Crown Me Yours

Heartstring Duet #2

by Liv Zander

Wed him. Bed him. Slit his throat.

I killed the king.
Crowned myself in his blood,
But the curse still festers.

To break it, I need Death,
On his knees,
A ring on his finger.
My blade at his throat.

The god fights me to the grave,
Evades my touch,
Mocks my wanting.

He would rather tear himself apart,
Than let me close enough to end this.
But I didn't come this far to lose.
I came to crown him mine.

Welcome to your wedding, my love.

Crown Me Yours is a dark fantasy romance novel, and book two in the Heartstring Duet. The two-part story features deception, mystery, more deception, a handsome liar, and the woman who wants to bury him, along with a HUDDTPMYL... Happily Until Death Does Them Part Many Years Later (yes, the author made that up). This world contains dark elements, violence, and themes some may find disturbing. Readers can find more detailed information on www.livzander.com. What this book doesn't contain is a hero - because villains do it better.

Genres: Fantasy, Dark Romance, Romantasy, Romance, Dark, Enemies To Lovers, Fantasy Romance

254 pages, Paperback

First published April 13, 2026

Reviews

[Kaila.Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that will just stick with you.

Haunting, poetic, heart wrenching… it’s perfect.

[SK · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You can’t have love without embracing grief. Pain is the price we pay for participating in life."

This book had no business in making me ugly cry, rip out my heart and then dance on my grieving soul. It just kept going and going and going and now I don't know what to do.

I didn't think a 244 page book could make me feel so strongly. But it did. If I consider it critically, there were flaws in this one more so than book one regarding the curse and the execution of it imo. But I am an emotional reader and the book managed to tug at the threads of my soul emotionally in the best and most painful ways possible.

I loved Elara and Vale so much. The push and pull, the stages of their relationship, their love was so profound. I was like yes, I want that. The way I loved, laughed, swooned, grieved; it's like within 244 pages, I lived a lifetime with them. But it's those last 10% that gave me a slow burn in the most devastatingly human manner. It was not happy. It was not tragic. It just was...

I'm gonna think about this duet for a long time. Brb gonna sob...


~•~•~
I need answers ASAP

[꧁ ༺Minne༻ ꧂ (Slow - moving to a city I hate T T) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm sorry, but with all due respect


Please do it again.

So inhuman. Who writes something like this? This is heartbreak in a book. Are you happy now, Zander? Are the tears and screams of innocent readers your feast? Is emotional destruction your hobby? Because this is not what we mean when we say we want “big feelings.”

I ADORE THIS DUET. I can’t stop crying, and I rarely cry over fantasy novels. This was melancholic, grotesque at times, and simply beautiful. It’ll probably haunt me for the rest of my life. I’ll probably come back to it every now and then. I have always had a weakness for impossible relationships, but this was not romantic angst. This was emotional warfare. I am tempted to give it one star purely out of self-defense. I hate it and I love it.

I can’t believe I went from thinking “my tastes are becoming concerning” and fanning myself over that graveyard scene to being emotionally devastated.

There is honestly no way I can review this properly without spoiling everything. I love the way the tone of the series evolved from the first book to this one. I thought I liked this because of the plot and the characters, but now I’m more entranced by the allegorical nature of the story. I appreciate Zander’s interpretation of love, time, life and death. Life and death are two extremes of the same walk, two sides of the same coin, and we don’t get a choice in either. But I guess everything in between is what we call living. And choice is a mercy we’re given. Or maybe a curse. This was definitely not pretty or flowery and now that it’s over it feels like I’ve reached the end of a long funeral procession and don’t quite know what to do with my grief. But I’d do it all over again.

Be ready for a non-traditional happily ever after. My God!

[Momma Eureka · Rating 5 out of 5]

♾️⭐️ INFINITY STARS

I cried myself to sleep! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I am crying now as I am writing this review! 😭😭😭

Ever since I’ve read her Court of Ravens duet, I trust this author to break my heart in the most beautiful way ever, always! When she is done destroying you, all you can do is stare at the wall and say “Thank you” AND CRY SOME MORE !
Here we have a kingdom dying of rot, pestilence is killing everyone and everything…. Even trees, vegetation and animals are dying. Poverty is consuming even the palace all due to a curse that was born out of Death’s broken heart, he couldn’t take the pain and cursed an entire kingdom. A curse born out of pain and was surviving out fear and selfishness. Death is afraid of going through the same pain again and because of that he is adamant in keeping the curse strong. Elara was crown Queen with hopes of ending the curse and she is trying everything with a fierce determination, specially because her most beloved 15 years old brother is dying of rot and her mother is also showing symptoms. No one is better than her to do this job , she is determined, she is strong, she is stubborn and she will do ANYTHING to break this curse.
Love is the only way, death is the only way, restoring a heart is the only way….
I literally can’t finish this without crying !
This book was beautiful ! Go read it!!!

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
“You move through the architecture of my existence with such ease. You stand in the center of my domain, amidst the worms and the decay, and you look so perfectly, terrifying at home.”
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
“Crown me YOURS Elara. Because I am, and I will never again not be.”
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
“I will love you to the day I die!”
“The best thing that ever happened to the worst thing in existence.”
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

*inserts photo of me crying here if I knew how to on this review*

5 ⭐️

LIV IM SENDING YOU MY THERAPY BILL FOR THAT ENDING BECAUSE NOW ILL BE CRYING FOR WEEKS.

[Brittany Ferraro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like book one was setting up a really good story, but book two explored something completely different. It became about the human experience beautiful, messy, tragic, and ultimately all we really have. The way this story was told was so emotional that it genuinely stopped me dead in my tracks. It makes you think. It makes you appreciate things. It makes you look at life a little differently. I didn’t realize this book was going to move me the way it did.

While it’s incredibly deep, and I loved the messaging and meaning behind the story, it never loses the playful banter between Vale and Elara. And of course, we got to ramp things up a little with “my wife,” which I will always be a fiend for. Her writing is so poetic and immersive without ever feeling overly drawn out. There honestly aren’t many books where I can sit and read for hours without coming up for air, but for some reason her books just lock me in place especially this one.

I read her Court of Ravens duet, and these books felt very different in a way that I loved. This story felt dark in a way that makes you think. In some moments, it pushes boundaries and forces you to sit in uncomfortable feelings. It’s not a surface level read. It’s not just a fun, dark, spicy book. It’s a story that emotionally takes a piece of you.

I don’t know if it’s because grief feels so fresh in my own life right now, but this book almost felt healing to me in a strange way. Comforting, devastating, beautiful… all at once. While also making me sit there and go, damn……

And even with such a huge underlying message and so much emotional impact, this is still a really good fucking story at its core. The plot is gripping. I loved their relationship. I loved how naturally it developed and how stripped back it felt. It really is the epitome of loving someone exactly as they are. It’s about sacrifice, grief, love, and the power of choosing someone over and over again while still delivering incredible banter and great spice.

When I talk about this duet for the foreseeable future, I genuinely think I’m going to get choked up. It’s one of those stories that stays with you. Book one got me invested and intrigued about where everything was headed, but book two honestly changed my brain chemistry. I know that sounds dramatic, but I can’t help it. I’m a drama queen.

The fact that she managed to pack such a moving, powerful, complete story into a short duet is honestly a testament to her writing. There was no filler. Every single page felt important. If you’re looking for something that will completely hold your attention, give you a crazy good plot, a romance that will rattle your fucking bones (pun intended 😜), and leave you sobbing like an absolute baby by the end. I literally wish I could insert the pictures and videos of me sobbing … then you need to pick this up immediately.

This is one of those duets that I feel so unbelievably confident recommending because I truly feel that strongly about it.

It was truly fucking incredible.


✨DONT READ BELOW IF YOU HAVEN’T READ BOOK ONE✨

And I just want to set the record straight: I knew from the very beginning that Vale was never the villain. He was misunderstood. I think it’s such a real reflection of how we view death in real life we label it the villain because it takes from us, because it hurts. But death was never the villain here.

Because grief only exists when love existed first.

And honestly… that’s a beautiful thing.🥹💓

[Krisha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Crown me frustrated.

I rated the first book 2 stars, and the only reason I chose to continue this duet was because the cliffhanger filled me with curiosity as to what will happen next. But after reading this book, I guess I should've stayed curious. Because what the hell was this even?

Either I'm heartless or this duet is actually giving Wattpad. The writing lacked the necessary depth and emotion. It was so hollow, I'm at a loss for words. It's as if the author mainly concentrated on making sure everything's grammatically correct, instead of placing more emphasis on writing in a way that would show meaningful depth and emotional maturity, thereby making it easier for the readers to connect. But clearly, that wasn't the case here.

For a book that's only 240 pages long, I can't understand why more focus was placed on the detailed description of the spicy scenes, and less on the before and aftermath of breaking the curse? I love reading smut, but for a book with length so short, and a plot that seemed quite promising in the start, I was entirely disappointed to see one fourth of the book being spent on smut, instead of what should've been directed to address the loopholes of the plotline, the aftermath of breaking the curse, and more details about the kind of world they live in— considering the world building was a lackluster.

And the ending? That was the most stupid ending of all time. It looked more like a stunt to trick the readers to activate their emotional side, because logically, that ending gave rise to a whole bunch of unanswered questions and numerous plot holes.

I seriously don't get the hype. Guess it's high time i should stop trusting booktok's recommendations.

[Alexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should have known Liv Zander would rip my heart out AGAIN.

“The door closes. The room exhales. Just us. Death and his gravedigger wife.”

"Worst husband."
"Best wife."

Sobbing.

It’s fine. I’m fine.

[bookluvr (semi-ia july ~ work + travels) · Rating 4 out of 5]

not me thinking i’d be completely immune to this. it got me, i fear. my cold, dead, little heart felt something, like back in the day when i used to consume them nicholas sparks meals 🥹.

“i have longed for you…” he whispers gently, “longer than i had a name for longing. my own wife. my own companion.” the words settle between us like stones sinking into still water, letting that gold-tinged warmth in my chest rise. “i have likely loved you longer than i realized.”

the tone of this sequel took a shift from the first one. if you’re looking for a fast-paced fantasy-driven all-fun plot in this book, you won’t find it and i predict this may be where this loses certain people. i also gather that if you don’t feel connected to the characters, you won’t find this all that enjoyable either. the tonal shift was not AT ALL unwelcome to me though. this installment read very romance and character-driven, rather than plot-driven — but it was so achingly beautiful.

i was having tons of fun in the first half, make no mistake about that 😌. i am nothing if not a simple creature. give me a marriage trope between two people who are supposed to hate each other, and i’m typically giggling and kicking my feet if the chemistry is oh so right! these two just HAD it. the banter, the playfulness, the soft antagonism, the feening — i was devouring it! seeing their connection morph into something more — something poignant and accepting and tender — was such a pleasure to watch unfold. there was such poetry to this pairing. their love hit me in the chest, quietly and unassumingly.

there were a couple times that i felt like maybe there was a bit too much spice, but that feeling would dissipate quickly because the scenes were written to elicit such profound intimacy, particularly deeper into the book. your honour, i just loved them 😭. plain and simple. and my man 😭😭. i misunderstood him a bit in the first book (although i was still eating him up 🌚), but i actually need to put him in my pocket and protect him from all harm and suffering? help 😭.

elara. courage. altruism. a heroine. in every sense of the word. no slander formed against her shall ever prosper. not on my watch 🙂‍↔️.

these two just meant something. the contrast between life and death, risk vs reward, choosing now, how we spend our time while we have it, legacy, sacrifice…just all of it. it all meant something. there is beauty in death, it is the natural order of things. we may fear it, but it’s an inevitability. a thing to accept. a thing to embrace, even. from all angles, this book drove that message home so thoughtfully and so thoroughly. while aspects of the progression were predictable, what i didn’t anticipate was that this would pack the emotional punch that it did for me, in a way that would feel so moving. i’m so happy to have read it.

to review this in any more detail and lift my vague language would give away the outcome of the first book and spoil things about this one, so i’ll end my meandering thoughts here.

”now is all we’re ever given.
yes, i understand it now.”

“you can’t have love without embracing grief. pain is the price we pay for participating in life.” 🥹

[Youssra (semi ia- shelving books don't mind me) · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I read those last 3 chapters THROUGH A HAZE OF TEARS 😭😭😭😭😭😭



I love them so much omg my heart aches💔 Liv Zander whatever sorcery you cast to birth this amazing duet, please do it again😭😭😭😭

This was not at all what I expected when I picked up this duet.. like I expected a fun giggly rotting good time, and don't get me wrong, I giggled and kicked my feet AGGRESSIVELY, but we also got this deep and emotional allegory of life???


The hype is real..This was actually such a beautiful love story😭

GO IN BLIND THOUGH!!!
________________________________________________________

pre-read

VALE GET READY 👹👹

[gabbie [semi-ia, new job] · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Now is all we’re ever given.”

Crown Me Dead felt like hopelessness. Like death and rot and bodies falling apart. It was visceral and gross, and the story was told mainly through big twists and reveals. Crown Me Yours is different. There’s no big roller coaster of reveals, but that doesn't mean it was boring. Book one felt like death. This book felt more like hope. Life and light and the terrible, beautiful inconvenience of being alive.

Don’t get me wrong, this book is still dark. It’s not a cheery read by any means, but compared to book one, the vibe is completely different. If book one was a roller coaster, book two is a train ride through the peaks and valleys of the human experience. Less “oh my god, everything I thought I wanted is changing every 10 minutes and everything is gross” and more “oh, this is going to hurt.”

This one is about the human experience. The part that happens after you survive. The part you get before you die, when you have to choose between living and existing. Choosing to be vulnerable. Choosing to love despite being scared. There are definitely some lessons to be learned from this book about being brave enough to actually live:

“Every headstone marks someone who would cherish what you’re afraid of.”

Appreciate what you have right now, because now is all we are ever given. Pain and grief and death and everything we're afraid of, it will happen anyway. Even if you hide and try to protect yourself. You might as well live when you get the chance, because all those headstones mark someone who would cherish what you're afraid of.

If you're sick of FMCs who feel like an insult to women, meet Elara. She’s still cool as fuck. She is competent without becoming boringly perfect, brave without being stupid, scared without being useless. She sees Vale in a way other people refuse to. Other people look away from what he is. They pretend he does not exist. Elara is perfect for him on such a symbolic level. I think that's where this story really gets me, when you look past them as characters and look at the allegory. She is perfect for him because of what they are. She was meant to love him, and maybe he was meant to love her. Would anyone else even be able to love him the way she can?

The ending is where this book simultaneously started pissing me off but also almost melted the block of ice that resides in my chest. The final chapters kind of feel like an epilogue, and they are beautiful and heart-wrenching and COMPLETELY FULL OF METAPHORS. Thank god it was only a couple of chapters because Liv was, once again, really starting to test my patience. It's like she can't help herself when she isn't writing frequent dialogue. Why do I have to solve riddles to figure out what a room looks like??

Anyway! I didn't cry while reading the ending, but that's not because the ending wasn't emotional and beautiful. It's just that I have a dead little lump of ice in place of a heart. If a book ever makes me actually cry, call an ambulance or something. But, tears or no, I was definitely feeling it!

It's the best ending I could have asked for. How could it not have ended this way, despite the way it makes us feel? It's heavy, but it's not sadness for the sake of sadness. It's more like the entire point finally closing its hand around you.

Crown Me Yours is still dark. Still weird. Still hot in ways you wouldn't think a story could be hot, because rot and death and decay really have no business being hot, but here we are. It’s also more impactful and emotional than Crown Me Dead. I think, sooner or later, you can anticipate what kind of ending you're in for with this book, but you're not gonna want to accept it. Like, no, no, surely not? Surely it can’t end that way?

And isn’t that the whole point? That we all look away, and Elara didn’t?

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

FKN DAMN! This book!!

This wasn't just a read, it was a quiet unraveling. The kind that sneaks up on you, settles into your bones, and makes you sit with things you usually avoid.

It made my heart swell and reflect in a way I wasn't ready for. The grief, the love, the way they're so tightly woven together you can't separate them... this one hurts. But it's an honest kind of hurt.

"Now is all we are ever given."

I love that line. It sounds simple, but it carries everything. Every hello already holding its goodbye, every moment heavier because you know it won't last. This book understands that in a way that feels almost too real.

And grief... I know all too well that grief is the cost of love. This story doesn't try to soften that truth. It leans into it. It shows you that to love deeply is to accept the weight that comes after-and somehow, we do it anyway.

There's something achingly beautiful about the way this book explores loss, fear, and choosing to keep living anyway. To wake up, to keep going, even when it feels impossible.

This book doesn't just tell a story. It sits with you. It reminds you that love will break you... and still be worth it.

[⋆.˚dak ☾ .⭒˚ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 🌟 “𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙬𝙚’𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣.”

i am so unwell. 😭😭

what a beautiful story about grief and death. the way this healed a part of me. i have so many highlights and notes… 514 pages was not nearly enough with these characters, this world and this story.

⋘ 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗’𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚐𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚏. 𝙿𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚠𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 ⋙

𑣲⋆𝓔𝓵𝓪𝓻𝓪 & 𝓥𝓪𝓵𝓮 ₊˚⊹ᰔ

this duology consumed me from start to finish!! i will never be the same 🖤🫀✨
so many tears shed but so worth!!

⟡˙⋆ 𝒲𝑜𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝒽𝓊𝓈𝒷𝒶𝓃𝒹,
ℬ𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝒻𝑒 ⋆˙⟡

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

6⭐️

Poetic. Devastating. Intoxicating. Cunning. Beautiful.

This series will stick with me forever. I loved every single second.

[Shaz ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5 - WELL CROWN ME CONVINCED!! 👏🏻😭🖤

"Worth every grain of sand"

“The best thing that ever happened to the worst thing in existence.”

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not at all prepared for how much this was going to emotionally destroy me😭

This was somehow even better than the first book! I was so happy that it centered around Elara and Vale's relationship because their love story is one of the most beautiful and absolutely heart-wrenching I’ve ever read.

This isn’t just a romance. It’s a story about grief, loneliness, acceptance, and choosing to love despite loss. I’m still in awe that a duology this short could contain so much character depth and emotional complexity without ever feeling rushed or over-simplified. An absolute must-read for sure!!

[TwinreadsandReds-Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was BEAUTIFUL! And not at all what I was expecting. I gave it a 4.75 but now that I am thinking about it more and more it does deserve 5 stars!

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Crown me yours, Elara. Because I am, and I will never again not be.”

I feel almost dramatic when I say I feel like a shell of a person after reading this book as no other book has made me UGLY CRY and feel so damn much in a while. All of it was just beautiful and hauntingly agonizing that it made vale and elaras love feel profoundly fated and eternal in all that binded them. Easily all the stars

The contrast to the first book to this was entirely real as I couldn’t have predicted this one would delve into more emotional territory despite seeing the ending coming but not in the way it played out. definitely took it lightly in hearing it would. I should add that the pacing was slower here but it didn’t change how I felt about how things ultimately came together as the emotional payoff was worth it. But this story was written (the prose undid me) in such a raw manner in highlighting the human experience. Especially in the way it spoke on mortality and the weight of grief and love with the reminder that the two go hand in hand. it deeply cracked me open and oddly felt healing for me with my own current grief that I found comfort in that

There aren’t enough words to convey the love I feel for elara and vale. Elara, who I loved more in this book and the way she challenged vale and just her heart and inner strength. Her way of seeing life and how that shaped the good that was buried deep within vale. I loved seeing her accept his true form and made him feel worthy of love as he didn’t deem himself so. This aspect felt vulnerable and intimate as was Chapter 19 which made me so emotional at the raw emotion you feel from it because of the way elara makes Vale understand how pain is inevitable no matter the path taken and all we have is now. That was also the message this book leaves you with and it felt so meaningful

As for Vale, all I felt for him was pure love than whatever interest I had before. I was so happy to get his POV and be in his head, until I could not catch a break the last 10% where everything felt devastating but not final. it was everything to see him be reduced to a fool for elara and the way he longed for things he thought he could never have and yet elara showed him otherwise 🥹 this mans devotion to her and the way he loved her so reverently was beyond tangible that it made me ache for this type of love. Vale and his gravedigger have a permanent place in my heart .

"Worst husband." “Best wife." I lower my forehead to hers. “The best thing that ever happened to the worst thing in existence.”

I longed for more of the heartfelt moments we get here as 240 pages of them weren’t enough. But this ended in the most BITTERSWEETT way a book could end for being so short. my god. I’m still processing after a few days of everything this made me feel 😭 i am ruined and utterly haunted by the end in the way someone could be when they think about what a succession of life and love looks like as it’s the type of story that stays with you as if you lived through everything they did and what follows next for them.

i highlighted plenty but needed to leave some non spoiler quotes here

“Grief is just love hiding in a mourning dress, piling up inside you because the person you want to give it to isn’t there to take it.”

Mortals are obsessed with it. Love. It’s a sickness of the mind. A voluntary lunacy. They chase it, sing of it, long for it—a deluded sentiment they crave as if it could ever end in anything other than pain. To love is to open your heart to the blade of grief, offering it a bloody sheath to land in before it cracks under the agony of loss. Love is madness.

"There is no beauty to be found, Elara." “I’ll be the judge of that."

"You move through the architecture of my existence with such ease. You stand in the center of my domain, amidst the worms and the decay, and you look so perfectly, terrifyingly at home."

"I have longed for you... longer than I had a name for longing. My own wife. My own companion. I have likely loved you longer than I realized."

Because love and loss are on the same coin—one side warmth, one side ache—but the value never changes. And to carve out the grief would be to erase the love that made the memory worth living. A thousand times over.

“I think I’ll smile. I think it will feel like coming home. Like settling into the place where I belonged all along.” Shortened this to avoid spoilers but THIS?! I cannot

“Thank you.” “What for?” “For making me choose this.” 🤍

“And this one…this one is mine. Decades of sharing in joy and laughter with me.” Her eyes glisten. “You deserved most of them. “Debatable.” 😂

“I’m not staring. I’m admiring.” THESE WORDS iykyk

[makayla ♱⃓ · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 🌟 “𝓝𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝔀𝓮’𝓻𝓮 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓷.”

Well.. this story and these characters will be consuming my mind for the foreseeable future. When I tell you I was sobbing at the ending, literally balling my eyes out 😭

Dark, devastating, all consuming. The way this story unfolded was so beautiful and has imprinted on my bookish soul 🖤🖤

“𝘎𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵.”

[LiftsandLiterature · Rating 4 out of 5]

This duet is achingly beautiful. I just wish each book would have been 1,000 pages longer.
“Tell me….do you love me yet?” 😭
I will never think of snowballs, and not think of this book. ❤️‍🩹

[Seda ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

THİS. This was definitely not what I expected.
It was so much more.

A dark, poetic, and poignant tale.

This didn’t go where I expected it to. I was expecting a dark, snarky, and spicy romance. But believe me when I say that this is a heartbreaking yet heartwarming story about loss, grief, hope, and love.

Death. Cold, abrasive, seductive, and completely inept when it comes to emotions. Centuries of loneliness. Watching everyone come and go while being the one left behind. Even Death fears loss and grief.

It wasn’t about them falling in love. It was about the two of them who saw and accepted each other for who they truly were, and who, knowing what it means to lose, chose love despite everything.

A love that was earned.

Death and a gravedigger… I can’t think of a more inevitable or fitting match.

“Worst husband.”
“Best wife. The best thing that ever happened to the worst thing in existence.”

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m currently writing this under emotional duress. That last 20% had me sobbing. I can’t even properly or eloquently convey my thoughts about this book so I’m just going to say, Liv wrote such a beautiful duet and the themes were absolutely brilliant and heart wrenching. I’m shattered. I’m destroyed. I’m going to need some time to recover. I haven’t felt this emotionally impacted by a book in a long time.

[Gabriella · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOW DID THIS SERIES START OFF AS A BIOHAZARD AND THEN END WITH ME IN TEARS?? Liv Zander you’re a genius, a poetic goddess.

5 stars. The second installment of this duet is where my heart was captured, graves and death and rot was never so heartbreaking as it was in this second book. Somehow this author turned a dark fantasy romance into a poetic story about fear, grief and death. Liv turned the table on us real quick and beautifully wove this story into something that will make even the most cold hearted weep when they read this book. There is nothing more humbling than Death and the inevitability of it.

Vale- i love you. Elara- i love you even more.

😭😭😭

[Amara Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It was heartbreakingly good. It definitely exceeded my expectations.

“I have longed for you…” he whispers gently, “longer than I had a name for longing. My own wife. My own companion.”

“Worst husband.”
“Best wife.” “The best thing that ever happened to the worst thing in existence.”

“Gone for a minute, and I already miss you so much,” I choke out, speaking to a body that no longer holds my wife. “How am I supposed to live without you, hmm?”


I did not expect to cry this much.

But how could I not love this? 🥹👑✨

[~Monique~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

♾️🌟

This is what I mean when I say I want a book to make me feel something.

This book broke my heart in the most beautiful way.

This was one of the most beautiful love stories I have seen, heard or read in a very, very long time.

I finished this book last night and was ugly crying in the shower.... Because of the sheer beauty of this story... The ending ... Sad, yes, heart wrenching, yes but Gosh it was so beautiful, so well written it just bled across the pages you felt the love, the happines, the fear, the grief. My heart...💔💔💔

I woke up this morning and cried again. I am writing this review now sitting at my desk in the office trying not to cry again... Trying very hard.This story is one that will stay with me, I just know it.

There are parts of it that made me cry from happiness, the snowball, the fight, the visit to the orphanage gosh this book made me feel so much.

I don't even know how to recover from this.

Look, you have to push past the disease,gore and ugliness in book 1 to get to the beauty in this book and it's so worth it.

This has probably been my favourite book of 2026 so far.

I highly recommend this to anyone that wants to have their heart ripped apart and to experience pure love on a page.

That's my opinion... Maybe I am overhyping it but this is love, all of it, the ugliness, the uncertainty, the fear, the happiness, the sadness, lust all of it...I felt it in this book...

I'm going to go sob again.

To the author... Thank you...

" When my time runs out, and you come for me, I think I'll smile. I think it will feel like coming home.Like settling into the place where I've belonged all along. With Death."

"I used to fear this, an unending succession of losses. An infinite lineage of goodbyes.Every hello carries it's goodbye folded inside it like a letter you'll have to open someday. But hello comes first. And endless succession of life of love.Of now."

[Amyy Mango · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got sucker punched in the gut and I liked it... no I actually loved it, so much in fact I didnt even care that it hurt.

I felt every single emotion rip into my heart, down through my soul and settle so deep into my being. I cried so much my pillow has tear stains and spots soaked in snot. Probably not the most appealing, but evidence to the absolute emotional wreck I turned into.

Writing was phenomenal, the story was told just as it needed to be and I am so fucking mad I didn’t get the ending I wanted. The one where everyone lives and it’s all here and dandy and boom the end.

But the end inevitably marches for death, because nothing is forever and that fucking sucks. Why does it hurt so much to know Vale was just with Elara for a blip of a second, for just a tiny while? Because when you really think about it’s so dang depressing. To love knowing that the end awaits.

This book makes you see the beauty of just that. The beauty of beginnings and ultimately the ends. They render our lives left and right and teach us the importance of now. Of living every second. I think I was reborn a new person. Not just because it reiterates a lesson I have been taught before, but because it also showed me that loving someone and letting them go can come in the same sentence. A profound example of what I want my love to be like. A deep soulful and honest calm, one that sways you heartstrings in place. One where it’s so embedded into oneself, that it feels natural. Like it was meant to be.

I was deeply moved by this story, and absolutely loved every heart wrenching moment of it. My first impressions with the first book of the series were fun, wholesome, and sexy. But the second one flipped it around so bad it said cry yourself to sleep.

There are so many themes that can be discussed, I can write essays on end. But that would take forever so instead, here are my parting thoughts:

I love reading, oh how I love words on paper, and how they work to bring story’s into my heart and brighten this human experience for the better. What a breathtaking, mesmerizing and meaningful journey this was.

.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+ .｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+ .｡*ﾟ

PS. Reading this with Lana Del Rey Born To Die in the background LIFE CHANGING 🙏

[Ri ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am gonna sue the author and everyone who recommended this book to me 😭😭 the last chapters ruined me 😭😭 i don't ever want to look at this book again!!

[meggthereader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trying to put into worlds how hauntingly beautiful this book was. I honestly never cried so hard reading a book. At one point I was sobbing so much I couldn’t see the words and had to put it down for a few minutes to collect myself🥲 if you are in a reading slump like I was, you need to read this duet immediately. Or at least PLEASE add it to your TBR. This book honestly ripped my heart out, told me to stop being a little bitch, then gave me my heart back in one piece.

I can’t even tell you the plot and the characters names without giving absolutely anything and everything away so I will tell you this. It’s about love at its purest form, and grieving someone you love so dearly. It’s about choosing a life with them and accepting the heartbreak and heartache of loving them and losing them, then not having them at all.

This is definitely a book I will come back to for a good cry and an amazing and new story. The writing alone could have brought me to tears but the story beat it to it. I knew going into this book it was going to break me but I accepted my fate, humbly. So now you have to read this series and accept your fate as well.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ So torn with this duet and definitely in the minority here...

The story, plot, & atmosphere truly had my attention! The messaging at the end is so good... but I struggled throughout the entire duet with the spice. I probably would've enjoyed this more without about 80% of it. If it had more yearning and less lengthy in detail spice scenes at the most random times - I think I genuinely would've been more emotional with this.

I am sad because I have seen a lot of people rave about this one, but it just did not hit like I hoped.

I will say, I was happy with the ending though! And this quote got me...

"When my sand runs out, and you come for me... I think I'll smile. I think it will feel like coming home."

[Josie · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars 🌟

Im ugly crying, why have you done this to me!!!