An interesting follow up to book one. I thought this was a duology so the ending was a shock. Again this is a world that has great potential, but I don't think it's fleshed out enough. I want to know more about the witches community and Hell as a location. I'm invested enough to await book three.

In this one, we explore Willow’s relationship with what Gray really is and how it plays into her powers. She’s incredibly strong, and more so with him. They have the type of relationship where they can as easily destroy each other as they can nurture one another. They are both each others’ strength and weakness, and they are bonded. It takes a while for Willow to come to terms with the fact that she’s really not alone, even if she feels she can’t trust Gray. A lot of Gray’s manipulation is left behind in the first book now that he has what he wants but he does have to live with the consequence (briefly) of not knowing if she’s staying because she wants to. Because granted, what happened at the end of book 1 was pretty horrible.
This one is a lot spicier than the first book, and I think it has to do a lot with their love languages. It feels like it was lust at first sight for them, and as they evolved with each other, that love did grow beyond that, but there still is that primal lust that is there and also their definition of “home”.

Thank you Bramble for the beautiful sprayed edge copy!!

For me, this was unfotunately rushed but it had so much potential. There were times I couldn’t believe the things that were happening cause it made no sense in terms of timeline. I enjoy plot twists but sometimes too many is TOO MUCH. Where the first one was sexy, fast-paced and so easy to read this one fell a bit flat to me and I had to push myself to keep on reading.

I really wanted to love this book but some of these aspect made it less enjoayble for me

Unfortunately, this follow-up really disappointed me. The first book was sexy, entertaining, and fast-paced. This book, however, didn't seem to have a lot of plot, as not much happened until halfway through the story besides Willow's animosity towards Gray. Then suddenly, things seemed back on track after a shallow turn, with lots of smut? And then it raced to a messy, cliffhanger-y finish? I can't say I really enjoyed the end of this duet, even though I wanted to.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor, and Harper L. Woods for providing an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book was a little disappointing. The first book kept me so interested. This one was a little boring. I found Willow to be extremely annoying and wishy washy with Gray in this one. I felt like this book was just a bunch of filler.

I ate up the first book and this book was also just as captivating! I don’t want it to end! The magic and gothic vibes of the book were beautiful and it was a world I wanted to be in. The spice continues, the twists continue, and I couldn’t put it down!

After discovering who Gray really is Willow has some very mixed feelings about him. He lied and manipulated her but claims to love her. Gray claimed her years before she was born which changed his plans slightly.

The way my jaw was on the floor!

I love how this book starts off right where the last book ended. (Not counting the prologue)

His obsession with her and his touch her and die attitude was perfect.

Loved Beelzebub even tho he was rude, it added to his charm.

I was laughing so hard about gray having it out for the “cat” and when willow said I knew something was wrong because he was being nice to the cat.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I actually loved this one more than the first one! It had me hooked from the very beginning and kept me glued to my seat the entire time!

The Cursed picks up where The Coven left off, and presents new challenges for Willow and Gray. Namely, since Willow is grappling with feelings of betrayal and all she learned at the end of The Coven, she’s conflicted. This is a very challenging line for an author to walk. On one hand, Willow wants to lash out and is trying to curb her desires and emotions around Gray. On the other, there really isn’t as much substance to her issues as she’d like us to think. She presumes he’ll be after global conquest and do terrible things, but there’s no evidence of that. Gray spends his time focused on her well-being and teaching his classes, as well as managing any drama that arises.

The Coven benefits from having a clear end goal for Willow, which gives us an objective and some sense of where the story is going. Things are much murkier in The Cursed, which does make the first part a bit frustrating. While in reality, most people grapple with big decisions and may feel conflicted over perceived betrayal in a relationship and go back and forth, trying to decide what to do next, it’s hard for that to play out convincingly on the pages, and risks making Willow seem wishy washy when she tries to escape or plots to kill Gray, but then proceeds to have mind-blowing sex with him.

I also feel Willow’s character arc was a little undercooked. Willow was sharp and savvy enough to pursue her father’s plan in book 1 while trying to figure out her environment, a series of murders, and the people surrounding her. Much of the betrayal at the end of book 1 came from her father, and I would have expected her to have her guard up with everyone. Instead, she naively trusts people, even when they’d shown they had plans that weren’t in her best interests. While this serves the plot, it’s a bit jarring because it makes Willow seem a lot weaker than in book 1. When combined with the lack of clear objective for resolution in this story, it lacks some of the intensity of book 1.

Sophomore books are often challenging. Despite these niggles, there are still many things to like in this story, and it did hold my interest. Since it was hard to see where it was headed, it definitely had a surprise ending, so it didn’t feel predictable. I’m giving it a 3.65 because I’m willing to round it up to a 4 on the major sites, and I do feel the author has a lot of potential. Additionally, I read this before Bramble released it, and cannot speak to any changes made in the final edition of the book.

The ending of a duology, filled with romance, a strange cliffhanger ending, and a toxic relationship. I will be the first one to say, I do enjoy this series but was expecting the ending to be better wrapped up. I thought that since this was a duet, it would wrap everything up by the end, it doesn't. I wanted more from the relationship between Gray and Willow (I loved the first book) and their relationship doesn't really have a good balance in this one. Yeah, I'll be reading more from this author, but I was hoping for this series to end wrapping everything up nicely and not on a cliffhanger.

After powering through the first book i was hoping that i would enjoy the follow up a bit more since it felt like the characters were developing in a way that gave me hope. however, it just fell flat, the ending felt rushed and i just wanted more

This one just did not do it for me like the first book did. The plot was thrown out the window in favor of spice. The little bit of plot that was there was great, but there was not enough of it. The characters felt a lot more one dimensional in this one versus how they were in The Coven.

Three and a half stars

Thank you to the publisher for my copy of the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

I feel like the ending of this was rushed and I found myself wanting more. I wish this would have focused more on plot and less on the spice. I had very high hopes after reading book one. But overall this one fell kind of flat for me unfortunately.

This was a great sequel to the series! What I liked is that this book picks up right where the other one left off. It’s been awhile since a series has captivated me this much! I really loved Willow and Grays romance, and although I am sad that they won’t be the main couple in the next book, I am still excited for the next book in the series. There were some parts of the plot that were slow, but this book kept me captivated till the end. My only complaint is that this book could have had some more world building in it. But overall, I really enjoyed this!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC!

Yes, yes, yes!! After the plot twist in book 1, we jump right back into the story, and this one is SPICY. Check your trigger warnings before you read. This does have a lot of religious references, so also be mindful if that's not your thing. But I just love a man who will BURN the world down for his woman and stands beside her as his equal. The plot was easy to understand. It has elemental magic, creatures, demons, and witches.

The only thing that would make it a 5 star read was that I wish there was a bit more to the plot-there was such a potential for the story outside of just the romance.


If you're a fan of Gothikana and Kingdom of the Wicked, I definitely think you'll love this duet!

Thank you @netgalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

As readers will see if they check out my review of “The Coven,” I had a fairly middling reading experience with the first book in this duology. However, as they were being published back to back, essentially, I had placed a review request for both books initially. So, unless I had DNF’d the first book, I was fairly committed to reading and reviewing the second. Alas, here is a case where this commitment sadly lead me astray and into an even more frustrating reading experience.

I’ll begin this review by admitting that this book started off on the wrong foot for me. I, personally, struggle with a few different romance tropes. One of them is the “miscommunication/misunderstanding” trope, and the other is the “betrayal” trope. The latter is particularly egregious when the “betrayal” in question is so obviously not what it seems and then the reader is forced to deal with a lead character who seems to twist their brain in two simply to maintain the righteous indignation of how terrible the betrayal was in the first place. And while the actual betrayal in this book had more substance than other examples that come to mind, it was still a frustrating read. Made all the more so since we spent more time in Gray’s head in this book, so the reader had insights into his feelings and motives that Willow then didn’t have. Making the switch back to her own POV frustrating at times, when she was behind on things the reader already knew.

The plot of this one was also severely lacking. In that if I sat down right now and tried to actually put the events of this book down on a plotting structure, I couldn’t. The first half to three quarters of the story is severely lacking in any plot whatsoever (which is a surprise given some of the massive reveals that came in the first book), and then the final quarter is jammed pack with action. But it was action that was completely disconnected from character motivation or arc. Willow spends the majority of the book hating Gray but then seems to do a complete 180 on him towards the end, for very little real reason.

I also struggled with the romance itself. This book leans in hard to the concept of the “body betraying you” idea. In that many of the romance scenes between Willow and Gray are a bit fraught with mixed messages on her part. Now, I give a lot of leeway to romance books on this front, as this sort of romantic tension is standard for the genre and, frankly, often quite enjoyable to read. But it didn’t work as well here simply because Willow’s stated feelings towards Gray were so extreme. Usually you have the sort of tension when characters are “enemies” in the sense that they profess to just not like one another (or are annoyed/competitive with/etc.). But it works less well when one of the characters is literally saying she wants to kill the other. It’s the kind of extreme contrast that undercuts both sides. On one hand, she’s clearly into him so saying she wants to “kill him” reads as ridiculously out of touch with herself. And on the other hand, if she does want to actually kill him, it makes no sense whatsoever for her to be getting into these romantically physical situations with him.

I really struggled with this book. The first book was notably weak on world-building and had some plotting struggles, and this one doubled down on both of these areas. Both the characters and what should have been exciting plot stakes seemed to drown beneath a frustrating amount of romantic angst and tension. For those who really loved the first book, this may still be a satisfying read. But if you struggled with the first, I think this one will be an even greater let-down, unfortunately.

Rating 6: A severe lack of world-building and plotting leaves this one to wallow in rather shallow characters and a frustrating romance.

Review will go live on The Library Ladies blog on Sept. 4

This one was so, so good! As Willow struggles with the battles within herself, Gray has returned to his real form as Lucifer. As she fights for independence and control of her magic, she learns uncomfortable truths about both her past and her future.

Watching her finally accept and decide to love Gray despite and because of everything he does for her was such a great process. She fought so hard and she loves even harder. Trying to figure out who to trust and being betrayed repeatedly while being told that they have her best interests in mind was so brutal.

Watching Gray realize that he doesn't want to continue on without her after being alive for centuries, and having the ability to go on for centuries more was such a powerful thing. I loved the two of them together. They were angry, hot, and far better suited to one another than they ever thought.

And can I get a book 3?!

I’ve become completely captivated by this series. Harper L. Woods writing is addicting and her storytelling is mind blowing.

Willow and Gray are one of my favorite couples. Reading through the betrayal, the secrets, their growing love, it was such an emotional ride. I seriously can’t describe how sad I am that they won’t be the main couple for the next book, but I am so excited for what is next!

3.5 rounded down. A rare case where I liked the sequel better! When everything was said and done my reading experience was more positive than negative. I’ll count that as a win! I loved seeing Willow grow with her power, especially in the last third of the book. I enjoyed the character development* that Gray goes through. It made him more agreeable*. Overall, the vibes make this a quick and easy read.

Okay a couple of issues I had; I can’t not talk about it:
The introduction of Michael was out of left field. I genuinely thought I accidentally skipped pages or maybe I’d fallen asleep reading and not absorbed the info.
The relationship between Willow and Gray was repetitive at times. Eventually we see growth and it moves the story forward but, we’re at a deficit here. Willow rubber bands from adoration to immense hatred in the same breath multiple times. As a woman, I know he’s trash. As a reader, I’d like the romantic love interests to like each other.
As was my issue with The Coven, the supporting characters get no love. Even though we’ve expanded our roster, I can’t remember who’s who due to lack of individual personality. I can’t care about these characters if we don’t spend any time on them.
Willow is a VERY forgiving person. This leans into Violet-in-Fourth-Wing levels of compassion. I didn’t enjoy it in those books, I don’t love it in these.
*Using that term VERY loosely.
**Agreeable is a STRONG word. He is not a good guy.