SHOW ME YOUR DARKNESS, AND I'LL SHOW YOU MINE. *THE STARS ARE FADING. *THE SHADOWS ARE CALLING. *THE DARKNESS THREATENS EVERYTHING.
ANOTHER PRETTY CAGE. Whisked away to the Fire Court, Scarlett Monrhoe finds herself in the hands of the man who killed her mother. The Prince of Fire. Thrust amongst the Fae court she loathes, she is at their mercy. She doesn't know what plans he has for her, but she has plans of her own. She just hasn't decided how thoroughly she wants to break him yet. If only he didn't tempt her with every breath, every touch, every kiss. It's another dangerous game that has her wondering if she will be the one irreparably broken in the end.
ANOTHER DANGEROUS GAME. The Fae Queen has plans of her own. She's determined to get to Scarlett in any way she can, and that includes using a mortal prince that followed the lost Fae princess across the border. Crown Prince Callan is desperate to get Scarlett back from the Fire Prince and return to Baylorin. The question is, what is he willing to sacrifice for the Wraith he loves who's trailed by shadows?
ANOTHER RACE AGAINST TIME. Every day that passes, Lord Tyndell and Mikale get closer to finding where she is hidden in the Fire Court. Every day that passes puts those Scarlett left behind in more danger. Every day that passes, more secrets are revealed. Truth has been buried in history that has long-since been rewritten, but in order to separate facts from lies, they will be forced to cross other borders and seek answers from kingdoms far more terrifying than the Fire Court.
Lady of Shadows is a new adult dark fantasy and romance novel. It's a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers troupe. It may have triggers of love-hate themes, sexual scenes (both consensual and non), violence, and jealous/possessive themes. Fans of Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Leigh Bardugo will fall in love with this series.
Melissa is a dark fantasy romance author who loves coffee, dragons, and constantly rearranging her bookshelves. She spends her time writing, reading, and homeschooling her three boys in the Middle-of-Nowhere, North Dakota, where she lives with her boys, husband, dogs, multiple barn cats, and chickens on a small farmstead. She is constantly trying to convince her husband they need to add goats and ducks to the mix, and one day, she'll succeed.
She's not here much, so if you're looking to connect, check out the following:
One line review: Scarlett wants to be like Aelin but with this personality she can hardly be Chaol.
Where do I even start? Do I even WANT to start writing this review? Probably not.
Scarlett is the most insufferable main character I’ve met in months. She is arrogant, infuriating, inconsequential and, on top of all that, acting like a fucking child. We get it, babe. You didn’t want to be a queen. Alright. THEN DON’T BECOME ONE.
She is such a brat. She knows nothing about ruling and the lands she’s supposed to rule over but when someone more experienced ( and with at least one brain cell) is giving her advice she throws tantrums like a baby. She expects Sorin to tell her everything while she keeps secrets from him ALL THE FUCKING TIME and disrespect his personal boundaries. Fucking idiot.
Also, the pacing of this book was so bad. We could get a 20 pages long chapters about Callan reading books or moping because Scarlett rejected him (run dude!!!) but when the main character is making a life altering decision, it literally happens within 3 pages. UGH. No.
The writing??? The amount of times the words “Interesting” or “intriguing” OR (my personal favourite) any variation of “That they are.” were used in dialogues makes my blood boil. I know it’s hard to tell a story not through dialogue but… please stop.
I wish someone told the author that the best place for fanfiction is AO3, not a publishing house. I know that certain tropes and elements will be used repeatedly by hundreds of authors, especially in fantasy, but when you use exactly the same ones as one particular author (maybe two), it becomes a problem. Examples below:
— an Oracle who appears to everyone “wearing” a different face — Blood Marks (weird Marks no one understands but the main character learns how to DRAW and use them with her blood) — Inner Circle (I don’t know why people insist on copying characters like Morrigan from ACOTAR when she has literally zero personality. 10 points to Hufflepuff for giving the “edgy, quiet” SPY guy ASH riding ((????)) powers instead of shadows though.) — Sorin is literally Rowan but without tattoos on his face. I won’t be elaborating on this — the Keys and the LOCK???? Please be at least a little original 😭😭😭 — This city by the river and the fact that the Artist District was mentioned so many times??? What in the Velaris???
There are many things I forgot about but I really can’t be bothered to search my already bleeding brain for that.
Plus: Talwyn. She’s a badass and I stan her. Also, she and Azrael have more chemistry than Scarlett and Sorin lmao
this was a bit slow for me up until around 60% and i was finding scarlet a little bit annoying but i’m super invested in the plot, i love the world and the magic system/lore so i will definitely be continuing this series!
These books are honestly a hot mess. They feel like ACOTAR fan fictions. There are a lot of similar themes and plots. However, the story is very hard to follow and a lot of things don’t add up. Will I continue to read this series once the other books are published? Probably just so I know what happens. Will I recommend these books to anyone? No, no I will not.
STRONG 4.5 - it’s giving majorrrr 5 star series energy, just the ending of this specifically felt a lil quick but in terms of the story of the full series … STILL GETTING 5 STAR ENERGY!!!!
Hi, I’m Scarlett! Just found out I’m a queen who automatically takes to the throne and have a loyal following without proving myself. I go against all advice of family and loved ones and keep vital information from everyone at all times. I will risk the lives of thousands (probably more) of my people because I declared myself queen to save two friends. Because who gives a fuck about actually ruling and taking sound advice? Not me. But I didn’t want to rule! But I chose it if free will anyway! Fuck the fae who have lived for hundreds of years with knowledge and experience I have no idea about. I shall continue to lie and keep secrets from everyone who (somehow) loves and trusts me and have only known me a few months. I also have every man who meets me falls in love with me and the only three women in my life are copy and paste of each other. Wow.
I’ve never written a review but I had to for this. I’ve never read something that took so many important things from other author’s books and added to their own. Yes I know fantasy books have roughly the same themes but this took things to a completely different level. Similarities between this book and acotar/tog Mating marks being tattoos “Mates”/“twin flames” finally getting together in the guys family cabin in the mountains The group being called the inner circle A funny guy in the inner circle that main girl connects with A girl in the inner circle that is a fighter yet also beautiful that helps dress the main girl A guy in the inner circle that is soft spoken and can travel through ash/smoke The main guy not telling her they were twin flames because he didn’t want to upset her There being keys and a lock she has to find so she can travel to another place The couple and inner circle go out to the city for dinner and dancing where she gets to know him more The main couple talking about the stars and dreamers as their inspiration for doing things The city having a river going through it and an arts district they keep referring to
I mean…you can have your characters call themselves the inner circle, you can have mates or “twin flames” in your story, you can have the group go out to dinner/dancing, include locks and keys etc no one author owns these ideas - but when you take every single one of them (from the same author) and throw them all into your book??? Big yikes
“Rage, Scarlett. Rage and scream and cry and fall apart. You are allowed to feel and do all those things, but you do not stop fighting. You do not give up. You become a bigger storm.”
Lady of Shadows is the second installment in the series and while the action and plot building slows down, the characters shine in this book.
There was more focus on characters' development, fleshing out their relationships, and more important: healing.
This book was generous in giving us the answers for questions we had since book 1.
I'm very interested to see how it all plays out in book 1 after that cliffhanger 👀
I'm really shocked at having to rate a book this low but it was beyond frustrating to read. Listing out all the reasons why this book rubbed me the wrong way:
1. Scarlett remains to be the MOST insufferable, annoying, and spoiled adult FMC I have ever read. 2. The constant rip-offs of SJM universe, the near copy paste of the character personalities and just slight tweaks of the names. Cassian- Cyrus, Azrael- Azriel, Cassius is basically Aedion, Callan is Chaol, Sorin is basically a mix of Rowan and Rhys but instead of darling he calls her Love. Sorin's court is literally called the Inner circle. There's a city next to the water that has an art district, World walkers, men-hating witch clan, blood magic, and she's raised as the deadliest assassin. I couldn't make this up if I wanted to. 3. Scarlett has absolutely no regard for others and constantly guilt trips Sorin into getting her way. And not in a cunning way that Aelin does it that has you applauding. Scarlett just does shit and holds people to a standard that she refuses to return. 4. There was NO chemistry between Sorin and Scarlett. Just a book and half of weird ass interactions that were constantly luke-warm at best and then straight cold. The sex scene between them after it FINALLY happens between them is appallingly unsatisfying. The one between Azrael and Tawlyn had more chemistry than that. 5. Scarlett deserves no one and her constantly entitement to a throne she knows nothing about made me furious. 6. The writing and pacing of the story is an atrocity. It was 400 pages of useless shit only for the main plot to be shoved between the remaining 100 pages.
I don’t know what to write ! I just know that I LOVE Sorin, I just wish he had more of an initiative when it comes to Scarlett! There’s something missing in their romance that I still don’t know what is it. It keeps bugging me because I am not dying for them yet, I like them a lot but I am still not feeling the burn. I LOVE the fire court inner circle! I Really like Talwyn the Fae Queen and I just think she needs someone, she’s so lonely! But she’s a baddie too. I get her resentment towards Sorin, I would be angry at him too. I Really like Briar the Water Court Prince! I Really like Hazel the Witch Queen ! I really like Callan the mortal Prince and I feel awful for him and I want him to be with Eliza the fire court general. Was it that hint anywhere in the book that they could have a romance ? NO. But I somehow ship them. 😂 I CANNOT wait to have CASSIUS and SURI back!!!!! I love them ! Cassius specifically since his been my favorite from the beginning. And I honestly think his chemistry with Scarlett is better than Sorin. Sue me, but I said what I said. And lastly but not least I do LOVE Scarlett but she is the one that manages to piss me off the most. Just open your mouth and speak words …… she gives information in homeopathic doses and it is most irritating! Also she’s a brat and acts like a petulant child most of the time and this also irritates me. Ok we get it , you don’t want to be a queen, so don’t. Just stop acting like everyone is hiding things from you when YOU are the one saying you don’t want any of it, and than she has the audacity of throwing a tantrum when she finds out what they were not telling her when she was the one that didn’t want to know in the first place…. UGH Going to the third book now 🖤
Well shit. It pains me to say it because I absolutely LOVE Melissa’s Legacy’s series, it’s become one of my FAVORITES, but this one just isn’t doing it for me. I fell in love with Melissa’s writing and was so so excited to jump into these books to see the connections between LOD and Legacy’s, but I’m personally just not the biggest fan of the storyline here and am really struggling with the main characters. Don’t get me wrong it definitely had its positives and I can see why people love this series. I did really enjoy book 1 so I was excited to jump into this, but after around the 30% mark it just really started to lose steam and drag out for me. The FMC and MMC also kept repeatedly making the most idiotic decisions that had me ready to throw my kindle across the room. A lot of the conflict seemed repetitive and unnecessary so I just found myself entirely disconnected by the end. That being said I did really love the found family and the side characters! I also loved the world that was built and am obsessed with the magic system! I can’t quite pinpoint what exactly it is about this book but I just feel like I wanted so much more. It could absolutely be the mood I’m in, I’m not ruling it out for good, I most likely will return to it at some point but for now I’m going to take a break from the series!
This is my first DNF. I’m very concerned HOW this author legally has gotten away with rewriting Sarah J Maas’s series….
I understand you can only do so much with Fae/magical worlds but literally pulling lines from ToG, using the “inner court” term, and the same character names just spelt differently??? No. Absolutely not. I thought others were just being dramatic about these resembling SJM books, but they are not wrong. I feel like I’m reading a AO3 fan fiction (which I love fan fiction but this series screams plagiarism… yikes!).
That's a lie. I knew this wouldn't get better. But I kept reading anyway. Put simply? What the actual fuck is wrong with this main character?
Jesus christ.
She is literally the most insufferable main character from the start of the first book. I was just hoping for a redemption arc... or maybe a lesson learned... or at the very least to grow the hell up. Alas, literally none of that happened, and by the end of this book, she has done what she always does and kept secrets and gotten herself in a deep pile of crap.
ALSO, how are we supposed to support her when Sorin got shit the entire first part of this book for "lying to her" by omission and then she somehow justifies herself in the exact same thing and nobody calls her out for it?? Pot, meet kettle.
I'm not done. I thought I was. Can we talk about how long she drags Callan through the mud of her lackluster personality traits before she actually tells him it won't work?? "I don't want to be a queen!" Is NOT the proper reason for telling someone you can't be with them when you literally found your fated partner. This bitch is supposed to be "hopelessly in love" with someone else, but can't just come out and say it until AFTER THEY ARE MARRIED?! Gag me. Furthermore, she never wears dresses except when she goes to dinner with Callan and his court? So, she is specifically dressing in a way she knows he will like and appreciate, parading around him while actively courting with someone else and never once mentioning it to him? Toxic.
And you know what, while I'm at it, I'm going to be vocally pissed off about the fact that she is supposed to be "soooo powerful" and "death's maiden" and yet she can't EVER once protect herself or make smart decisions? She killed a Marran Lord without her powers. But she can't handle a single Fae after 10 night children and some mortals? *gack*. Also, pulling some crap stunt with blood magic that she literally doesn't understand because she didn't even know these worlds existed a few months ago, but now she is arrogant about being all-knowing? Simpering about how "this is how it has to be to protect people," and yet she only puts everyone in more danger? This bitch. 😒
The end to my rant: Why is everybody so impressed with her and protective of her? She is not worthy. She pretends to be so amazing and yet is the most fragile and unstable character I have ever met. She is 1000% not fit to be queen. The pacing was also horrendous. The dialogue is weirdly stilted and unattural.
I hate myself, but I am going to keep reading out of morbid curiosity.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This took me 9 days to read. ykw scratch that the last 100 pages took me 5 days to read. it just wasnt that good.
i am soft DNF'ing this series as of now i will pick it up later this month when im out of the slump this book put me in. ___ i started this as soon as i finished LOD so im almost done with it. Hopefully will get it done today so tmrw i can save for ruthless vows.
I think I may need a break from this and pick up the rest of the series at a later date. It pains me to say this, as I LOVE the Legacy series by this author, but I had a hard time with this.
This series has promise, and I like where the plot is going. I was finally liking Sorin and Scarlett, and then BOOM. The end of this book was a little too much for me.
I was really vibing with Eliza, and want more on her and Cryus, and I even really am starting to love Sorin. I’m mostly just left really frustrated with Scarlett and her character. Her development was so good, and then we just when back on all of it at the end. That disappointed me.
I do want to pick this series back up eventually, but for now I think I need to read other things, as this book started to put me in a bit of a slump. :/ 3 stars on this for me.
Dnf at 44%. Scarlett is such a baby. The baby assassin. I can’t take her anymore. This book was so….emo. I couldn’t understand or relate to anyone’s feelings about anything. They are so dramatic. I just put it down after my eyes couldn’t take another eye roll. That little fight between her and Sorin, that did it. Oooh I’m such Jerk for saying that to her. Saying what???? I was so lost on the reason for that fight. I RARELY not finish a book but this one? No thanks. Now I need a book to get this one off my mind forever.
Bah what a book! I struggled to put this book down!! I sometimes don’t like the second book but not at all in this case! Her writing makes you want to know what happens next! I’m super excited about the next book!!
This series very quickly went from “wow! This reminds me of ToG and ACOTAR🥰” to “wow. This is literally copy and paste a blend of ToG and ACOTAR🙄”. Not to mention that Scarlett is absolutely unbearable in this book.
Also, if I have to hear the words “stars”, “river”, or “hope” one more time I’m going to tear my hair out🤪
Edited because I needed to reorganize my thoughts: It is a rare day when I DNF a book. I really, really wanted to like this series and I tried TWO times to finish the second book but I just couldn’t get into the writing style. The first book was better but still annoying. I had high hopes the story and characters would improve in the series but those came crashing down.
In general the story has a lot of similarities to SJM and JLA’s books, but I never like to compare authors as they aren’t the sole inventors of fantasy. The things that bothered me the most was the over dramatic FMC, no relationship/friendship building, and lack of personalities with bland copy-and-paste characters. The friendships/relationships were forced and rushed. The banter was extremely repetitive. The love interest became way too smothering and there was no slow burn. I’m all for the enemies to lovers trope but this relationship is erratic. One minute they “hate” each other and literally the next minute they are in love. And it goes back and for like that for awhile.
The FMC, Scarlett, gets everything handed to her. All of the guys magically fall in love with her, all of the friends instantly become her bestie. She’s over dramatic, selfish, and everyone coddles her. When her friends try to tell her very obvious important things about her/her life that she’s too dumb to figure out she tells them to stop and she “can’t handle any new information right now”. But then she will get angry at them later when she finds out said things from a different source and accuses her friends of lying and hiding the truth. Like girl you are the reason they didn’t tell you. They wanted to tell you but you refused and now you’re gonna play the victim? Her personality is just awful and all over the place. One minute she’s “swaggering in with a cruel smile” the next she’s “stone cold and distant, retreated within herself because of the trauma”. So cringy and too much overuse of the same phrases. I was rolling my eyes at every other sentence.
And don’t get me wrong there is a plot and some potential with the world building but there’s way too much time spent on poor Scarlett’s mood swings that the plot becomes the side quest.
3 ⭐️ I'm interested in how this story is going to play out, but I feel like all this could have happened in 300 pages, not 560. The plot twist was good! I will probably read the next book.. Something was definitely missing plot wise? I didn't like that we got zero insight on what's happening in the human lands? In a lot of ways I'm still lost as to what's going on here but I'll give the next book a shot 😌
4.5 🌟 Wow. I loved the first book but this one continues that streak and I'm so glad I stumbled across this series. The writing is great and so is the story. That cliffhanger? Whaaaaat?! I have my issues with Scarlett and Sorin. She is so stubborn sometimes and some of her actions were a little over the top but overall I love her. Sorin is great as well but he should have told her sooner. And yes, I am really cross about this. I have also found myself falling for the Inner Court and everyone in it. Callan can go die for all I care. He is only ever there to get on my nerves. I won't deny that he has chemistry with Eliza but I just want him gone... Finn and Sloan can stay, I really like them. Talwyn is super complicated. I hate her even though we get a little background with the parts told from her perspective but I still don't get a picture of who she is but I'm just not friendly towards her... I am super excited for more!
DNF - I can’t keep going. It’s a poorly written copy of ToG and ACOMAF. I disagree with the reviews saying “it has the same vibes.” No. No. Those aren’t vibes, that’s taking a book and renaming characters.
Though this is showing that it took me 6 months to read, it was really like a week ONCE I got into it. This one was a little harder for me because there was SO much meat but not a lot of action if that makes sense, and it was long. All that being said, I really am enjoying this series and loving these characters. This book felt RAW. Our girl Scarlett has gone through it, and she is on the struggle bus to get to the other side. Sorin who is her fated mate is there the whole time with her. He is holding her hand and pushing her to see clearly. He is letting her know you have good and bad days. We also get to meet all of Sorin's court in this one and OH BOY did I love them and can't wait to see who everyone pairs off with. I had a hard time with Callan in this one. He seemed a little more entitled than I wanted him to be. He was so fixated on the idea of him and Scarlett that he couldn't see that they weren't right for each other. I was also REALLY frustrated with Scarlett and Sorin circling around each other for like 70% of the book. She was too stubborn to acknowledge what they were to each other and there were some battles along the way.
Scarlett feels truly empty. One of her sisters was murdered in front of her. She was almost raped AGAIN. She has powers she didn't know she had. She doesn't know who she is anymore. She doesn't know how to survive. She is so angry at Sorin because he is her true enemy. He is the reason her mom is dead or so she thinks, but then why does he insist on being there for her. He doesn't leave her side. And she finds herself enjoying the company and enjoying not feeling like she is wearing a mask. She can be herself around him. She gets to meet his inner court who she can also be herself around. She learns more about her mom and her past. She learns that darkness is ok as long as you know there is light. She has to confront Callan and let him know nothing can happen between them. All the while she is convinced that her and Sorin are just good friends. Even though there is a pull to him she can't ignore. A pull to recognize who he is to her. A pull to peel back the layers of their relationship so that they can grow together. And when she is ready to acknowledge it, so much more is uncovered. Shr understands there is something larger happening around her. She understands what she has to do to help figure it out but she is so used to working alone- will she adjust to having her new family around her? Will she be able to get "home" in time to save Cassius and the orphans? Or does she have a new home that she finds herself planning to come back to after everything is said and done.
Sorin doesn't know how to help. His twin flame is disappearing before his eyes oh and did he mention that fact that she hates him. Yet this is the safest place for her. He vows to not scare her away and to be there for her how she needs him. He will wait until the time is right to explain things to her. There is too much that has happened that caught her off guard. He doesn't want to add to that. But is he hurting the situation by not telling her? Throughout this journey, they are uncovering things about her magic that he didn't think was possible. They are understanding that there is something else going on that no one can put their finger on. He is recognizing that this is just the beginning of a long journey with pain to come. So he helps Scarlett along to understand what she means to him. He is there to pull her out day in and day out. He is there when she needs to vent via fighting. He is there when she wants to go see Callan. He is there when she wants to just be. And now that they have started the twin flame trials all seems well between them. They can conquer anything together as long as they don't keep secrets. But then he finds out that Scarlett kept the biggest one from him. And he is left to pick up the pieces before he goes off to get her.
I had a REALLY hard time with Scarlett's decision at the end. I understand wanting to do things solo but she did not think about the consequences and the wake that leaves for the people who love her. I am excited and intrigued to see where all of this goes. I hate what's his face- the bad guy. He is just straight up awful. I want to learn more about how he ticks and why he is the way he is. I also want to learn more about the guy from Scarlett's dream. Who is he and how will he help her? What about all of the spirit animals. I am looking forward to reading more. I definitely recommend this series if you haven't started it yet.
~ 4. I am obsessed!! This series is getting so good. THE ENDING omgggg. I thought I had guessed but nope. I will say it was a little slow to get into this one, I struggled a little bit more than is normal for me with concentrating and wanting to pick it up. But when I would pick it up I would love it. Once you’re in the storyline and plot twists pick up. I will say Callan is annoying the shit out of me and I didn’t really enjoy his chapters. Big bitch ass vibes with that one 🤣 There are also definitely TOG, ACOTAR vibes, but I wouldn’t say entirely similar at all. It’s like there are fae with courts and found family, of course there may be similar elements but at this point I haven’t had any problems with similarities. So many good quotes in this one and the smut is just chefs kiss. Also, Cassius is her guardian right… so is that entirely separate to soul mate or can it be both. I wonder if she remembers that because surely she doesn’t remember when Sorin told her Cassius was her soulmate she would’ve said something?? But who knows with Scarlett lmao. I wonder if Cassius remembers? Unexpected daddy dom Azrael pulling up. I ate that chapter up with him and Talwyn. Picking up book 3 immediately coz I need answers. Side note, I read the Legacy series first and I don’t actually hate having done it this way because a lot of the lore drops and reveals in this series make a lot more sense to me and have a bigger flare. Idk I’m just eating this up 😝
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.