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Evernight Fae #4
The Court of Hate and Heartache
Book Four in the Evernight Fae saga.
It is entirely possible that this was never the story of us--that my need to find Aerik, and then my fight to be by his side against all odds, might not have been a destination.
It was only ever a road to the life I'd get.
But everything that led me to this conclusion was Aerik's own doing.
Against the advice, the warnings, my pleas, it was his anger, his hatred and jealousy, that drove him to this.
And it all started with a council meeting.
It is entirely possible that this was never the story of us--that my need to find Aerik, and then my fight to be by his side against all odds, might not have been a destination.
It was only ever a road to the life I'd get.
But everything that led me to this conclusion was Aerik's own doing.
Against the advice, the warnings, my pleas, it was his anger, his hatred and jealousy, that drove him to this.
And it all started with a council meeting.
- GenresFae
334 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 25, 2020
33 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Angela M. Hudson
32 books797 followersAuthor of books that crush your soul and leave you wanting more.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 25, 2020
I love the story's that this author gets you invested in and the Fae world she has created, in my eyes she can do know wrong as her story telling and world building is phenomenal, she hasn't wrote a series yet that i haven't liked.
This series is just getting better and better along with Cali and what is happening to her along with all the old and new characters that she meets along the way. But saying this this world is not as it seems as around every corner there is trouble for Cali and Aerik, are they going to be together or is there forces at work putting obstacles in there way.
I love how you think you have a idea how this is going just for Angela to change the goals posts where nothing is how you think, this is going to keep you on yours toes through out and this is why i love this authors writing. These books are additive, dark, intriguing, and emotional. Can't wait for the next book to arrive, not long to wait thank god.
This series is just getting better and better along with Cali and what is happening to her along with all the old and new characters that she meets along the way. But saying this this world is not as it seems as around every corner there is trouble for Cali and Aerik, are they going to be together or is there forces at work putting obstacles in there way.
I love how you think you have a idea how this is going just for Angela to change the goals posts where nothing is how you think, this is going to keep you on yours toes through out and this is why i love this authors writing. These books are additive, dark, intriguing, and emotional. Can't wait for the next book to arrive, not long to wait thank god.
September 10, 2022
Don't Read this Book if You Like the Serial
I read this thru KU.
*****MASSIVE SPOILERS*****
I want to begin by saying that up until this book I was somewhat disappointed with the author's attempts to show Came as a sexually free woman. The concept is fine, the author's portrayal is what lacks. Sexually free people just are; they don't play around behind the backs of others using flimsy justification for their bad behavior. That's not sexually free, that's immoral. But I was willing to overlook the clumsy writing in favor of the concept because it's unusual in romance. But I was also frustrated as a reader by 3 books of "will they? won't they?" Going into this book the situation had moved past tension into "contrived" territory. Especially since every other guy Came hooks up with is better than Aerick. Which is the perfect segue into the disaster that is book 4.
This book takes a broken relationship and breaks it past the point if reutrn. Although the author revives it anyway. Instead of the beautiful back and forth to a reward if happiness, the author breaks down Came and Aerial into their worst traits. Cami is relegated to abuse victim clinger as she constantly returns to Aerial who, worse than being selfish, actually abuses her with physical violence. The author has her hero beat his most sacred love, threaten her friends and loved ones, and set her up for violence by never listening to her. The author cavalierly employs r*PE as a plot point. Repeatedly. Initially it wasn't worse than Twilight but then it's like the author saw the line and decided to cross it anyway. She has her hero marry another because he was mad at Cami. She then has the hero wife find them having sex. Then the wife orders 2 evil fae to r*pe Cami. They do. Then Arrive has wife & 2 fae killed & the barn where it happened burned. Then just a few days later she has Cami decide that she wants to be with Aerick because she has always and will always live him no matter what.
First, none of this is love. Nor is it the "enemies to lovers" premise I was promised as a reader. Honestly idk if there was a trigger warning because I didn't look. But I don't like r*pe in my romance and I know the 1st book had no mention of this or any "dark themes." That aside, it's just a bad move. If we move the lens back to view the story as a whole we now have this: a sweet start, a separation that leads to strife, repeated meetings that bring them closer by degrees over 3 BOOKS just to have their big moment if coming together relegated to something not at all romantic-- Cami using Aerial to overcome her trauma. This was such a let down. If done in the right way, it could've felt like a climax, but instead as i read it, it felt contrived and cheap.
Sadly, I believe "contrived and cheap" can sum up book 4. As a whole neither the love story nor the world plot is much advanced. The last 20% of the book throws a lot of information at the reader that us actually interesting and plot moving but much of it is lost to the forced protracted romance. It almost feels like the author had to meet a quota and didn't have enough material and so filled it with all the nonsense I just mentioned.
And, we never truly get to know Aerick. Why does Cami love him or trust him at all? she keeps saying that she does but Aerick has done nothing to deserve those things. In the early books readers were given pieces but in this book the author stopped trying. I nearly DNF but wound up rage-reading to the end.
Prior to this book the series was a page turner with a diverse and unique world that I really liked and was prepared to go back & buy them all. This book killed my love for the characters and thus the series. As an author you cannot promise readers a premise with an HEA and throw abuse at them. You just cannot. There are some things that done in some ways are irredeemable.
Hence 1 star. Plus a heaping dose of resentment for my time investment in the other books.
I read this thru KU.
*****MASSIVE SPOILERS*****
I want to begin by saying that up until this book I was somewhat disappointed with the author's attempts to show Came as a sexually free woman. The concept is fine, the author's portrayal is what lacks. Sexually free people just are; they don't play around behind the backs of others using flimsy justification for their bad behavior. That's not sexually free, that's immoral. But I was willing to overlook the clumsy writing in favor of the concept because it's unusual in romance. But I was also frustrated as a reader by 3 books of "will they? won't they?" Going into this book the situation had moved past tension into "contrived" territory. Especially since every other guy Came hooks up with is better than Aerick. Which is the perfect segue into the disaster that is book 4.
This book takes a broken relationship and breaks it past the point if reutrn. Although the author revives it anyway. Instead of the beautiful back and forth to a reward if happiness, the author breaks down Came and Aerial into their worst traits. Cami is relegated to abuse victim clinger as she constantly returns to Aerial who, worse than being selfish, actually abuses her with physical violence. The author has her hero beat his most sacred love, threaten her friends and loved ones, and set her up for violence by never listening to her. The author cavalierly employs r*PE as a plot point. Repeatedly. Initially it wasn't worse than Twilight but then it's like the author saw the line and decided to cross it anyway. She has her hero marry another because he was mad at Cami. She then has the hero wife find them having sex. Then the wife orders 2 evil fae to r*pe Cami. They do. Then Arrive has wife & 2 fae killed & the barn where it happened burned. Then just a few days later she has Cami decide that she wants to be with Aerick because she has always and will always live him no matter what.
First, none of this is love. Nor is it the "enemies to lovers" premise I was promised as a reader. Honestly idk if there was a trigger warning because I didn't look. But I don't like r*pe in my romance and I know the 1st book had no mention of this or any "dark themes." That aside, it's just a bad move. If we move the lens back to view the story as a whole we now have this: a sweet start, a separation that leads to strife, repeated meetings that bring them closer by degrees over 3 BOOKS just to have their big moment if coming together relegated to something not at all romantic-- Cami using Aerial to overcome her trauma. This was such a let down. If done in the right way, it could've felt like a climax, but instead as i read it, it felt contrived and cheap.
Sadly, I believe "contrived and cheap" can sum up book 4. As a whole neither the love story nor the world plot is much advanced. The last 20% of the book throws a lot of information at the reader that us actually interesting and plot moving but much of it is lost to the forced protracted romance. It almost feels like the author had to meet a quota and didn't have enough material and so filled it with all the nonsense I just mentioned.
And, we never truly get to know Aerick. Why does Cami love him or trust him at all? she keeps saying that she does but Aerick has done nothing to deserve those things. In the early books readers were given pieces but in this book the author stopped trying. I nearly DNF but wound up rage-reading to the end.
Prior to this book the series was a page turner with a diverse and unique world that I really liked and was prepared to go back & buy them all. This book killed my love for the characters and thus the series. As an author you cannot promise readers a premise with an HEA and throw abuse at them. You just cannot. There are some things that done in some ways are irredeemable.
Hence 1 star. Plus a heaping dose of resentment for my time investment in the other books.
July 19, 2022
Series Info/Source: This is the 4th book in the Evernight Fae series, there are seven books in this series. I borrowed a copy of this as an ebook from Kindle Unlimited.
Thoughts: I always am looking for a good fantasy series set in a fae type world. I thought this might be it, but this series has had a lot of ups and downs for me so far. It is plagued by awkward dialogue and I am uncertain if Cami is a strong woman or cool with people abusing her. Book 3 in this series had a lot of casual discussion about rape and attempted rape scenes, which I wasn’t a huge fan of. Unfortunately, the theme as rape as a plot device continues in this book.
I felt like the third book had gotten past some of the awkward writing but that was back in this book. Some of the conversations between Aerik and Cami are painful to read (and not because they are both immature jerks to each other) because they are just super awkward and poorly written. I am willing to forgive a bit of this, but it just doesn’t seem to be getting better.
Then there is the inconsistency in Cami’s characters…she is all like “girl power!” “I am a strong woman!”, then she lets a guy humiliate and beat her in public and is all like “Well I’ve loved him forever, so it’s okay”. No, Cami it is not okay, this is called a severely abusive relationship and makes me queasy to read about. Additionally, at one point Cami goes off about how it’s impossible for men and women to be friends because they will always want to have sex together…and this is another place this story lost me. Just because Cami wants to have sex with everyone she meets doesn’t mean everyone is like that…
By the end of this book I hated most of the characters and was confused with where things are going here. The awesomeness of the Nightfolk fae race isn’t enough to make up for the clumsy plot, the awkward dialogue, and the heavy theme of abuse being fine if the person really loves you..
My Summary (3/5): Overall I finished this but had a lot of issues with it. Despite the painfully awkward writing, the story does remain strangely compelling…kind of like watching a car wreck in slow motion. However, the continued themes of rape and abuse and the way these themes are deal with left a sour taste in my mouth. Cami’s strange attitude about being strong and independent but then allowing herself to be an abused support character made my head spin. I think it is fair to say that I just don’t get along with Hudson’s story themes and writing style. I won’t be reading anymore of this series.
Thoughts: I always am looking for a good fantasy series set in a fae type world. I thought this might be it, but this series has had a lot of ups and downs for me so far. It is plagued by awkward dialogue and I am uncertain if Cami is a strong woman or cool with people abusing her. Book 3 in this series had a lot of casual discussion about rape and attempted rape scenes, which I wasn’t a huge fan of. Unfortunately, the theme as rape as a plot device continues in this book.
I felt like the third book had gotten past some of the awkward writing but that was back in this book. Some of the conversations between Aerik and Cami are painful to read (and not because they are both immature jerks to each other) because they are just super awkward and poorly written. I am willing to forgive a bit of this, but it just doesn’t seem to be getting better.
Then there is the inconsistency in Cami’s characters…she is all like “girl power!” “I am a strong woman!”, then she lets a guy humiliate and beat her in public and is all like “Well I’ve loved him forever, so it’s okay”. No, Cami it is not okay, this is called a severely abusive relationship and makes me queasy to read about. Additionally, at one point Cami goes off about how it’s impossible for men and women to be friends because they will always want to have sex together…and this is another place this story lost me. Just because Cami wants to have sex with everyone she meets doesn’t mean everyone is like that…
By the end of this book I hated most of the characters and was confused with where things are going here. The awesomeness of the Nightfolk fae race isn’t enough to make up for the clumsy plot, the awkward dialogue, and the heavy theme of abuse being fine if the person really loves you..
My Summary (3/5): Overall I finished this but had a lot of issues with it. Despite the painfully awkward writing, the story does remain strangely compelling…kind of like watching a car wreck in slow motion. However, the continued themes of rape and abuse and the way these themes are deal with left a sour taste in my mouth. Cami’s strange attitude about being strong and independent but then allowing herself to be an abused support character made my head spin. I think it is fair to say that I just don’t get along with Hudson’s story themes and writing style. I won’t be reading anymore of this series.
November 3, 2022
Amazing!!!
I was about throw this book out about half-way through. It puts you on an emotional Rollercoaster, and you don't know if you should give up on the series all together or just keep going. Trust me though, keep going! It is definitely worth it.
I was about throw this book out about half-way through. It puts you on an emotional Rollercoaster, and you don't know if you should give up on the series all together or just keep going. Trust me though, keep going! It is definitely worth it.
October 19, 2020
Love
I love this series. You're amazing! I've read all your books and not a single one has disappointed. I always look forward to reading them
I love this series. You're amazing! I've read all your books and not a single one has disappointed. I always look forward to reading them
November 30, 2022
Wowza!!!
I’m so in love with this series. Can’t wait to see what’s happening next. Will it be King James or King Aerick?
I’m so in love with this series. Can’t wait to see what’s happening next. Will it be King James or King Aerick?
April 5, 2021
My heart
This one hurt and I know it’s not over yet. Extremely captivating series. Starting the next one in the morning!
This one hurt and I know it’s not over yet. Extremely captivating series. Starting the next one in the morning!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews