✨ARC Review✨
I am bumping this to a 3.5 stars for reasons I'll explain throughout this review.
I was truthfully intrigued from the start. I liked the whole premise of "only person who can destroy the king is the one who opened the door".
We first meet Scarlet and she's definitely "not like the other girls". She kills Fae in hopes of gaining intel about the king and for pure revengeful bloodlust. Before she kills them, she sleeps with them. She's honestly a bad b, painting the town red. And I was kind of here for it. She was intense but a FMC that was different and it was really enjoyable.
On her hunt, she meets Voss, the blood hunter, who was hired by the king to take down the Fae slayer aka Scarlet. Voss is naturally this sex driven, I love making you squirm, you will succumb to me, kinda guy. He may be set to kill her but what he really wants is an alliance. Again, I was here for it and still intrigued.
Where things went a little south for me was the chemistry between Voss and Scarlet and the way their romance just...was. I get that this was an "intense, blood thirsty kink" kind of romance BUT I just felt like it could have been executed better. I just felt it was very back and forth and hot and cold how their communication was. It was a lot of "tell me you want me" "no" *and then proceeds to undress for each other. I could never really tell when Scarlet was agreeing or just being complicated. Voss would say he'd back off and she'd say no and then he wouldn't back off. I get they had a safe word but it was confusing, honestly. I just couldn't understand where they were at at times.
I just felt like their chemistry was so forced by Voss. I felt like Scarlet had no other choice but to like him because he would never let it go. It was like she was being brainwashed without being brainwashed. I also thought it was strange how they would just openly talk about how they had sex in front of the friends. Like, we get it...you like to sleep together...now just keep it between you two ESPECIALLY when they're telling you to please stop. They were all just a little too open and honest.
I really did enjoy the plot. I liked that they were both on a mission to kill the king. However, I just felt like certain scenes could have been taken out or written a little better. At times, I felt like I was reading teenagers talking and not adults. Sometime it felt a little fanfic, especially when Voss and Scarlet would get "mushy" with each other. It felt like it would go from zero to one hundred real quick and it didn't fit their personalities if that makes any sense. Moreso for Scarlet.
I want to be clear in stating that this had a solid base and it was good. I just didn't LOVE it. I liked it and it definitely had its moments. I thought the spicy scenes were written well and they were definitely captivating. Maybe we could have used more, idk. I just think it could have been executed better.
I absolutely LOVE how this ended because it wasn't what I expected and I love that. We get a little twisty twist and I actually think that's what this book needed. Because of that twist alone, I would pick up the next book. Again...didn't hate this, just wanted something more!
Thank you Good Girls PR for the ARC copy!