Destroy the Day

Defy the Night #3

by Brigid Kemmerer

Left for dead, but desperate to survive . . . they have one last chance to save their kingdom.

Prince Corrick is out of options. Held captive by the vicious Oren Crane, he’s desperate to reunite with Tessa, but will need to ally with the rebel leader Lochlan, who until now wished him dead. An unlikely but deadly pair, Corrick and Lochlan must plot their next moves carefully.

An island away, Tessa Cade is heartbroken and angry. Grieving Corrick, and unsure how to find a way back to Kandala, she doesn’t know who to trust. Until Rian—the man she trusts least—makes an offer: aid in a plot to finally oust Oren Crane and see what the future holds . . .

Meanwhile in Kandala, Harristan is dethroned and on the run. He’s struggling to unite the rebels in his fractured kingdom, but he finds support—and maybe more—in unexpected places.

Can Harristan be the king his people need? Can Corrick and Tessa find their way back to each other? As outside threats loom and the fires of revolution burn from within, time is running out to save their kingdom.

In the thrilling conclusion to the Defy the Night series, Brigid Kemmerer crafts heartrending twists and devastating turns that will keep readers breathless to the very end.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Audiobook, Romantasy, Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy

543 pages, Hardcover

First published January 23, 2024

About the author

Brigid Kemmerer is the New York Times bestselling author of dark and alluring romantic fantasy like Warrior Princess Assassin, A Curse So Dark and Lonely, and Defy the Night, and compelling contemporary romance like Letters to the Lost. Her books have sold over one million copies and been translated into more than 20 languages, finding readers all over the world. A full time writer, Brigid lives in the Baltimore area with her family.

Reviews

[✨⚡ Kelcey (felinebooktrovert) ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This was 🔥🔥🔥
A 500+ page book has never felt so short. This was a fantastic conclusion to the series and I'm sad to be leaving these characters.

My biggest complaint was how long it took Tessa and Corrick to reunite, but it honestly didn't feel long. Everyone's individual storylines were so captivating, and Harriston and Quint's relationship was a balm when we couldn't have Tessa and Corrick.

I also really enjoyed the structure of this one. Most of the book consisted of large section of continuous chapters for each character, which allowed you to be submersed in their story and really get emotionally attached. Once each character had their main drag of chapters, the story went back to switching between all three as the conclusion came to a head.

I do feel like the resolution to the different villain storylines was a little rushed, but overall this series was highly entertaining and it's sure to be added to my reread list 🧡

[♥︎ Heather ⚔ (New House-Hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

I feel so... underwhelmed. full review to come.

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀
Andddddd it's time ... here we go! Buddy read with mah bae Manju 👯‍♀️💗

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀
I'm so excited for this book! Feel like I've been waiting forever! And this cover! 😍🤩🥰💗⏳

omdahgalkghadlkghslgh my copy just got here!! And it's so gorgeous!! 😭😭

[manju ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

breaking my silence: harristancorrick > harristanquint > corricktessa 🫣

—

finally!! i’ve been waiting for this book for too long 😩 buddy read with heather <33 🫂💌

[Grace (irisroman & evajacks' version) ✧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

･:*:･ﾟ⁀➷ 3/5 ★

Soo… this was a little disappointing 🥲🥲 i really went in expecting to love this, but it fell so flat!! I’m actually so sad rn 😭😭

“Mind your mettle, Tessa”

Destroy the Day is the third and final book in the Defy the Night trilogy. Tessa and Corrick are seperated in a land of enemies and have to try to find their way back to each other as they face new enemies and have to save Kandala from political chaos.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in this series and bc i waited so long for this, i went in so convinced i was going to love it. But i just… didn’t 🫠🫠It really left me feeling so unsatisfied ☹️

⁀➷ What I enjoyed:

There were definitely still some things I enjoyed about this tho. I love Brigid Kemmerer’s writing sm- it just flows so well and is so enjoyable to read. Her books are actually CRIMINALLY underrated!! 😩😩 Even tho i didn’t love this final installment, this series still deserves sm more hype than it gets 🫶🫶 I was also so happy to finally be back with these characters- i’ve missed them sm omg. Tessa in particular is such an amazing character. I love that she has her flaws and weaknesses, but still is so strong & independent. SHE SLAYS EVERY TIME 🤭💅

Plus this was super easy to read and it felt like I had just started when I was already 50% through. This series is so so easy to understand & such a great starter fantasy imo 💌

“I’m coming, my love.”

⁀➷ What I didn’t enjoy:

I went into this expecting great things from the plot & romance as they were really good in the other books. But… they didn’t hit in this one 😭😭 Plotwise, this felt waay longer than it needed to be and the plot felt quite bland at times. Plus Tessa & Corrick were kinda doing nothing at times?? 🫣 This honestly did not feel like Tessa and Corrick’s book AT ALL- like it focused a lot more on a specific side character, which felt so weird bc he’s not even the main character?! I really don’t know why the author did that 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

And the romance was barely there for most of the book!! 😫😫 Once again, we focused more on that side character’s romance than tessa and corrick’s relationship. And tessa and corrick were separated until literally 75% and once they were actually together, their romance was kinda boring. EXCUSE ME. Where is the great tessacorrick content i was promised 😤😤

The ending was also kinda anticlimactic. The other books were sm more exciting what happened brigid??

“Still breathing.”

Overall, yeahhh… it wasn’t my fav ☹️ I would still recommend this series if you’re looking for:

✔ Political intrigue
✔ Great characters
✔ Easy reads
✔ Underrated fantasy trilogy

Why are all my anticipated reads letting me down rn 🥲🥲

《 2024 Challenge: Book 22 of 115 》

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was so excited for this but unfortunately... it let me down 😭😭 it was just very mediocre to me ☹️

Rtc 💌

[Emmy Rosam · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️ A good conclusion to the trilogy, really had me at the end there!

[yuvi • ia · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh lord. it took me more than a month to complete this book. well, that's a first.

hmm. so how do i convince corrick to leave tessa and be with me instead 😔😔😔


Br with Shreya

[patrycja ୨୧ ‧₊˚ · Rating 4 out of 5]

꒰𓍼𓍢ִ໋🗡꒱ — 4 ★ Spoilers ahead

"𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂, 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕."

I had already lost all hope for this series, since defend the dawn was such a disappointment(I prefer to forget that this book even exists. For me, it's only defy the night and destroy the day) but OH HELL, this one was actually GOOD. I didn't even get bored for a second, I was on edge of my seat the entire time. I must say, that destroy the day is definitely my favorite in the whole series.

"𝑺𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈."

The found family aspect was a chef's kiss. I loved it so much. I adored how Erik and Tessa formed this sibling-like relationship. They have come to care for each other, and it was so awesome to follow how their friendship has been developing through the whole book. I'm glad that Erik got a chance for his happy end with Olive, they were really great together. I would never expect Lochlan and Corrick to become friends, but they did, and even though they never truly admitted it, they deep inside knew it. It was so fun to read about them. Lowkey, they reminded me of Kenji and Aaron.

"𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒕𝒐𝒐."

Tessa and Corrick. Their love is so pure and innocent. It took them some time to reunite, but when they did finally found their way to one another, they made my heart so full. I wish we got less scenes of Quint and Harristan and more of them. The character development was so awesome. I'm glad that we were free of this unnecessary Rian drama( you don't know how much I hate that son of a bitch) in this one, and that Tessa got smarter and grew to quite hate him too( that'd be definitely too much if she was talking about how wonderful he was, I've had enough of that), so she redeemed herself after defend the dawn.

"𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇, 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒍𝒂𝒘 𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑯𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌."

"𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍. 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔. 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚. 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓. 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆. 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆."

I liked one thing in this series from the very beginning, and that is the relationship between brothers. Their bond was so beautifully written. I felt so bad for Corrick, when Harristan "died", the pain he must've felt...thankfully, Tessa and Lochlan were there for him all along the way.

"𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒎, 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔. 𝑫𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒔𝒉𝒆’𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅."

The ending, tbh, I don't know how to feel about it. It was, well, definitely something... I may say it was fine, but did Harristan really spend the whole book fighting for his kingdom just to leave it to his brother in the end?

"𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒕, 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕. 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆. 𝑴𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅. 𝑴𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈."
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
꒰𓍼𓍢ִ໋🗡꒱ — pre-read

I'm sick 😭 but let's go. Be better than defend the dawn 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[elena ✧˖° · Rating 3 out of 5]

⋆⁺₊✧2.75 stars★
⤿ mild (marked!) spoilers in this review ⋆⭒˚

.ೃ➛❝I fell in love with her by moonlight.❞

taylor swift summed it up perfectly: "if you would've blinked then i would've looked away at the first glance." bc if this book could’ve blinked…i never would’ve finished it.

despite only discovering this series this year, this quickly became one of my most anticipated releases of 2024...and it kind of let me down? don't get me wrong, i still really enjoyed it, but it was disappointing.

⤿ the plot. prince corrick is being held captive and must ally with the rebel leader, lochlan, who has always wished him dead. tessa is heartbroken and angry. she misses corrick, believing him dead, and doesn't know who to trust. harristan is dethroned and on the run. he needs to unite the rebels, but he needs help. tessa and corrick try to find their way back to each other in a land of vicious enemies, and harristan tries to save kandala from political chaos.

⤿ the writing. i stand by my opinion that brigid kemmerer is a fantastic writer. her style flows really nicely. it allows for such easy reading. you start the book and all the sudden find yourself in the middle because you simply cannot stop reading! even though i didn't love the final book, i still think the series deserves much more hype. however, it seemed like she was trying to force this story places it didn't want to go instead of the story simply unfolding on it's own, if that makes any sense.

it's by no means a bad book, and i would 100% recommend the series if you're looking for:

💛 political intrigue
💛 great characters
💛 flowy writing
💛 good worldbuilding
💛 an underrated, original fantasy story

but i had issues with this book i simply cannot overlook.

⤿ tessa. i love tessa, and i will always love her. she's so tough and thoughtful and just...real. i relate to her on a level i haven't with many other fmc.

.ೃ➛❝i’m certainly not going to sit in that house waiting around for some man to decide my fate.❞

⤿ corrick. corrick goes through so many growing pains in this book. he becomes someone worthy of a throne and worthy of tessa. he becomes a leader his people can love. it takes awhile, but i seriously love him to pieces.

⤿ harristan + quint. i'm putting these two together because they kind of were the same person in this book? idk. not my favs and i don't think i could tell you anything about them except that they're gay LOL. they care about their kingdom, but i don't really care about them. quint is super attentive and sweet, though.

⤿ lochlan. absolutely, hands down carried the entire book on his bare fcking back. I LOVER HIM SO MUCH. he and corrick had the best banter ever and he just never took any crap from people and never stopped fighting for his beliefs. enemies-to-bros is my new favorite trope. i was absolute EATING UP the bromance.

⤿ rocco. he got so much screen time and i love him!!! 🚨he and olive are ADORBS and he and ellmo are freaking iconicccc!!!!! i was absolutely living for the found-family dynamic.🚨

i liked that we were able to spend several chapters on end in each characters head. it allowed us to be submerged in each separate plot line, and when one had a lull, another picked up. i did not, however, appreciate spending so much time in harristan's head.

also...don't come for me please, but i'm not a reader of gay-romance, and this book had a lot of it. i didn't even believe in their feelings of lust, and we didn't need chapter upon slow-fcking-chapter dedicated to them. i wanted to steal their screen time and give it to tessa and corrick.

🚨DO NOT COME FOR ME THIS IS AN OPINION: the fact that they had sex before tessa and corrick did made me so mad because on top of them not being the main couple, it was too much for a YA book. i was not prepared for gay sex after the first two books barely had kissing. we got some incredibly jarring, very intense, gay sexual relationships. there is next-to-none (literally 0.05%) build up to this romance. right when i was accepting that there was an attraction between them they had sex. (it was describing nipples and removing of trousers. in two paragraphs.) it almost felt like smut after two books whose most comparable moment was passionate kissing. WITH CLOTHES ON. i don't mind if there's sex in books, but it absolutely doesn't make up for a lack of character/couple development. their relationship completely overshadowed the plot. i know it was meant to be a reprieve when we couldn't have tessa and corrick, but i found myself missing tessa and corrick so muchhhh. not only that, but we didn't know enough about harristan to warrant 100+ straight pages of his pov and that much detail on his relationship!🚨

the content made a perfect-for-young-teens series much more suitable for older audiences, and it makes me cringe thinking that preteens/middle schoolers will be picking this up. it's rated for 13+ and now i'm in the difficult position of retracting my recommendation to a lot of people.

i expected a lot from this book because the first books had incredible political intrigue, plot, and romance, but this book dropped off on all of that! it didn't feel like tessa and corrick's book at all because it was oh-so-focused on harristan. i don't think it was necessary. tessa and corrick weren't reunited until almost 75% and then they were kind of...*excuse me*...boring. ahem. WHERE WAS THE AMAZING TESSACORRICK CONTENT I WAS PROMISED?! their chapters and their conflict with rian seemed like an afterthought, which made me sad because that was my favorite part of the last book! tessa and corrick's relationship development is what made the first two books so freaking good!

the ending was also...slightly predictable and a little anti-climactic. i suspected something and had it confirmed when i was reading other reviews for ✨research✨. 🚨it was anti-climactic because harristan really should've just stayed dead. keeping him alive was a total cop-out. part of me was happy why harristan "died" because it meant i wouldn't have to read his chapters anymore. 💀 i also hate cop-outs. i can't believe he spent the entire book fighting for his kingdom only to run away and leave it to his 19 year old brother. what a coward LOLLL.🚨

⤿ bottom line. this series should've been a duology! i'm sad that this book tainted the series for me, but i'm willing to overlook it since i'm so obsessed with the first two books! i don't know if i'll even pick up this one again, though, since it was so unsatisfying.

update: i returned my copy of the book because i didn’t feel good about having it on my shelf. i’ll continue to read and reread the first two because i loved them!🤍

[Riikka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually leave reviews because I'm not good at it but with this one, I must say something.

A book hasn't made me cry like this since 2021 and although it hurt, I welcomed the pain. I had no expectations going into this so I was amazed to find out how dear to me this story became. The plot and political intrigue were crafted well, but the characters drove this story. Not only did it focus on the main characters, but the side characters, too. They got so much screen time and I came to love most of them dearly. And they'll stay on my mind for a while to come.

Books like this that come at you with everything they've got and absolutely wreck you and then put you back together deserve the most. Destroy the Day made it to my Tier 1 list, where Brigid Kemmerer has appeared twice before with Letters to the Lost and More Than We Can Tell.

Now I have to go try to pick myself back up and get ready for the book hangover I'm definitely going to have tomorrow.

[vin .ᐟ (hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

꒰ 3.5 ⭐ ꒱

i just went through the 5 stages of grief in those last few chapters and i am not okay.

this book is very polarizing to me because i genuinely enjoyed reading it but can't give it more than a 3.5 due to the LITERAL WHIPLASH I JUST RECIEVED.

[note: there are spoilers in the comments too so pls beware]

non-spoilery thoughts

this series' main characters were so wonderful to read about. corrick and harristan's bond was such a common theme throughout this series, and despite them not being together for the majority of this book, their relationship and unconditional love for each other was ever-present in the decisions they made. you can't not root for this absolutely HEARTWARMING brotherly relationship!! corrick and tessa's relationship was just as sweet, but the brothers truly are what made my heartstrings pull ;w;

reading from harristan's pov was actually pretty fun (i say "fun" very loosely because most of it was sad, of course). i loved sm how loyal the bodyguards were towards harristan, like genuinely this was such a highlight of my reading experience. his character growth was so amazing too!!!!

my annoyances came from the dumb-ification of the main characters to keep the plot flowing, and a very spoilery thing that happens at some point in this book........so on to the spoilers then!

𓆜 𓆝⠀࣭⠀ֹ⠀͡꒱

🚨 spoilery thoughts 🚨

❌️ i'll start with what i didn't like:
- we are shown for most of the book tessa's grief over corrick's "death", but it was hard for me to even feel sad for her when we know that corrick is alive.?...so in my head i'm just thinking "girl, i feel for you but he is literally alive and you're obviously gonna find out at some point soooo...can we move on?"
- rian. literally just that. he got dumb-ified SO BADDD like my man became such a one-dimensional character just for the plot to progress. he seriously can't think for one second that maybe corrick wants to work with him????? shocker, i know, that after he saved your life in book 2 he may have altruistic motives !
- the ending. i respect the death of a main character so much if it's done well and this was done SO WELL IF HE JUST STAYED DEAD!!!!! i was crying and felt so heartbroken when it happened and of course seeing corrick's reaction made it 100x worse. but then the 5 stages of grief kicked in and i started to accept the situation alongside everyone else in the story and SIKE they somehow survived!!!! wow!!!!!!!! so cool!!!!! i really appreciate grieving but ACCEPTING the loss of this character and now they're alive!!!! fun!!! it just came across as lazy :/
- lowkey rocco and olive's relationship felt way too forced
- how it took forever for harristan to figure out he could just sneak into the palace... again, dumb-ification

✔️ now, on to what i did like:
- corrick and lochlan's bromance was literally the highlight of this book i'm not even joking those scenes of him teaching lochlan how to read were so wholesome
- the guards!! all of the loyal ones were so amazing and they deserve the world. the rescue mission was so heartbreaking when harristan had to execute the guard that didn't believe he was innocent :(
- harristan and quint's relationship was so so sweet and despite wishing they didn't magically survive that explosion i am happy that they can live the rest of their lives together in peace ^w^
- rocco and tessa!!! SO CUTE!!

[Tina➹ lives in Fandoms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Defy the Night series: (love the titles!)

1) Defy the Night: ★★★★★/5
2) Defend the Dawn: ★★★★/5
3) Destroy the Day:

4.5 Silver Stars
with Golden Sparks

because my wishful thinking from book 2 came true! & we had so many Harristan's chapters! (the main reason I was considering giving 2nd book 5, but it wasn't much. now it's here! & abundant! how could I ignore that!?)
I can't even describe how happy I am!

Buddy reading with my dear buddy reading (& a lot more!) friend
& I agree with her, Harristan & Quint saved this book!
also points for Corrick & Lochlan.

I'm so emotional. I teared up in joy or sadness. I was terrified. I also laughed.
it was tense. it was happy. it was most of the things I wanted from this book.
& after 7 or 8 chapters, I sped up reading. I was probably hooked in chapter 14 & you see I'm just read 20 chapters (& 200+ pages) in one day. I just "couldn't" stop, each chapter revealing something intriguing; trivial, character-wise or an idea for a plan, plot twist & I wanted to know more or how it will continue or how it will end, etc etc.

Now that I'm cooled down, I'm gonna mention a few things:

the Plot was good & slowly flowed, it made sense, but sometimes it felt like there's no progress Plot-wise for several pages. I liked Corrick's chapters too, they were interesting & funny with the constant banters with Lochlan & slowly bonding.
Tessa's were my least favourites, the brake parts where I put the book down (since book 2, I didn't care about her) only saved by Rocco & Olive & Ellmo.
& I know I said this hundreds of time, 1st person present tense POV is my least favourite kind of POV. & the characters sometimes felt whiny to me (I think this is the main reason) though it also had fun parts in describing their inside emotions.

as you can see I gave it 5 stars, so of course I loved it. but it wasn't flawless. My main complaint is the lack of proper excitement at the end. I mean, of course there was thrills & events that made me emotional, but not satisfying enough. I expected some epic battles at least, in which the characters (& consequently us, as readers) be present & actively engaged, or a Revolution like book 1, people army from the Wilds dethrone the consuls, or seeing Allisander getting hanged publicly & reach the end that he deserved there was the opportunity to do that, but there wasn't anything of this sort happening.

whyyyyyyyyyyy is this book Not in 2024 choice awards!!!???????????????????????????
-
Plot: ★★★★(★)/5
Characters: ★★★★(★)/5
Writing style: ★★★(★)/5
Premise: ★★★★/5
Concept: ★★★★/5

[Brook Thetonia · Rating 1 out of 5]

To preface this review by saying that I’ve been looking forward to this book for over a year and absolutely adored the first two. The first ones were my perfect fantasy/romance book that gave me everything I wanted and more, but I was immensely disappointed in this book.

They gave Corrick a personality lobotomy and took away everything that made him interesting. Everyone was SO SELF RIGHTEOUS, Corrick being the biggest offender. No longer was the man with blood on his hands begging for forgiveness absolutely boiling with inner turmoil, nope, he died when he fell off that ship. If I had a dollar for every time he ‘tenderly kissed her knuckles’ or said “I’m so sorry my love” GIVE ME A BREAK!! SHUT UP!! Corrick became the biggest pick me boy. His face the entire book: 🥺

Tessa throwing up on Rian was weird but okay…

Also let’s talk about Rian ☝️Everything interesting about him went out the window but so did everything else in this book. The characters talked like they were written by ai and it was so annoying and hard to read, ESPECIALLY Harristans parts. His chapters were so unnecessarily long and annoying, we do not care bro, no one does. He had the majority of the chapters and for what? You may say, “So we can know what happens in Kandala silly!” But that could’ve been done better with more suspense if Tessa and Corrick didn’t waste so much time apart and doing random side quests that had no effect on the overall plot. I could rant about the fact that this book had no plot for ever, this book felt like a bunch of novellas stuck together that take place in between the 2nd and hypothetical actually good 3rd book. I wanted a book about the two main characters and their romance, not the king side character. Literally nothing happened between Tessa and Corrick, the heck?

Honestly Corrick and Lochlan had more tension than Corrick and Tessa and so much more relationship build up. New trope: Enemies to bros

It would’ve been so sick if Tessa’s character arc this book was training with Rocco and becoming this badass, strong politician by circumstance who was able to show strength despite her inner sadness. She said was “training” but the training in question was her throwing one knife and being a pro all of a sudden HUH?! Idk I wish her story was more defined, but out of all the povs hers was by the far the most enjoyable because no one else did anything of substance until the last 10 percent.

Everything was so fast paced yet nothing happened some how… weird how that happens 🤨

Almost didn’t finish the book but pushed through. The ending was anticlimactic (the whole book was) and the only thing enjoyable was Rocco and his new boo thang, loved her and ELMO (could rant about that but won’t). Very disappointed.

[♡karabear♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 🌟's

umm miss ma'am u had me staying up till 1 am trying to finish this book. when I tell u I cried over 90% of this book bc apparently half the characters who were dead or were thought dead actually weren't dead like girl u had my heart shattering almost in those last few pgs. I was so ready to dig myself a grave no casket just the cold hard dirt worms and all! but somehow u managed to make it all better. I'm CURED!! apparently all it took was me staying up till 1 am to cure me of my slump 😊
#corrickandtessaforever💕

[Oceana Reads Co. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this final book. I’m totally satisfied with the ending for these characters.

One major thing dropped a star for me though.
My personal taste is that I don’t want to read details in romance especially between same sex couples. There is a male/male couple that forms and we get some descriptions of them kissing.

Everything else I loved! Truly would have been an easy 5 star. The action was great. The plot moved at a pace that kept me interested the whole time.

Not sure I would recommend this series now to be honest. Definitely be aware that this book has lots of kissing details and fade to black scenes between 2 different couples. No language.

[Anna (annasbookstacks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Corrick & Tessa, together against the night” 🥹🥹🥹

[Lynnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't going to be all that coherent or well organized lol it's also going to be FILLED with spoilers but first will be a short little spoiler free paragraph about the trilogy in general. I'll put a spoiler warning before I start!

If you haven't read this story, I am BEGGING you to change that. Brigid Kemmerer's ability to make me feel so deeply about every character, every relationship, every arc, should be studied in a lab. This series was written as if Kemmerer knew every beat, every trope, every type of angst, everything in general that I love about story telling down to a tee and created characters and a story I'll never forget.

SPOILER WARNING FOR EVERYTHING BELOW

I feel like I should break this down as much as I can in some sort of attempt at organization so let me begin with relationships.

Harristan and Quint
WHEN I TELL YOU I HAVE BEEN SCREAMING ABOUT THESE TWO SINCE THE END OF DEFY THE NIGHT OH MY GOOODDDD. PLEASE!!!!!!!! I am a SIMP for Tessa and Corrick but despite that, I didn't even care that they didn't reunite until WELL into page 400 something because I was so fucking SMITTEN with Harristan and Quint. The tension between these two men I CANNOT. I was desperate for Harristan's POV, longing for any interaction between the two of them. Quint has my ENTIRE heart. I absolutely adore the way Quint is able to support and care for Harristan in a way that nobody else has been able to due to titles and circumstances.

For example, Harristan and Corrick have always had one another but with the trauma they experienced together and the way they were forced to lead a country in disarray, the way Corrick felt that he had to be cruel and unyielding in order to protect his brother despite it destroying him, etc. made it difficult for them to really emotionally support one another until finally everyting came out into the open toward the end of the first book. Even so it was QUINT who told Harristan the Corrick didn't want to be King's Justice because not only does Quint love Harristan but he cares deeply about Corrick. GOD, okay hold on I'm off track.

Watching Harristan realize in real time that he's always found Quint's presence comforting, that he's come to rely on Quint and his ability to defuse certain situations, was so touching. Quint admitting to keeping track of the dates on which Harristan SMILED was almost enough to fucking kill me. These two were EVERYTHING to me and their ending was beautiful, but I'll talk more about that in another section.

Tessa and Corrick
For as interesting and dynamic as these two were in Defy the Night, their relationship really takes a back seat in this finale but that was absolutely FINE with me. Tessa's grief hurt my heart and Corrick's determination to find her was beautiful and that tension made their reunion so, so good. That scene was great. Then we have Tessa supporting Corrick in any way she can during that horrific time when he thought Harristan and Quint were dead. I'm of the opinion that if she hadn't been by his side during that Corrick either would've ended it all or become an even worse version of himself that we've never seen before.

Corrick and Lochlan
CARRIED the Ostriary storyline let me tell you THAT for free. Not to say I didn't enjoy Tessa's POV, I did! In fact I loved her relationship with Erik, their relationship with Olive, and Erik's hilarious beef with Ellmo. HOWEVER, the relationship growth between Lochlan and Corrick was one of the most phenomenal things about this book. I fucking LOVED it. That first chapter remains one of my favorite of Destroy the Day. Watching Corrick come to terms with Lochlan and realize how much there is to him that Corrick never knew or understood was so much fun. Conversely, watching Lochlan warm up to Corrick was almost even better. Every time Lochlan opened up to Corrick I nearly cried. Corrick teaching Lochlan how to read was so fucking cute. Lochlan comforting Corrick through his grief was such a beautiful scene and I love that Corrick named him King's Justice. That shit came full circle and it was just perfect.

PLOT
Let's move on to what I actually think is the weakest part of the whole trilogy and that, honestly, is the Moonflower plot. I love the politics. I love the revolution plotline and I love watching Harristan and Corrick struggle to figure out what is the right way to run their kingdom and care for their people despite the horrible conditions they're under. The whole Moonflower poison plot really fell flat, as did the plot with Rian and Oren Crane. HOWEVER, I literally did not care LMAO. Do you know why? Because I was so invested in the characters and their own personal conflicts/plights that the Moonflower poison/Oren Crane conflicts mattered so little to me. I didn't care they were wrapped up quickly because I cared way more about how our characters were going to make it out of all this happy and together.

The ENDING
Since the end of Defy the Night, I believed whole heartedly that Harristan would abdicate at the end of everything. I actually thought that if he did, but Corrick didn't want the crown, that they might even leave the kingdom to Arella Cherry. I probably would've PREFERRED this emotionally speaking because what we got instead ripped my heart into pieces before stitching them back together again, but Harristan was technically going to die regardless since Allisander would've executed him (I guess Allisander wouldn't have agreed to just WAIT a gd second for Corrick to return before doing so), so his plan to blow the palace up and take out Corrick's main opposition was pretty smart. Even with Allisander and Huxley out of the picture, could Harristan and Quint have ever actually lived safely and in peace even if Harristan wasn't the king? Also, it seeming as though Harristan sacrificed himself for the good of the country after everyone started to think he had POISONED them probably really helped Corrick in the long run deal with much less dissent, anyway. But it still fucking HURT.

All that said, I SPOILED mySELF by accident when I flipped through the book to see who's POVs we were getting. I SAW Sullivan as the last chapter's POV. DESPITE THIS, I sobbed harder during the last Tessa POV and last few Corrick POVs than I ever have in my LIFE at a book. From the MOMENT Corrick stepped off that ship, I was WRECKED. That scene is so horrifically heartbreaking I couldn't see the pages through my tears. What follows is some of the most emotional shit I've ever read. Being in Corrick's head as he tries to process what has happened, watching him break down when Lochlan calls him Cory, watching him visit Saeth and his wife because Harristan had promised the King would visit then watching this be the first time Corrick or his brother had been viewed as kind was literally too much for me I stared at the wall for like ten minutes idk it's the mental illness, your honor. I genuinely don't know if I would've got through these chapters if I hadn't known Harristan was still alive since I'd seen the Sullivan POV at the end lol

SPEAKING OF!!!! That last chapter was so FUCKING CUTE. Corrick and Harristan reuniting was exactly what I needed to feel WHOLE AGAIN. Harristan and Quint living in a fucking cottage with a stable out in the countryside where neither ever has to feel the pressure of court life ever again but also Corrick and Tessa can visit whenever they want?? COME ON. It couldn't have ended better for those two.

I know some people saw it as Harristan leaving the kingdom and duties on Corrick's shoulders but I would argue that those duties have ALWAYS been on Corrick's shoulders and that Corrick has always been more inclined to do the work as a king than Harristan who was constantly wishing he could be Sullivan again in the Wilds. The first time we meet the brothers, Corrick has done the King's job of looking over the bridge funding request, hands it to Harristan, and thinks that Harristan is just making a show of reading it because he has to look kingly but really Corrick could put a "summons for Harristan's own execution" in front of him and he'd sign it no questions asked. Corrick and Harristan both talk about how they want better for their people and how they want to do what's best for the kingdom, but I'd argue it's Corrick (with Tessa by his side) who takes that extremely to heart after everything he has done as King's Justice and will now be the face of change for his country, which we see when he visits Saeth and Leah, letting Leah hug him and then holding and snuggling their kid in front of everyone, showing how this time around, his leadership will be different.

My ONLY gripe with the ending, really, is the amount of TIME it took for Harristan to reach out (and the implication that Quint advised him not to...Quint and Corrick's relationship is very strong and this is restated many times in this book so I feel like Quint also would've really wanted to see Corrick again BUT I also know that Quint has been self-sacrificing for the brothers for years and was probably very worried about the letter putting Harristan at risk). BUT STILL SIX FUCKING MONTHS!!!!!! SIX!!!!!!!! It shouldn't have been that long lol Harristan and Corrick love each other so much I just feel like he would've reached out earlier HOWEVER the dedication to royal duty and sacrifice dies hard I bet so fine.

I also wish this reunion had been longer. I would've loved to see a private conversation between Corrick and Harristan and even the brothers and Quint but I do really like the scene we got. and REGARDLESS I am just so FUCKING GRATEFUL we got that last chapter and a reunion at ALL because if this book ended without it, I genuinely don't think I would've ever been able to reread them again and that would've sucked MAJORLY.

I actually think that's everything. There's other stuff I loved like Olive and Erik's relationship, Ellmo and Erik's hilarious bickering, and how we got to know Saeth and Thorin way more. But honestly, I'm just so glad this ending was so happy despite the PAIN it took to get there. This trilogy is one of my favorites of all time, genuinely. Thank you, Brigid.

I'd now like to request a 50 page novella beginning immediately where this book left off so we can see more of the reunion between Corrick, Harristan, Quint, Tessa, Saeth, and Thorin.

Just kidding. But only a little;)
----
EDIT: 5/6 - LMAO WHEN DID WE GET A COVER?????? JFC IT'S BEAUTIFUL AND I JUST FELL TO MY KNEES IN A STARBUCKS

EDIT: 2/14 - WE GOT A TITLE BUT AT WHAT COST??? A JAN 2024 RELEASE MY GOD. I WILL HAPPILY WAIT FOR YOU BUT I WILL ALSO WITHER AWAY IN PAIN

1/9 - this book isn't out yet but it already ripped my soul into pieces

[Kat | katreadsit · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5⭐️

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why was this book 544 pages? Absolutely nothing happened for the majority of this book, and I was bored out of my mind. It's unnecessarily long.

I wasn't being shown much of anything, and rather was told (repeatedly) what was happening. I know I'm not the target YA audience, but the constant reminders of prior events and connections quickly became insulting.

This installment was also missing what I enjoyed most about the first two books - the connections and interactions between characters.

A closing book can either make or break a trilogy, and unfortunately this one completely broke it for me.

[Paige ♠ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an amazing conclusion to this series and I'm so sad it's over now 😭 Also, the ending actually kind of surprised me, which doesn't happen a lot!

If you're looking for a great romantasy series then this is definitely it! It borders the line between YA and NA - I would say the romance is a bit more YA but still gives you a lot of feels - and the fantastic world building and story more than make up for any lack of spice 😆

[Muffinsandbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Je vais caner, comment cette saga peut être aussi incroyable ????

Chaque tome = PÉPITE.

Les personnages, l'ambiance, le style, l'intrigue, les émotions, les retournements de situation, les échanges, les romances, les enjeux, les dilemmes moraux, les complots politiques, les secrets, les trahisons, les souffrances, les retrouvailles, l'évolution des caractères, les messages, les citations qui te foutent un coup de coeur au coeur, les larmes que j'ai versées... tout est parfait.
TOUT EST PARFAIT.

Définitivement une de mes sagas pref EVER et d'ores et déjà une de mes meilleures lectures de 2025... tout comme le tome 1 avait été l'une de mes meilleurs lectures de 2024 et le tome 2 déjà l'une de mes meilleures de 2025...

Y A QUOI DANS CETTE SAGA POUR ME RENDRE AUSSI ACCRO ???

PERFECTION JE VOUS DIS.
Lisez-la.
Bisous.

[Zaynab · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're breathing, you're alive. If you're alive, there's still hope. Don't undo it on your own.

The broken empire grapples perilously with political uproar, a runaway monarch, looming threats and shattering twists. This final book of the trilogy fell a little short but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Tessa and Corrick were marvelous and FINALLY together. Lochlan took me by surprise as his character development and amusing banter with Corrick made up some witty, humorous passages. The resilient characters were on a grueling journey wishful of peace and justice for a unified Kandala. However, the downside to the tale were the numerous inconsequential scenes that were tedious and lackluster; the story could have easily been wrapped up earlier instead of dragging the flat plot for 500 pages. The baffling conclusion on the other hand was rushed, underwhelming and left me feeling a little let down. Maybe Kemmerer should have seriously considered ending the series as a duology.

[mag_book_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5
Corrick i Tessa rozdzieleni, starają się przetrwać i wrócić do Kandalii w której trwa obalenie rządów Harristana, który stara się złagodzić podejście buntowników.

Ojej, zakończenia trylogii mają to do siebie, że mogą niestety rozczarować i tak właśnie było ze mną w tym przypadku, spodziewając się innego finału.
Podobały mi się wyzwania Corricka w nowej roli - autorka potrafi w motyw ukrytych tożsamości i ponownie mogła wykorzystać ten motyw w zręczny i zabawny sposób. Sam Corrick musi stawić czoła nowemu, gburowatemu przyjacielowi ale także wyrwać się z niewoli. Ciekawie poprowadzona akcja, humor i momenty wzruszenia towarzyszyły mi w czytaniu jego perspektywy.
Co innego w przypadku historii Tessy. Jako, że nie zżyłam się z pobocznymi postaciami ich los był mi obojętny, sama zielarka nie dostała jednak tak wciągającego ciągu wydarzeń, a potęgująca żałoba i natłok uczuć sprawiło, że mnie trochę to przytłoczyło.
W końcu dostaliśmy więcej Harristana w tej części, a jego wątek romantyczny totalnie rozwalił mnie na łopatki. Ciekawie było obserwować jego przemianę i decyzje więc było to ciekawe zakończenie jego wątku ale czułam, że był tam niewykorzystany potencjał.
Moje dwa główne zarzuty do tego tomu to niepotrzebne rozciągnięcie niektórych wątków przez co czasem dłużyło mi się czytanie. Skończywszy historię, odniosłam wrażenie, że dwa pierwsze tomy, były całkowicie niepotrzebne bo ten obalił wszystko co się w nich działo, zarazę która ciągnęła się przez 2 części została sprowadzona do problemu na 3 rozdziały, tak samo jak rebelia i powrót na tron - zadziało się to za szybko w porównaniu z pozostałymi wydarzeniami.

[ੈ✩‧₊˚ faithreads *ೃ༄ (inactive) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t even put into words how much I loved this series🥹 The sweet bond between brothers and the love between Corrick and Tessa was so so fun to read! The politics, and excitement and just twists and turns were so good! The writing was riveting and fast paced and always kept you on the edge of your seat! I never expected any of what happened and I just loved it! Literally sat on my bed and didn’t move to finish😅 I did have to skip around a bit with Harriston and Quint, just a fair warning to anyone who doesn’t read lgtbq! I couldn’t STAND Rian, even at the beginning! But Corrick jealous was definitely worth it😂 I liked how we got to see the POV from three characters in this book, it was super thrilling and fast paced! I loved how we get to see the sibling-like relationship form between Tessa and Erik, and then Olive become Tessa’s close friend! This is the first book in a while that’s been so all encompassing and just so hard to put down for me! The book hangover is gonna hit hard🫣 This book had it all-fantasy, romance, adventure, spy, and found family! I cannot believe it’s not more popular! Plus the covers are so beautiful!!! If you’re looking for a unique, fast paced, well written romantasy, READ THIS SERIES!!

Pages: 550
Language: 🫢🫢
TW⚠️: death, alcohol, war, lgtbq characters, politics
Genre: YA romantasy
Format I read: Hardback (library)
Would I recommend to others: YES YES YES YES YES!

[elyssa ꫂ ၴႅၴ · Rating 2 out of 5]

tessacorrick deserved so much better. when will authors learn to give their couples interactions in the final books? bc how were they separated for a majority of the book and when they finally reunited, end up having the most underwhelming reunion. defy the night is definitely the best book (only good book) in this trilogy.

i just remembered another thing:
at the end of defend the dawn, tessa tells rocco that she wants to learn how to fight. so obviously going into destroy the day i was excited for tessa’s badass transformation but ofc the author backtracked and made tessa act the exact same way and limits her to still being just a healer. why couldn’t see learn to be a badass fighter AND be an amazing healer?

[❛ anju ༉‧₊˚★ · Rating 4 out of 5]

too much has happened. i can’t believe i won’t read about tessa and corrick anymore. i have a love-hate relationship with the feeling of that despair that comes every time i finish a good book, knowing that no matter how many times i’ll read it– it won’t be like the first time.

this was perfect. the whole trilogy has a special place in my heart, and if you followed my updates, then you know how much corrick has grown on me and how much i see myself in him.

“But that’s what I mean about how we all come from a different place. We don’t really know until we . . . know.”

if you want to read a good fantasy trilogy, then you should definitely pick this up!

and remember: mind your mettle. 🤍

[Kelley Chiselko · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think enemies to bros is my new favorite book trope? I was so over the romance in this series at this point, but I was obsessed with the friendship growth!

[Sanja ✵ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have previously praised this series for its impeccable world building and gripping storylines. Unfortunately, this book didn’t feel as compelling.

One of the main reason is that all three POV characters where all in different places which hindered the story from flowing effortlessly. The reader gets flip flopped between the places and either leave the setting as soon as something interesting happens or we’re distant from one place for so long that I lost interest.

I didn’t really care about Harristan’s POV. It was all talking and coughing. It did however take place in Kandela, which were supposed to be the most interesting, because all the foundation from the last two books were leading up to this. But it was resolved so easily that I honestly think I missed something. One second everyone thought Harristan was guilty of poisoning everyone and I don’t know when that changed.

The same thing were true for Corrick and Tessa’s storyline, it was resolved in like a paragraph with zero fallout. It was just so anticlimactic…

I also felt cheated on Tessa and Corrick’s reunion and relationship overall. She thought he was dead! It deserved more. The side characters relationship were given more space. And I hated that relationship, although it managed several impressive feats, like making me cringe more times than I could count and making me hate a character in less than two sentences. I can’t stand bratty children.

Everything felt rushed and underwhelming… such a disappointing ending to a series that I felt were going towards something fantastic.

[Rebecca (life's chaotic catching up) · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the stars ⭐️

[Samantha ♡ ( Percy’s Version ) · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5⭐️

I hope there’s a spin-off series

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, this series will have my heart forever 💗🥹

The growth between Corrick and Lochlan was so beautiful. I absolutely love how they became “friends” in the end.

Also, Harristan and Quint. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This was EVERYTHING 👏🏻

Ok the ending destroyed me.. but then put my heart back together again and I couldn’t ask for a better ending to the series. Absolute perfection.

✨dystopian fantasy
✨secret identity
✨friends to enemies to lovers
✨it’s always been you
YA 0🌶️