I screwed up. Not only did I make my first innocent kill, I failed to get rid of the evidence in time. Now The Circle of the Veil has sent a hunter after me. Not just any hunter. Arsen. My twin flame, the light to my dark. My literal other half. I won't run from him. If he comes for me, I'll give him the fight of his life.
Every moment spent divided from him sends me spiraling deeper into the void. If Arsen wants to bring our volatile bond to a tragic and violent end, he'll have to hurry. Because he's not the only one coming for me.
An attack on me makes the rest of my lovers nervous. Twin flame blood is rare and powerful. It appears that someone magical has sinister plans for me. I'll slot that into my schedule, right after my impending self-destruction.
A rejected mates paranormal romance with action, magic, and four sexy supernatural men.
I am the author of the Alexa O’Brien Huntress and the Rebel Heart series. I write urban fantasy that is dark and gritty with a twist of romance and horror but which is ultimately about people in dark places discovering who they are and what they’re made of.
I’ve been writing since the age of 9 when I had a Christmas themed short story published in the local town paper. A lover of rock music, vampires and muscle cars, I’m a dreamer who always secretly wanted to be a rockstar.
I love to hear from readers so don’t hesitate to drop me a line.
Disappointed. Book one was interesting and unique enough to capture my interest, despite a couple of glaring issues, but the sequel, Dream of Dragons, went absolutely nowhere until the final 25%. Most of the drama is simply rehashing tension from the previous book: Stanzi whining about Arsen and the twin flame dilemma, multiple repeat scenes of her working in the bar (seriously, it feels like that's all these guys do) and then some sexual/relationship development with the other men in her harem.
The book's premise makes you believe Stanzi is being hunted by her twin flame when in fact the opposite is true: Arsen does every thing he possibly can to save her from the consequences of her own stupidity. Which, I guess, is a running theme in this book. Stanzi might believe she's this tough as nails, independent, alternative chick, but she spends most of her time being protected, defended or sheltered by the extremely protective circle of people around her. This wouldn't bother me if Stanzi was even remotely self-aware of her patheticness, but she isn't. She acts erratically and flies off the handle (due to being a twin flame) but refuses to even contemplate hearing any advice that might make her less of a liability to the people around her. instead going all 'I would never forgive myself if something happened to x', and still never corrects her behaviour.
As you can tell, I don't like Stanzi much. Which is fine, I can handle annoying heroines, but what really let this one down for me is how the men just became weak-willed I-Heart-Stanzi fanclubbers, literally so concerned with protecting her that nobody gives her a dose of cold hard truth when she's being stupid. Ash, in particular, went from being a sexy, possessive alpha in book one, to this weirdly, mellowed puppy-dog in book two. All his alpha sexiness was just gone. I hate how he's so desperate to have Stanzi as his co-alpha, when it's beyond obvious she doesn't want the job and gives zero fucks about his pack (although I actually respect her for turning him down on that, tbh, the alpha job isn't for everyone).
The fact that Stanzi makes so little effort with these guys and still gets this reaction from them just makes her seem Mary Sue ish. I don't get why they like her. Hex was the only one who wasn't ass-kissing Stanzi the whole time, which I appreciated - but I'm guessing it's only a matter of time. Maybe there just needed to be a bit more relationship development between them all for it to be believable? I dunno.
So, with the relationship and character stuff lacking, I was desperate for a sexy plot to get me excited about this series again. Unfortunately the plot was weaksauce. I was never once worried for Stanzi when someone tried to kidnap her (I knew her lovers/defenders would quickly jump in to save her so it was always gonna be low stakes stuff) and then there was so little actually happening for most of the book that everything that happened in the final third felt tacked on and rushed. Lee should have set up the Circle's involvement/proposition much earlier IMO.
So this is where I call it quits. I liked the dark world, the writing and (some of) the characters in book one, but sadly, the sequel leaves a lot to be desired.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
More exiting characters, I'm sure eventually I will come to love them as much as Alexa and her crew. It's exciting, sexy and heartbreaking. can't wait to read more about them. Will Stanzi and Arson find their way together as Alexa and Aris did? I hope so, roll on december
Absolutely fantastic even though it's a reverse harem she does it very tastefully I can't wait for the next book I love the characters in these books and I love how all of her books are in our looped one character knows that character and so on and so forth but you can read them individually Tina is a great author I love reading all of her books and definitely would read them multiple times
Loved the book and showing more of Hex and is abilities and the cameo with Alexa and her twin flame and I love the way all the books are all coming together for something much bigger in the future.
Started reading the book around 8pm, got sucked in, and now it’s 3:04am! Sometimes I just wanted to strangle Stanzie regarding her attitude to Arsen, I mean come on, but I get it too. Can’t wait for the next book now.
Another great series by Trina Lee! I love how her world has different characters that interact with one another. It’s so easy to get lost in this world. I won’t spoil it for you, but this is another must read!
Nice. Can't say that Ms. Lee doesn't have a talent in writing disturbed antiheroes and makes up love them. I'm not a fan of Stanzi, something about her craziness doesn't compute, but then what do I know of dark voids eating at my sanity.
I absolutely can’t stand cas itch azz and B is an absolute idiot to believe anything that comes out of his mouth. Oh and I hate amber and little miss I wanna be alpha female 🙄
Murder, mayhem and magic abound in this second book of the destined series. Stanzi and Arsens story gets more complex and dangerous. A thrilling dark romantic tale! Highly recommended!
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next book in the series. Being a twin flame doesn't sound fun at all and I think it would make most people insane. I hope they can find some balance with being twin flames.