Luminara Academy (A Spicy Paranormal Reverse Harem Romance): Year 3

by Serena Cross

324 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 15, 2026

Reviews

[Marie Wingate]

not up to the earlier books

So I finished this as I really wanted to complete the story….but it was a struggle. There were multiple places where there was plot inconsistency, continuity errors and missing context that made this really hard to persist, and I put it down multiple times :(.
The story is really good, and the writing is engaging, but when a book is hard work I can’t easily get past that.

[Abbie]

This was an amazing ending, I loved seeing that having no bond doesn't mean you wont find love especially since Brookes was so bad. I loved seeing how Blairs bond was so solid and they showed her what a found family actually is and I loved the intricate family moments with Cain and the pups.

I also LOVED Gremlin that was my favourite character

[Caitlin]

I skimmed a lot of this last book. It was good but could be edited better. Definitely has potential.

[Carol Cooper]

Series Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3 Stars) — A generous rating for a supernatural academy series that had potential, but suffered from an annoying FMC, disjointed plotlines, and unequal mate dynamics.

I feel like I'm being generous with the 3-star rating, but in my defense, I didn't absolutely hate this series. I have a lot of issues with it, but there were a few things I liked enough to keep reading. So, these 3 stars are for the whole series as a collective, not just one of the books.

The Premise: 🔮
Luminara Academy follows Blair, our FMC, as she enrolls in a prestigious supernatural academy. She's there with a secret mission of her own, though, and therefore doesn't want to get close to anyone. Keep her head down, keep her eyes open, do what she came to do, and get out. As I'm sure you can guess, that doesn't exactly go to plan.

As far as premises go, this isn't uniquely groundbreaking. In fact, there were so many times I compared this book to Blood Oath by Morgan B. Lee. However, I don't mind overdone storylines and tropes as long as they are done well. Unfortunately, this one didn't quite hit the mark for me.

The Characters & Romance (The Misses): 📉
• Blair (FMC): She was an issue for me. She was stubborn to the point of annoyance and ignorance. I honestly had very few moments where I actually liked her. I hoped she would grow on me, and on some level she did, but I never really reached the point where I actively rooted for her.
• The Guys: Her unwanted mates weren't copy-and-pastes of each other, so that was a plus! However, they just weren't all that interesting. They had the potential to be interesting, but they weren't fleshed out enough to capture my attention. They felt more like background props than main characters.
• Playing Favorites: Blair very clearly felt closer to one mate over the other two, and that really bugged me. If you're going to write an RH or a "why choose" romance, I expect the same level of love and closeness with all parties involved. We don't play favorites! 🙅‍♀️
• Emotional Whiplash: The spice scenes were fine, but I wanted more actual emotion and tenderness. Blair would bounce back and forth seemingly at random about her feelings for the guys. She would give in to the bond and say, "Okay, I'm going to let them in," only to go back to using them and pushing them away in the very next chapter. It got extremely old.

The Writing & Plot Execution: ✍️
• Dialogue: There were a few really great lines in this book—some funny, some heartbreaking, and some swoon-worthy. Unfortunately, the majority of the dialogue fell flat. It felt like the author was trying too hard to be relatable.
• Plot Holes & Continuity: While the editing itself was clean (no obvious typos), the author really needed a storyboard and a timeline. Plot twists came out of nowhere, storylines magically fixed themselves without the characters working for it, and there were missing contexts and continuity errors from previous books. It all felt very disjointed.
• The Climax: Lastly, the grand finale and conclusion of everything felt rather boring. I wasn't upset with how everything worked out; I just wanted more. The entire overarching problem was resolved in half a chapter and it just felt cheap.

Final Thoughts: 💭
All in all, I'm not mad I read this series. I don't regret picking it up. I just wanted a lot more from it.

[Kali Fallahi]

I never write reviews but this book.. Honestly, I can't believe I got through it. I'm not sure an editor or even the author read through this book. There are so many flaws in the writing which normally don't bother me, but the name of a character changes through a scene and makes no sense. There is also a paragraph that is obviously written by an someone else saying that "they like the ending of the book" just randomly Ina chapter. What happens to her marks? During the first two books, she has to constantly worry about them, but not in this book. I wanted to love this story and this book was just so hard to fight through.

[Karen]

Decent conclusion to the series. Grand finale and the conquering of evil was slightly unpredictable. Pace dragged quite a bit and it took a lot to finish. I even read a different book to break up this trilogy. Some things repetitive - mainly around Blair’s internal monologue,ogre of overcoming her upbringing and trusting the guys. Also repetitive on what each of her guys brings to the relationship. Definitely don’t need that much of that in the final book. Overall the trilogy was an enjoyable read. Good, not great.

[Sheryl Meyers]

Excellent series!

I waited to do a review of these books until I had finished the 3rd one and I was not disappointed! These books were amazing from start to finish! I'm so glad I started the first book and finished the last!

[Miriam Farrow]

Great read 📚

I really enjoyed the books, so much so I couldn't put them down. Great characters and storyline. If you want to escape the drab of reality for a while, I recommend to read this series. I look forward to reading more from Serena Cross.

[Nina]

I actually liked this ending, and this book much more than the first two.

[Kathy Zuercher Diveley]

Blair & Brook

Blair and her mates ruin the Sacrificial ceremony that would have killed the 25 students. Sunny being one of them.

[Brittany]

While the storyline is good the inconsistencies and contradictions from one chapter/book to the next kept pulling me from the story. DNF at 30%

[Angela]

Finality

I really like the story idea. The writing style and cohesiveness threw me off enough where the story became disjointed.

[Dani]

So great!!

The entire series is amazing! You won't regret reading it. I love the way the twist and turns of the characters come and how someone seems horrible but is actually not.

[Jessica Mitchell]

Must read

I read all 3 books in a day. Could not put down.
Great story line. Only thing I wish, it that there was more.

[Elizabeth]

Good story but too many inconsistencies throughout the entire series.

[Kristin E. Todd]

Final book

This series has great potential. It's a creative and entertaining plot with somewhat likeable characters. The spelling and punctuation are correct, which says a lot in the genre. It would benefit significantly from a consistency editor and a smoothing out of the often awkward and over dramatic prose. There are numerous repetitions and fairly constant plot errors. The unity award starts off as annual in books 1 & 2, but becomes every fifty years in book three. This volume really began to drag. I was grateful each mate finally enjoyed some bonding time because it indicated the end was nigh. It has a good, satisfying ending that ties up the main plot line. But the political and social world is never really described. What is the academy for, what other social structures exist, what is the structure and purpose of the tribunal, etc? The reader is left to fill in a lot of background.