✩‧₊˚ 𝟐.𝟓 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
★¸.•☆•.¸★ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 ★⡀.•☆•.★
𝐀𝐮𝐫𝐚 (h) has enemies coming for her, and the Kingwood Academy is dividing, some to defend the Kings and some on her side as the last aether. All she knows is that 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐱, 𝐀𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐬, 𝐊𝐚𝐢 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 (H) are on her side and there to ensure nothing happens to her.
_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐
☪⋆◦•●♡ 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 ♡●•◦☪⋆
𝐊𝐚𝐢 + 𝐀𝐮𝐫𝐚: “𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦, 𝘒𝘢𝘪 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥. “𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶”
He might be the group's comedian, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he would do anything for Aura. Kai is always acting like a menace to the point where you can't take him seriously, but he adds all the lighthearted moments to the group when needed. He brought the banter and made me laugh throughout the book, which made it enjoyable. He is a ray of sunshine who wants to love Aura, eat his food, and wear his muumuu. Kai didn't see Aura for ONE class period, which was his last straw; he just wanted to be around her. I thought the funniest scene was where Riven and Aura were having a moment, and he took his phone out to take a picture of them having a moment…literally, only Kai would do that.
𝐀𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐬 + 𝐀𝐮𝐫𝐚: 𝘈𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘴’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥. “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳.”
HE KILLED HIS FATHER FOR HER. Granted, his father was terrible, but he did it without hesitation to keep her safe. His love language is acts of service, considering he always wants to ensure she is well-fed and protected. He loves the idea of family dinners and making her feel at home, which is sweet. I think the cutest thing about him as that he blushes over everything and he’s just really shy. I love soft spoken MMCs who can’t handle compliments because they turn red.
𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐱 + 𝐀𝐮𝐫𝐚: “𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯.”
He loved her too much that he kept pushing her away because he didn’t think she deserved someone like him. From the start, Phee has never been good at dealing with his emotions and tends to shut people out, which is exactly what he did most of this book. Despite Aura telling him that she loved him and to give them a chance to be happy, he couldn’t tolerate the idea of her touching him after he believed he “failed” to protect her. He was honestly too harsh on himself and needed to cut himself slack. I’m glad he stopped being stubborn and stopped putting so much pressure on himself to be perfect when all he was ever doing was trying.
𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 + 𝐀𝐮𝐫𝐚: “𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦.”
Riv had his reasons for doing everything in the first few books, and it doesn’t excuse his behavior, but it does prove that he was willing to do anything to make sure she was safe. He knew that pushing her away was the safest option, even if he couldn’t have her. Even now, he was paying for all his harsh words and felt like he didn’t deserve to be loved by Aura. He had a good redemption arc and proved himself repeatedly when he was willing to die for her. I didn’t doubt that he was in love with her and would do anything to make sure she was okay.
*•.¸♡ 𝐎͢𝐕͢𝐄͢𝐑͢𝐀͢𝐋͢𝐋͢ ♡¸.•*
I can’t be too upset about how rushed the ending felt, considering the book is less than three hundred pages, but I felt there wasn’t enough time to get full closure or battle scenes because everything was resolved in three pages. I wanted more to their story and worried about how it would end when I was 90% into the book, but she defeated everyone quickly. It felt like the family and friends she cared about initially were also forgotten, so Kerry made a few valid points (once the Royals came along, Aura forgot about everyone else). At least we know they got their HEA.