This is such a thrilling series! I can’t put it down and I’m so looking forward to more! The writing is so captivating and Diem is a great MC!

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Penn Cole does it again, destroyed my heart, and put it back together with Hello Kitty-themed bandaids and a kiss. I was initially intimidated by the length of this boo,k but I flew through this and so will you. The political intrigue is getting increasingly deep, and the characters along with it.

This series has a hold on me. Packing was a little different than other two but that made me enjoy it all the more. It was filled with so much drama and friendship I loved it so much. Can we have book 4 already??

Wow! This series just keeps getting better. Picking up right where the last book left off, Diem is at the mercy of the Guardians. Her crown is in question and she’s wanted in all the realms, including her own. Mysteries of her origin begin to unravel, and the stakes become higher. I loved that we got to visit more of the realms in this book!

For those who love:
✨Slow Burn Romance
✨Court Intrigue
✨Found Family
✨Dragons!!!
✨Royalty
✨Magic
✨On the brink of war
✨Dual Alliances
✨More World-Building

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

🔥 Tropes in Heat of the Everflame 🔥
✨🗡️ Enemies to Lovers
🔥💥 Fated Mates
🌪️🌑 Forbidden Magic
❤️‍🔥🔥 Slow Burn Romance
🧙‍♀️🩸 Powerful Bloodlines
👑💔 Royal Secrets
👯‍♀️⚔️ Found Family
🔮💘 Magical Bond
🗝️👁 Hidden Powers Revealed

Well, after Glow of the Everflame (Kindred’s Curse #2) ended on that wild cliffhanger, I had to dive into Heat of the Everflame. 😮‍💨🔥
Diem really grew on me in this one, and Luther? Somehow even better. He’s the ultimate book boyfriend — loyal, swoony, and totally obsessed (even when Diem makes some seriously rage-inducing choices 😅).
The tension between them? Off the charts. Definitely spicier than books 1 & 2. 🌶️🌶️
Safe to say I’m already counting down to book 4. Bring it on. 👀📚

the cliffhanger of this book is my 13th reason of today and its only 8:40 in the morning 🥲

this series has been so much fun to read so far, my only complaint so far is how lengthy shes getting. ive had to do them along side the audios or it takes me ages to get through, especially this one 😅

i feel like my brain is still broken and processing what just happened so i shall be back later on when i can put my thoughts into more sentences LOL however im sooo excited to see where the next book will take us!!!

I loved the other two, but unfortunately, this one fell flat for me. I adored the slow burn and the found family aspects. While I adore fantasy, especially fantasy romance, this one felt incredibly drawn out (almost like it could have been two books).

This series continue to get better and better. Penn Cole's world building, plot, writing is perfection. It was an emotional journey but one I do not regret taking.

What you'll find:
- Slow burn romance
- light fantasy (not too much world building)
- magic
- single POV

🙈 This one was a miss for me. For one thing, it was too long. 1000 pages! The plot was unnecessarily repetitive and the slow burn is slooooow. I don't want to spoil it by saying more, but I have a lot of reasons this didn't hit for me. I am clearly in the minority judging by the Goodreads reviews. It ended on a cliffhanger. Will I pick up book 4 when it comes out? Tbd.

I am going to try and form my thoughts as best as I can. I want to touch on a few things readers will enjoy about Heat of the Everflame and why these things are also the reason I did not enjoy the book.

This book starts off pretty quick and we are thrown into action right away with some fight scenes. Diem is learning how to work her magic and gains self-confidence. What I struggled with during these fight scenes is placing myself in the main character’s shoes and imagine what was happening. The imagery for these scenes did not make sense to me, and I found myself lost or uninterested. The pacing was fast and then slowed down to work in more of the magic system giving me whiplash.

The magic grew significantly during Heat of the Everflame as we learn more about the other territories, their rulers, and what special powers they have. While it was great getting more background, I felt it was incredibly overwhelming. A lot of it could have been spread out between the first two books and not crammed into this massive story. It felt like we were trying to fit far too much information here.

Since we are exploring more of the map, we get to see some cool places and see new information about the magic systems. While this was fun, I felt like we never spent enough time in each place and maybe there were too many places the characters were supposed to travel to. I think this information could have been spread across the first two books and into this book to make the information dump more manageable. Diem’s rash choices and behavior made us travel quickly from place to place, as well, not allowing the full scope of the area to be explored.

As more magic was introduced, I felt like it was only for convenience. It was there to help the main characters on their journey leaving no real peril for me because I knew the magic would fix any issue.

Luther will be well-loved through this series. He is everything a lot of the book community looks for in a main male character of a romantasy book: a “shadow daddy,” protective, extremely handsome, witty, knows his way around a sword, dirty talking. To me, he turned incredibly soft and went from a main character into a side character in this story. He would follow along with Diem’s plans no questions asked even when they made no sense.

The utter amount of miscommunication or zero communication drove me mad. I understand we will get this trope in most every book, but to the extent it was used here felt wrong. A huge chunk of the relationship Diem and Luther built in Glow of the Everflame was around trust and that was constantly broken in this book. The plot line that had the most miscommunication took the overall plot off the rails, and I felt like it wasted a lot of time (and pages).

The author does a great job of foreshadowing. As readers, we know pretty early on what is going to happen; however, I was frustrated because we would know what is going to happen, and then wait fifteen chapters for Diem to catch up to us.

Finally, I appreciated how more fantasy elements were brought in and introduced to the readers. I think this change of pace is something others would like, but something I thought fell flat. There were almost too many things added in this book not allowing us to fully understand what was happening.

I do think this book has all of the right elements to be extremely popular with a large audience. After this book, I have realized this series is not for me. I would also market these books as fantasy romance books where the romance is a major plot point. Without Luther and Diem’s relationship, I believe this story’s plot would crumble.

Thank you to Atria books for an ARC of Heat of the Everflame and a finished copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4.5 stars!!

Ok, first off, this is the slooooooowest of slow burns. Like seriously. I’ve never read a series that took three books to get to the good parts, at 95%. 😂 Crazy.

Second, THIS IS HOW IT ENDS‽‽

What in the world‽‽ Thank God I wrote chapter notes of everything, so I won’t forget.

Penn Cole has done it again - another masterpiece! I am going to only be half living until July 2026 when the final book in the series is released. I will admit, the FMC, Diem, did irk me a few times in this book compared to the previous two books. Overall, Diem's obliviousness was easily forgotten with the author's masterful writing and creation of Emarion realms and magic systems. I will be recommending this series to everyone who asks for romantasy recommendations.

The third installment of the Kindred Saga series did not disappoint, except for the fact that the next book isn't out yet! This series gets better and better. I wasn't convinced about the hype after the first book, but I was very wrong. Definitely pick up the first one and immerse yourself in this amazing world!

I loved the first two books in this series, and I expected a little bit more for this book!

The plot was good and the characters were as loveable as always, I just wish we actually finally got to see them together! I feel like the romance is getting dragged out a little long.

Diem made some questionable decisions in this book, which isn't unlike her, but it was getting a bit repetitive in the third book.

I was glad to see some more focus on Diem's mother in this one. I feel like she's always kind of mentioned during the books as a sidenote, but then right at the end, they bring her in to have some action before she's forgotten about again.

Overall, I thought this was good and I'm excited to see where it goes!

So good but book four isn't here and ready! What am I supposed to do with that cliffhanger! This series still remains an all time fav of mine even though book three was my least favorite so far. 1 & 2 we clear 5 stars for me. While the plot was super interesting I had to dock points for Diem’s nativity… it was starting to get out of hand. ALSO this was the slowest of slow burns I’ve ever read! You’re telling g me we have to wait until chapter 70 something of the third book for finally some spice. I am baffled by that ending and idk how the heck this series is gonna end now but I can tell you right now I will not be breathing until book 4 is in my hands. And then I will not be breathing until it is done.

4.5 Stars. OMG THAT CLIFFHANGER!!

I am not over that ending at all! Penn gave us over 800 pages of story and every word was worth it! This book gave me every single feeling in the world and I am now numb from how she ended it. HOW DO WE WAIT FOR BOOK 4?!

The story picks up pretty much RIGHT where book 2 ended. Diem is in a very perilous situation and the book starts with the reader at max anxiety levels! Heat has a major journey plotline throughout, where we get to see and explore a lot of the different realms in the continent. Once again, this story is pretty plot and politics heavy, with the slow burn that burns just so good!

I really enjoyed how in depth Diem’s personal story arch goes. Every book she is learning more and more about herself and her powers, after a lifetime of them being repressed and hidden from her. I love seeing her learn more about who she is and what she can do!

I also love how much of this book is about doing something good in a bad situation. While there are some just truly bad characters, so many of them are people who are just doing their best. We met even more new faces this book and I got some new favorite characters (looking at you Z)!

This book was very long (over 800 pages) but I honestly am not mad because SO MUCH HAPPENED. These characters had me stressing with everything that happened to them and I was SCREAMING about a certain poultice’s special ingredient. I am so glad that Penn didn’t split this one up or take anything out. Everything was so needed for the full development of the plot!

And the slow burn that we’ve been waiting for has finally LIT! Penn teased us so much this book (honestly, it was a bit of torture), but it finally FINALLY paid off! I am in love with my man Luther. He is perfection and Penn actually has taken me out with how much I need him to be real! There was also a bonus scene included from Luther’s POV in the new Atria copy and it was SO GOOD. I honestly need these books to be dual POV because seeing his yearning and need for Diem has me on my knees.

I don’t even want to talk about this ending. I was already traumatized by all the events that were unfolding and then THAT happened?? I need book 4 RIGHT NOW.

Thank you Atria for the copy of the book!

Book 3 of the Everflame series…

I CANNOT BELIEVE IT ENDED THERE!!!! This was one of my favorites of the entire series and that cliffhanger was absurdly good!!! I started reading this series knowing the fourth book was going to be out by the time I finished the first 3… and the.mn low and behold, it was postponed for eternity and I AM STUCK WITH THAT ENDING?!?! Penn Cole… you mean mean person!!! Luther is still one of the favorites of all time, and the whole “touch her and die” and “I will follow you to the ends of the earth” vibes are sooooooo good! I love his devotion to her and in turn I love the way she loves him back! I’m slowly wasting away to nothing over here while I wait in shambles for the final book!!!!

This quickly has become one of my favorite Adult fantasy series, and I cannot recommend it enough to people. This story is so fun and interesting while also leaning into the fantasy stories that have come before it. I definitely think this is a story that people need to read and experience.

I’m speechless actually… I cannot believe the way this series has consumed me. When a book reaches the 800 page mark I sometimes raise an eyebrow, but I so loved the first two that I dove in with confidence. It was very well placed. I loved everything about Heat. When I think about the characters, especially Luther and Diem, and who they were in Spark compared to who they are at the end of Heat, I’m stunned at how much they’ve changed and yet how natural the progression of their growth felt.

The series tackles hard questions about oppression and oppressors and righteous war, and Diem is the perfect character to front the complexity and difficulty of navigating that environment.

I honestly think this series IS what some of the most popular romantasy series WANT to be. The way this deserves the level of hype I’ve seen elsewhere…

I think I’m done with this series, I just really can’t get over Diem, she really annoys me. It’s too bad though, I like most of the other characters and the plot is really interesting. I was really enjoying the slow burn romance but I just can’t continue on