Wonderful worldbuilding marks this incredible continuation of this series. There is just so much to sink your teeth into. The concepts are so big, it takes time to truly digest them. The queerness of the book, despite being set in a fantastic world, feels so familiar - found family, rejection, and acceptance, but playing against larger themes of power, rivalry, and ultimately love. The prose is gorgeous - an absolute stunner of a novel!

It's well written and the characters are interesting but I couldn't connect to the story and it fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I love the world building in this series — you have the sense that’s there so much more culture and politics and history than makes it on page. Likewise, the characters are beautifully drawn. I get a little lost in the mechanics of the magic, so I just keep turning pages until I see how the story unfolds for the characters. I love each couple in this series, and this one, too.

Violetta Benedetti has finally freed herself, from the literal prison of her assigned-male-at-birth body and the figurative prison of her father’s home. Now, she lives as she has always dreamed: in the flower district, close to her friend’s business, where others who like and understand her are free to be themselves. If her childhood friend, Tibario Gianbellicci, happens to stop by and offer the same intimate friendship they’ve always enjoyed, then that is enough for Violetta. It has to be, for she fears revealing how much more she desires from Tibario would push him away. After all, dreams left unspoken are dreams left unbroken.

Tibario has spent his life trying to please his mother. And for the last several years, that plan has included plots and plans to depose Casilio Benedetti from his position as head of Vermagna. Bad enough the man has all but recreated society to sustain his rule unquestioned, but he has used and abused his own child to clinch his power. Tibario didn’t anticipate dying in the process, or being resurrected as a near-immortal. But it gives him a chance to change, to admit his feelings for Violetta, and to finally be there for her when she needs him. The only caveat is that both Tibario and Violetta only let their guards down because of a prophecy Violetta makes—one that assures both of them, all their friends and family, and the entire country are wiped out in an effort to finally break Casilio’s stranglehold over them.

The Calyx Charm is the third and final installment in May Peterson’s The Sacred Dark series. The blurb for The Calyx Charm really appealed to me: trans main character who’s not really there to explain the transition process, but just be herself now that she can; forbidden friendships (Violetta and Tibario’s families hate each other…or at the very least, get pitted against each other); secret love affairs; magic; mind control; and second chances. After reading the blurbs for the other two books, I figured I was safe to pick this one up without having read the others. The blurbs read as standalone and the stories didn’t seem to build on one another. After I started reading, however, I learned that Tibario’s younger brother is Mio, an MC in the first book of the series (Lord of the Last Heartbeat). Throughout the book, I never could shake the feeling that I was missing something that might have been explained in the earlier two books. My critique on the writing closely mirrors that of Kris’ on Lord of Last Heartbeat: it feels like there is a lot going on that the author just fails to convey on page.

Despite the feeling that I was never quite wholly immersed in Violetta’s world, I did feel like I got swept up in her passion for Tibario and Tibario’s passion for her. Maybe it was a little cheesy that Violetta initially rejects Tibario because she firmly believes it’s better to never love than to love and lose. But shying away from grabbing what she wants (and when it’s clearly being offered) does extend sweet moments of Violetta and Tibario simply enjoying friendship, because they still want to spend time together, even if it doesn’t include anything romantic/sexual. And eventually, Tibario’s consistent presence and willingness to be and do what Violetta wants helps her learn it’s okay to desire physical love, that she’s worthy and deserving of it. The idea that Violetta has not been “worthy” or “deserving” of real love has quite often been central to her sexual relationships. It was made sufficiently clear that the majority of her past sexual partners viewed her more as a curiosity and often judged/compared her body, seeing her as a novelty. Tibario is a pretty stark contrast, seeming to often seek consent and thinking of Violetta’s needs and desires before his own (and discovering he likes that).

Apart from the storyline with the lovers, there is a big battle-for-the-world-as-we-know-it theme spinning out in the background. To be honest, this is where Peterson’s storytelling really seems to drop the ball. I never questioned that Violetta’s father is a manipulative, autocratic ruler with a powerful streak of megalomania. But it feels so far removed from the first half of the story. There just didn’t seem to be any explanation for how terrible Casilio was until pretty late in the book (CW: off-page rape, physical abuse). Plus, there is a huge amount of history between Violetta and Tibario’s parents, and it has such a big impact on the story, I just cannot fathom why all that detail was crammed into the scant few scenes where Violetta’s father or mother were present. At least Tibario’s mother appears in multiple scenes, so there was on-page action to flesh out her role in and importance to the story and her connections to the MCs. Violetta’s mother only appears at the very end and it was never really made clear where she’d been other than it had something to do with Casilio? The most befuddling patchwork backstory, though, was Violetta being the so-called Honored Child. This apparently means she had the magical ability to shield anyone and everyone from physical harm using the calyx charm. This ability is what saved her home from invasion, but just sort of…left her for her father…and came back in time for the book’s climax? The book’s namesake is sort of shot out there willy nilly, a magical version of a deus ex machina.

Overall, I think this book suffers a bit of a “can’t see the forest for the trees” in terms of story crafting. At the character level, I felt more engaged and invested. I loved that Violetta and Tibario have a messy relationship and even when they finally figure things out, the prophecy Violetta makes seems to bring out all of Tibario’s mama’s boy feelings, which reintroduces some complexity to their relationship. I loved Tibario’s mother being this erratic, self-centered, and extremely magical being—but one who clearly took action based on what she thought was right. And Casilio, for all that he was off-page most of the time and disgustingly cordial while on page, was very easy to hate. But the grand machinations of Casilio being a leader as cruel as he was vicious fell very flat to me, and the allusions to Tibario’s and Violetta’s mothers having a history of their own felt like an extra layer of emotional drama that only distracted from the true MCs emotional turmoil

Heat Factor: It has a few steamy moments in an otherwise churning sea of what’s going on
Character Chemistry: I mean, they’re meant to be in a deep, deep way
Plot: There’s a whole lot of aftermath, but essentially we meet Violetta and Tibario, who loved each other secretly when Violetta was known as Mercurio, and who find their way to each other after Tibario comes back from the dead.
Overall: This book is kind of like a dream, and everything is floaty and confusing except for what Violetta and Tibario have together.

So this book was, and I mean this, kind of dreamlike the entire plot. You know when you have a really complicated dream and you know what’s going on but if you try to explain it, it sounds like, “So then I was me, but I was also NOT me, and it was our house but like, also a toadstool…” That’s how this book was the whole time. I understood it on kind of a visceral, gut instinct-connection type level, and then sat here and looked at my keyboard for a really long time just not knowing at all how to summarize this. At all.

Here’s the haps for this one: Tibario knew Violetta as Mercurio from their time together as childhood friends. And then over time, the two of them both quietly began to yearn for the other silently. When Tibario dies in the midst of a family issue, Both Violetta and Tibario realize they loved each other—and so when Tibario comes back to life, he’s determined to love who he believes is the beautiful boy Mercurio, and Violetta is grappling with the knowledge that the dream she cherished, loving Tibario as the woman she is, is over. But of course, this is Romancelandia, so you know that’s not it.

So that’s the stirrings of the romance plot. Here’s the dream.

Violetta is a witch/seer who has the ability to envelope people with protection. When she was known as Mercurio, her parents were leaders in their land who protected their soldiers with clippings of her hair. But then something happened, her father turned out to be a violent monster, her mother had to disappear, and Violetta’s power was ripped from her and given to her father. But like, we don’t really know why or how, and neither does Violetta. It goes from a good dream to a bad dream really fast. Luckily, Violetta has a found family who protects her and hides her, and gives her space to regain her footing and a life on her own terms.

Tibario’s mother is also a witch but she has the ability to control people through their minds. This is kind of a messy relationship because she’s bigtime controlling. But she’s also not all bad—she cares deeply for Tibario and they were kind of tenderly telepathically connected when Tibario was a child. So he’s a very sweet, thoughtful man who has some mommy issues. His mother is also determined to bring about the downfall of Violetta’s father, which is something pretty much everyone has in common.

So the plot. Basically the world is going to end, and no one can stop it—Violetta has seen it coming, and that’s kind of that. But maybe they can stop it, if they resist everything. But also, maybe if they just accept their fates, that’s what they’re supposed to do, and that’s what’s meant to be. Or if they do the opposite of what they THINK they’re supposed to do, that is the KEY to survival. Or just run out the clock.

No one really knows if anything can save them from their doom, or if they should try, and it’s kind of a long thread of the characters being very certain of some things and then uncertain. They have some of the facts, but there are a lot of hazy bits. It’s really beautifully written and if you just float through it, it’s actually kind of nice. If you’re more of a strict, linear plot-preferring reader, you’re going to struggle with the dreamlike rhythm of this book. The usual hints about where we’re headed with the plot just don’t really apply because the characters themselves don’t really seem to know what’s going on. So as a reader, we kind of think, okay, here’s where we’re headed, and we sit down and buckle up and prepare to go to destination A. But then in the immediate following paragraph, something happens to directly contradict that, and we think, ah, perhaps we’re actually headed to destination Z, we must be, because of all these other reasons. So then mentally we get out of that plot vehicle and get into a different one, sit down, buckle up, and prepare to go to destination Z. But then it changes again. So it’s understandable that the characters are struggling to figure out what’s going on, but it can feel kind of confusing when you can’t ever really settle into any potential outcomes.

It absolutely does come together, and the devotion and love between Tibario and Violetta is beautifully unpacked. In fact, it’s what grounds the whole story—the characters don’t even know whether they’re supposed to hope or give up, but the love was there before Tibario even knew Violetta was Violetta. And I will say this—it’s worth floating along through the dream to see the characters each achieve their own clarity.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

Review also available at The Smut Report.

May Peterson creates an intimate connection to her characters in The Calyx Charm, through insightful exposition which serves as an emotional bond with her protagonists Violetta Benedetti and Tibario Gianbellici. There is an undeniable Romeo & Juliet aspect (but with a happy ending!) to Violetta and Tibario’s friends-to-lovers romance, as they slowly begin to embrace their yearning and love for each other, something they’d denied themselves due to the battle for dominance between Violetta’s father and Tibario’s mother—a deadly game in which they both find themselves pawns to their parents’ violence and avarice. But perhaps more significantly was that for years, Violetta existed as Mercurio, the Honored Child and son of the most powerful man in Vermagna. To say Violetta and Tibario’s relationship was complicated by both internal and external conflict is a bit of an understatement. To say they are given a second chance to right their relationship against all the odds is the truth.

"You live like a woman defeated, Violetta."

Peterson weaves the delicate shadings of human complexity into this novel—the complicated sensibilities of the parent/child relationship and the manipulations and atrocities perpetrated by a parent on a child (CW: for discussions of rape and suicide), the owning and embracing of the Self and the awareness that grabbing on to love and hope, and holding on to both, are perhaps the ultimate leaps of faith and courage—then commingles them with the sublimely nuanced thoughts and emotions of her main character, a transgender woman who lost much but gained everything, including her freedom, in the process. To say that the author wrote the hell out of her heroine is nothing but a compliment. We’ve all heard some version of the axiom that writing is like opening a vein and bleeding, and whether the spirit of the saying is what transpired when May Peterson sat down to compose Violetta, I can’t say, but I can say that I felt every drop of emotion in every word the author poured into her character and, subsequently, the book as a whole.

"Happy ending was just another way to say that a gentler story was being written now."

There, of course, can’t be light without darkness, and while Peterson leads her characters through some of the darkest of times—a looming apocalypse is a major catalyst—the light that comes from their happy ending is a potent reminder of the strength of the human spirit and the power of love in all its various forms. The Calyx Charm is not only a book about falling in love, it’s a book about embracing love, of loving and surviving in the midst of strife, of discovering one’s own power through the gift of perception and understanding, and is the story of a woman tapping into a deep well of power to reclaim herself.

There is plenty to feast on in the Sacred Dark series: the extraordinary world-building, the complex and diverse characters and the challenges they not only face but flourish through, as well as the authors lush and soulful voice. As a side note, this book is so closely tied to the first in the series, The Lord of the Last Heartbeat, that if someone were to ask my opinion, I’d recommend reading “Heartbeat” first to build a frame of reference and gain a bit of background on the two warring families at the center of this novel. In short, The Calyx Charm is a lovely addition to the collection.

This is my first book by this author and I suspect I’ll be back for more (especially since I did the stupid thing and read the third in a series first – luckily they seem to focus on different pairings, so this worked fine as a standalone).

It’s an intricately woven queer fantasy with world-building that is original, intriguing, and – kind of weird? In a good way, mostly – it reminded me of some of Tanith Lee’s worlds occasionally, or even Ginn Hale in contemporaries – but it doesn’t coddle or overexplain, and you’ll need to be open to lots of magical shenanigans and oddities, as well as complex backstories and otherworldly visuals that are sometimes more impactful than logical. I did have a few “what is even going on” moments early on (again though, I started with the third book) but once I decided to just go with the flow, I settled in quickly enough. (If your dream boyfriend can get resurrected as a conveniently immortal cat hybrid via mysterious means, why the heck not #relationshipgoals). Certainly it’s a lush and memorable world that I wouldn’t mind seeing more of.

My favourite thing about the book, though, and its strongest point by far, are its wonderful characters, especially its leading lady. Violetta was an amazing protagonist – a trans girl who has been robbed of her magic, agency and indeed, hope, by more powerful players but refuses to just conveniently disappear from her own narrative as said players would clearly prefer; a woman for whom being broken is not the end, who finds new strength in her true identity, her community, and a relationship that’s all about offering rather than demanding things. It was such a carefully, insightfully developed personal journey full of bittersweetness, pain and hope, and I savoured every moment of it. The romance, too, is absolutely lovely, just this vivid little thread of two people being careful of each other’s hearts and offering each other tenderness, understanding and joy in pretty dire circumstances. It was exquisitely paced and full of gorgeous nuance, and I adored it.

The supporting cast was great, too – I loved Serafina especially, she made a great morally ambiguous counterpart to both the heroes and the (impressively despicable) antagonist. And I am always here for fucked-up, painful family dynamics, which this had in spades – beautifully offset by the found family haven of the Fragrant Rose.

The writing is quite lavish and metaphor-heavy; initially, this took some getting used to as it’s a bit more flowery than my usual preference, but it complements the colourful, foreboding backdrop of this world quite well, and also feels like quite a natural frame for Violetta’s lush, colour-wreathed mindscape and visuals.

A delightful read and definitely an author I’ll be keeping my eye on.

Thanks to NetGalley, Carina Press and the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

May Peterson contains universes – gorgeous, expansive universes that love words. The best way to enjoy them is to sink in and let them wash over you.

The third and final book in May Peterson’s The Sacred Dark series returns us to Vermagna and to Mio’s family. In a minor spoiler for Lord of the Last Heartbeat, Mio’s brother, Tibario, dies, but gets better, coming back as a cat soul – an immortal undead cat shifter. You should definitely read the first two books, Lord of the Last Heartbeat and The Immortal City because they are excellent.

The Calyx Charm weds high fantasy with romance seamlessly. Violetta and Tibario are the children of powerful enemies in a magical world with swords, witches, ghosts, undead shifters and dragons. Most in Vermagna know Violetta as Mercurio, the Honored Child, savior of the city, son of Lord Casilio Beneditti. Tibario is the eldest child of Seraphina Gianbellicci, who wants Lord Casilio dead and is willing to throw away her children to make it happen. Friends since childhood, Tibario realized he was in love with Violetta as he died. Having recovered, he wants to make a life with Violetta, but she has seen a future that shows terrible destruction and Tibario’s second and final death.

Violetta and Tibario are breaking free of their families and the roles imposed upon them. Their bodies have been useful for their parents, and because Violetta’s father is the head of state, her body has been useful to the state. From infancy, Violetta’s father has used her gift of prophecy and protection to uphold his own power. He is reluctant to let her be herself, separate from him, with her own agenda. He does not see a difference between his own interests and the interests of the state, and imposes his will on Violetta with violence. Parental bonds are hard to break and Violetta and Tibario struggle in different ways to establish their separate selves.

May Peterson writes beautiful and emotional prose. She keeps it grounded though with humor and curses. Her world building is sumptuous and detailed. The Calyx Charm is a relatively short book, but it feels bigger on the inside. Peterson weaves ideas of prophecy, dreams, reality, hope, despair, the savior child all grown up, into a beautiful and terrible world. Her world isn’t an easy or kind world, but her characters build families and magical pocket where they can be soft and tender.

CW: Threats of state violence against vulnerable populations, discussions of past sexual assault, discussions of past mental violation, discussion of suicide, murder, mutilation, and transmisogyny.

I received this as an arc from from the author, and from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Violetta Benedetti was the Honored Child. With her twin abilities to predict the future and make anyone she focuses on invincible, she was the weapon that won her parents’ revolution and made her cruel father prince elector. Now, at seventeen, she’s escaped her abusive father’s household to try to make a life for herself, supported by a community of trans people who live on the margins of society.

Violetta’s childhood friend, Tibario Gianbellicci, is also his parents’ weapon. Shortly after Violetta’s escape, Tibario’s mother attempts to use him to kill Violetta’s father. He dies and is reborn (the way non-magical people sometimes are) as a moon-soul, an immortal teleporting shapeshifter. Also, he gets a cat tail.

After his second assassination attempt also fails, Tibario’s mother asks Violetta to prophecy what’s protecting her father. But reading the future is not a science. Instead, Violetta fortells the end of the world as they know it, in two weeks or less.

Violetta’s instinct is not to try to prevent the apocalypse, but rather to live well in the time she has left.

What follows is partially sweet, second-chance romance between childhood friends who finally find the courage to admit they’ve always loved each other, and partially scarred, scared people convincing each other they’re allowed to ask for more. Not just an end to suffering but a long life full of love and respect and a community that shelters them.

The community that embraces Violetta and Tibario is really lovely. It’s rare for cishet women in romance novels to have genuine female friends. I can’t think of any novel in any genre where the trans woman lead has friends who are also trans women, let alone trans women who are as fleshed out and lovely as Rosalina, who runs a bar and tearoom that is a safe place for trans women and the people who love them, complete with guest rooms and medical assistance. Medical assistance made possible by her girlfriend, who smuggles tea, sugar, and hormones into the country for her.

Can the next Sacred Dark novel be about Rosalina, please?

Another thing I’ve never seen in a romance novel: Violetta is honest with Tibario about what dating is like for her as a trans woman and a rape survivor, and Tibario never once says, “Oh damn, that sucks. Fortunately, I, an unproblematic cis guy–” He actually listens to her. He admits his shortcomings. He checks in with her often.

Their relationship is just so tender and heartwarming. I don’t usually go for romances with so little conflict between the main characters, because I think they tend to lack tension, but Violetta and Tibario have so much else going that it’s hard to argue they don’t deserve one nice, safe thing in their lives.

My only qualm with The Calyx Charm is I think I should have read the previous books in The Sacred Dark prior to this one. In my defense, I didn’t look very closely at the book prior to submitting my NetGalley request. I didn’t realize it was part of a series until I started reading it.

However, most romance series I’ve encountered have been made up of interconnected standalones. That is sort of the case here, but I think the degree of world building involved made it usually hard to get into. Also, at one point, something important happens involving a side character who is a main character in a previous book, and it’s never made clear what exactly that is. I’m hoping this is also an event in the other book, and Peterson expected readers to already get it.

That clearly isn’t a huge problem, though, because I’ve already recommended the series to a friend, and I’m recommending it now to you. I intend to purchase the rest of the series as soon as I whittle down my pile of overdue library books.

The third volume in May Peterson's "The Sacred Dark" series draws our attention to Tibario, brother of Mio (one of the main characters from book one) and his childhood friend Violetta. Violetta and Tibario have loved and longed for one another for many years, each fearing the other would not reciprocate. When Violetta's talent for prophecy seems to foretell disaster the pair decide being honest with one another about their desire is preferable than dying without knowing whether a relationship is possible. Peterson's talent for weaving together the fantastical, gritty setting of Vermagna -- from its protective back alleys to its dangerous, glittering halls of power -- is breathtaking and deeply satisfying in turns, and her happily ever afters for trans and other queer characters is ever a delight. The Calyx Charm is a worthy addition to what I hope will be a continuing series set in this world. Content notes for fantasy typical violence, past sexual trauma, and anti-trans behavior..

The Calyx Charm is the third book in the series of The Sacred Dark. I didn’t read the first two books, but I could enjoy it as a stand-alone.

It was a fascinating read focusing on the romance between Violetta and Tibario. It was an interesting book with queer character not only for LGBTQ readers. It teaches the reader of how important love, family and community can be, and how much pain a person can handle in this challenging world.

May Peterson writes top-notch fantasy romance. I don't think I can say enough about the sheer immersive world building in this book (and all the others in the series). The world is just so well built and done with gorgeous, lush language and distinct, unique voice. Like all of that cannot be overstated. Also these books, especially this and Lord of the Last Heartbeat who center around very connected characters (Tibario here is Mio from the Lord of the Last Heartbeat's brother, so there is MORE about their mother, Seraphina, who we WILL discuss), the atmosphere is sort of delicate but gloomy but lovely, it's hard to describe but it again, is unique and just really works.

Anyway, as I said before, this is Tibario, who is now a cat-soul, having been brought back at the end of the Lord of the Last Heartbeat and Violetta who is a trans woman who is a witch with a dragon spirit, who possesses, among other things, the daunting, often heartbreaking and terrifying power of prophecy. And, in this case, the prophecy in question is not good. Thus, our couple, who while they have known and loved and liked each other for a long time, have just come into their own body and identity-wise and get to fall in love as their whole-selves, is doing so with a doom clock ticking. Obviously, there is a happy ending but the way it is done is just very elegant for both of them and their families, biological and found.

There are a lot of themes and undercurrents of transformation and fulfillment as well as parent/child relationship that grow and change or are let go/come to terms with (especially when super toxic, see: Violetta's father or complicated toxic, see: Seraphina) making again, the book just so much deeper and again, just well done. It's not light and fluffy by any stretch of the imagination, but it's still quite beautiful and a wonderful read, and again, everything I could ask for and more in a gorgeous fantasy romance.

Thank you Netgalley and Carina for a wonderful read!

Thanks to Carina Press and Netgalley for this ARC. Opinions are my own. I requested this book because two amazing authors (Alyssa Cole & KJ Charles) tweeted this book is great.

I had not read any books by this author/series. While this is probably better in the context of the series, it can be read as a standalone... For me, I feel I probably would have liked it better with some backstory.

Briefly, this book is about Violetta, a witch, and Tibario, two childhood best friends, who are secretly pining for one another. Tibario dies (notaspoiler) without ever telling Vi how he feels. Vi has secrets of her own. Tibario only ever knows her as Mercurio (a boy). Tibario comes back to life (because magic) and they have another shot. There's a lot of backstory about their families and the world ending and prior war, abuse and trauma.

The supporting characters are very 3-D with motivations and backstories of their own. The parental Romeo and Juliet back drop took up most of the plot, which was less interesting bc the MCs were lovely and I would have preferred more of them.

Overall, it was a lil melodramatic, but a good read.

#TheCalyxCharm
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