Thank you to Harper Voyager for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I loved The Hurricane Wars so I was ecstatic to receive an ARC of the second installment and dare I say it loved it even more.

I am usually good with words, but this book reduced me to mere sounds. A gasp, a giggle, a shriek, a sob –– anything but words came out of me while reading this because it was just THAT good.

Thea had me GAGGED with this book and I know everyone will love this book. The new magic forged between Talasyn and Alaric, the rising tension between the pair, and the drama of it all has me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I’m honestly angry with myself for reading this ARC so early because now I have to wait even longer for the next piece of their story.

I loved getting to know more about Talasyn and the way her mind works, and just seeing her grow into her own. She is such a fun and strong protagonist and I am her number one stan. She was just a girl thrust into this world of power and responsibility and she’s just doing her best while being pulled in so many directions.

Alaric only exists for the sole purpose of being dumb, pretty, and loving his wife, and we stan him for that. I cannot wait to see how much more pathetic he becomes in the third installment given that I did not think it was possible to increase his loserish-ness from THW to AMR.

Thea is so devious and evil but I know that the pain she put me through will be worth it in the end. I cannot wait for this book to be out and I cannot wait for book 3!!

"It would be so easy to love you in a different life."

(3.5⭐)

okay im going to be so real but that was unexpectedly much more disappointing of a sequel than i ever imagined?? i was literally BEYOND hyped to read AMR but honestly? this felt like it got hit with second book syndrome and im so disappointed--and that's not to say that it was *bad* but i was really hoping for another 5 star like i gave THW🥲

reading AMR was truly a strange experience. on one hand i did adore talasyn's and alaric's interactions BUT on the other?? where was that spark i felt in their relationship back in THW?? it felt as though there was a constant glass wall in front of me while reading where i couldnt fully be invested in their relationship as i was in THW--i would literally have the silliest of grins and that heart-pounding excitement whenever i read their scenes. but here? while there were a few moments that made me laugh or go aww, it just didn't feel the same.

one thing i will say that was really well done though was the inner conflict in talasyn and alaric. individually it did feel as though their characters grew... otherwise i just didnt feel the same *obsessed* feeling i did while reading THW and honestly that just makes me really sad.

another thing is that where was the plot??😭 i genuinely feel like nothing happened really except in the last 25%ish but for the whole world being at stake, i didnt really feel any sense of urgency or high stakes while reading? and i couldve possibly ignored the lack of plot had there been something to keep me invested but there wasnt really?? its just crazy because while THW had me gripped from beginning to end and filled with tension and excitement in literally every scene, i did NOT get that same feeling at all here.

i will say the ending did make me gasp but also WHERE DID THAT EVEN COME FROM??? IT FELT SO RANDOM??? and thats all ill say about that. otherwise im feeling a whole lot of nothing after finishing this book?

still, there were some cute moments and progress in talasyn and alaric's romance and individual characters! and while im forever disappointed this didnt live up to my expectations, im definitely still going to be reading book 3 and hope that its a brilliant and amazing book to make up for book 2.


Many thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager for gifting me an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!!

3/5

So saddened to give this book a lower rating than the first one but I truly just did not enjoy it as much. The story lacks urgency and the stakes feel so low.
The writing is beautiful as always, but I didn’t feel an emotional connection to any of the characters this time around.
I felt like there was very little plot to be found in this book and that the ending came out of nowhere with characters I had little memory of from book 1 suddenly becoming very important.
The ending made zero sense to me and I don’t know how any of those events will feed into book 3 or how any of these plot lines will eventually connect.
I unfortunately just felt like this book had a lot of filler and limited character development to justify the whole lot of nothing that happened.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

“Briefly, she wondered what it would be like to live in a world where she was allowed to take his hand.”

My jaw is on the floor. I was soooo lucky to read an arc of The Hurricane Wars and was absolutely obsessed with the story. The enemies to lovers storyline in this series is handled so well and continues in A Monsoon Rising.

I don’t want to share any plot points to prevent spoilers, but Alaric and Talasyn have my whole heart. As they continue to sort through the demands of each of their homelands and figure out their attraction my emotions have been pulled in every direction.

There is this beautiful, tentative love bubble amidst complete chaos and underlying betrayals. The spice and romantic moments between Alaric and Talasyn had me giggling, blushing, and my heart melting. Only alone are they able to show very sweet, vulnerable parts of themselves and it killed my heart every time.

I will be sending Thea my therapy bill because I am going to be absolutely losing my mind until I can get my hands on the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Voyager, and Thea Guanzon for this early copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGallet for the ARC.
This book had me kicking my feet and giggling.
The story was engaging and fast paced without being overwhelming. I ate this up

I love when 2nd book surprises by being better than the 1st one. This book is so good. I just dnf’d 4 popular and well-known fantasy books and decided that I should get back to thrillers and novels. Then I got approved for Advanced copy of Monsoon Rising, started reading without high expectations after recent dnfs and never put it down. That’s how I loved it.
Thank you for saving fantasy genre for me !!!
* action packed
* dragons
* chemistry
* clear understanding of motivation behind characters action

Hurricane Wars is one of my favorite romantasy books and this book did not disappoint! I honestly would read the back of a cereal box if Thea wrote it. The spice and banter in this was everything. Glad to report that this book did not suffer the second book slump most romantasy/fantasy series do.

People often give flack to the first book for the world building being a little flat since it was originally a Star Wars fanfic. Anyone who shares this opinion I STRONGLY encourage to read this book. The world building and plot in this were phenomenal and grew so much from the first book.

Will update after a I post a Goodreads and Tiktok review at a later date.

I love a sequel that grows from its previous book. Both in plot and character development, as well as from the issues a previous book might have had. The pacing of the first book really affected my enjoyment, but this sequel did a much better job both with pacing and storytelling. I felt more of a point to everything that was happening. I also appreciate when I can watch characters grow together rather than struggling back and forth through an entire series.

I loved this book! i actually was a bit nervous going into it because book one was a bit slow for me. Though i do understand now that we were getting background on everything. I loved how Tala's and Alarics relationship developed. i think he is truly so sweet. my favorite line was "What is wrong with your face? Are you in pain?" top notch. it is refreshing to have a male main character who isn't a playboy. I loved watching them grow and become more comfortable with each other.

Loved how much more dialogue there was in this book, and how the chapters were shorter. It felt like an easier read.

I do feel like there is a lot of conflict happening in the story though. Especially with this ending, Im hoping that we can avoid this huge betrayal though, i dont think my heart will be able to take Alaric being hurt.

Thank you so much for this ARC i greatly appreciate it and CANNOT WAIT for book 3.

𝑨 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝑹𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈

Another phenomenal book by Thea!

This book really took me for a ride! The tension was absolutely incredible. It was so well written and I just couldn’t get enough!
I felt fully immersed from the very beginning. The attachment I have to these characters is unreal!
Seeing the Alaric and Talasyn growing more in this book warms my heart. These characters have obviously dealt with different obstacles in their life and in this book you get to see them in a different light. You see them pave their own path and begin to become more than they thought they were. We see them make decisions they may not have made before, and the ability to do so! These characters compliment each other so well. I enjoyed seeing them supporting each other, in a very different way than in Hurricane Wars.
The plot, political dynamics, and action kept me fully engaged! And the romance!? Thea delivered exactly what we needed. The romance was the cherry on top! I cannot wait to continue this series! I applaud the author for yet again writing such a brilliant book!

Hurricane wars felt like a beginning of the relationship between Talasyn and Alaric, now in this particular one, we see the full on courtship between them without completely accepting each other's position in their lives. Both are playing the game on political side with their own agendas and yet can't stop falling for each other either so we can definitely expect fireworks in the next installment. They are both allies and enemies at the same time and the readers will really feel for their constant turmoil. This definitely felt like build up for the next book in the series as it felt like there was too much happening as well as being slow at times. But the readers will be so invested that they wont be able to stop themselves without reading it all the way.

WHAT A FOLLOW UP

Phew, this book. The Hurricane Wars was excellent, but this one was EVEN BETTER 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 This novel BLEW ME AWAY

Oh my god, I loved this book so much. I’m so obsessed with Alaric and Talasyn. This was everything I wanted it to be. The ending killed me, like what am I supposed to do until book 3? Just reread it 100 times I guess lol. Definitely recommend to everyone. I loved the first book, but this one was even better. I loved getting to see different sides of the characters and watching them getting to see different sides of each other. It was so funny too watching these two try to figure out each other. I was giggling at them so often. I very much appreciate being giving an arc, now just to wait for book 3 😅

The plot of this book was so engaging I felt like I couldn’t put it down. Excellent writing and the tension was definitely there! I was KICKING MY FEET the whole time. Love !

I don't really know how to feel about this book. I feel like there were moments where I was really liking it and other moments where I felt whiplash from things happening too quickly (or exhaustion from things not happening fast enough)

- I honestly just feel very EHH about this book, like the first one got 4 stars but the world building was nearly impossible to follow at times. In this one, I understood more of the world building, and then something would happen that makes whatever I just learned to no longer make sense.
- This book further explores the complicated dynamic between Talasyn and Alaric. Married but secretly planning to betray each other, hooking up but afraid of falling too hard for the other. This was basically just a merry go round of them getting together, regretting it, then hating each other for a day before hooking up again. It was tiring.
- That being said, I do love Talasyn and Alaric, both separately and together. I think they are interesting characters who are young and tasked with impossible responsibilities.
- The EVENTS of this book were pretty good and kept things moving - I love the idea of them working and training together to save their people from the Voidfell. This kept us on a timeline and the story moved. Like this storyline was definitely my favorite. But it also took forever.
-- The events and discoveries DURING the eclipse Voidfell were really interesting, although it feels a little out of nowhere. Also... its basically How to Train Your Dragon.
- The ENDING did nothing for me. I was expecting some big cliffhanger that would have me yelling "NO I NEED MORE" but instead I do not feel anything at all. Like the cliffhanger makes me just more confused?
- I feel like there are too many people with titles and names that are brought up fleetingly and then we are supposed to remember them 100 pages later and it really makes me feel detached from anyone who isn't in the circle of main characters.
- At the risk of sounding mean, this book feels like someone had a few mental images of scenes that would be cool, wrote them down, then pretended like they fit together and made sense in context. It felt fragmented and transitions between scenes was not smooth.

This book. This series. This author! Thea’s first book was a bit of a slow burn for me, but I adored this one. Her writing seems to have matured since THW and I think this book really shows it. It’s energized, lively, and enthralling. I couldn’t put it down.

To say this was a masterpiece would genuinely be an understatement. This is hands down one of the best books i have ever read.

I just finished this not five minutes ago and a monsoon rising cemented this series as my all time favourite. Thea EXCELS in writing enemies to lovers and I will eat it up every single time!!

The banter, the spice, the angst, the magic, all of it was breathtakingly pieced together and it had me squealing and on the edge of my seat the whole way through. I devoured this in nearly one sitting, I could NOT put it down! One of the top reads of the year, if not my favourite of all!!!

I am DESPERATE for book three! I will be counting down the days until I can find out what happens to our beloved Talasyn and Alaric!!!

A Monsoon Rising, sequel to The Hurricane Wars, had some incredibly big shoes to fill. My expectations were higher than Everest, and not only were they met, but surpassed by great measure. I am so grateful to Thea Guanzon, NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read and honestly review the book with my own opinions prior to release.

Shall I start with the relationship between Talasyn and Alaric? Yes? Okay, then. The absolute rollercoaster between these two had me screaming one moment and swooning then next. Both Tala and Alaric give star crossed vibes and the entire book I wanted to scream at them to just be fully honest with each other. The tension. The spice. The yearning. The chemistry. The loyalties. The political intrigue. The banter! AGH. Thea’s got me in a chokehold and I will not be released until this series gives me its last word.

The magic system in this world is so unique and I love that I have to think to get my head wrapped around it. Any book that seeps into my imagination so much is tops for me.

There are so many subplots here that it would be impossible to touch on them all, but the heartbreak that is Alaric’s life could be an entire novel in itself. And for Tala … I have two words, “THE CLIFFHANGER.”

This book has a variety of elements that I believe most readers would appreciate. It has something for everyone! A Monsoon Rising is a much anticipated release for 2024, and it does not disappoint!

An epic continuation to the series that will keep you on your toes.

I love this series and getting to read it was a treat. I could not put the book down. It is engaging, fast paced, action packed. It feels like you're reading a film. The tension in this book was delicious. I feel like the author upped the stakes and made it more angsty, tension filled and so good! The plot moves and it's engaging with topics of political intrigue and you feel conflicted as a reader on who to trust and who to root for because of morality and who you can trust. I love the dynamic that we keep exploring between Talasyn and Alaric and fans of fantasy or Star Wars will want to pick this series up! You will devour it.

I loved The Hurricane wars so much that I was actually afraid of the high expectations I had for its sequel. But I’m glad to say it end up being so much better than anything I could hope for!! I guess I loved even more than I loved book one (and I love it so much that I have five editions!)
Talasyn and Alaric are my favorite fictional couple at the moment, end this trilogy is my favorite romantasy ever ❤️

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Voyager for this arc