff is another thing entirely- well, not a thing, but a Gryphon. In the first book, I thought he was good with a gryphon’s head, but Teron shares his soul with the Gryphon, like Tryp and Erus share one. Watching Gryff build a bed nest for Wren was adorable, and I love the idea that the bed nest walls grew higher and higher when danger was afoot.
I felt like Nate had mellowed a bit in this book. In the first book, he was consumed by Wren – in a good way – and plunged headfirst into the reality where he had to share Wren with others. As the first to start a relationship with her, he often seeks safety from her, and I think while Wren treats all the men equally, she and Nate do share a special bond. Of all the male characters, I think we learn the most about Nate’s personal life through this book. For a character who has lived thousands of years, I expected more skeletons in his closet, hell, in all their closets. While it doesn’t help the plot at all, I would love a deeper backstory for the male characters, just to sate my own curiosity.
Milo would never have been the one I thought would pull the most weight with the babies. A minotaur who dominates every room he enters, carrying babies like they are his salvation, is a heady vision for Wren. It further shows how his character has shifted with new purpose. Before Wren, he was listless, drifting without meaning or thought. Since Wren entered their lives, his life has changed everyone’s. While the plot omits details about how far he fell, it is clear that his character development has enriched his life and the lives of those around him.
Erus and Tryp take to fatherhood like ducks to water. Best babysitters ever! Though they share a soul, their characters have different opinions, beliefs, thoughts, emotions, and all that jazz. I think they have relied on each other so much over the years that while it is true that if one died, so would the other, it is also true that if one lives, so does the other, and I think that is important in the grand scheme of the plot and what they experience. Tryp even, dare I say it, calms down a bit as the plot expands in this book; he is still boisterous but has a calmer surface. Erus is still dependable and quiet, but I think his presence is more prominent in this second book, and while reading, his character gave me more pause.
Then there’s Cy, who confused the hell out of me in the first book and whose story this book told. I hadn’t expected him to be part of the plot twist, but the plot made it clear why he was needed, and it was interesting to see what his character brought to the table and how it affected those around him. The bond he shares with Wren was unexpected, and the explanation given for its depth was an interesting concept. Now that I’ve finished the book, I can see how perfectly his character fit and how much he was needed.
Reading and finishing this series made me think about how much more of this book could be explored in fan fiction. I loved the epilogue, but there was a significant jump between the book ending and the epilogue that, as the reader, I definitely wanted more context and depth on. Little life changes and big life changes, watching the children grow, watching Wren and her men grow, and their family evolve- I would have liked insight into all of that. Not having it didn’t detract from the book or my reading of it; I just found myself craving it after I finished.
