Thanks to netgalley.com and Serial Box Publishing for the advance ARC copy for my honest review.

Another entertaining edition to the series, liked that you got the devious duchess scheming plotting, add Micah, Rafe, Tess and IxKaab to the mix. Ends with a cliffhanger ending, one that will set-up 'All That Glitters' to start with a bang.

POV – 3rd person, multi character, often omni-present
Would I read it again – Yes!
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, Serial, Historical, Coming-of-Age, Queer
Content Warning – mild violence, sexual situations, adultery/cheating, prostitution
Orientations – MM, MF, FF



** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **



I love the world building of this series, and the talented writers who bring it all together, but I was left heartbroken by the events of Season One and I'm hopeful that Season Two will at least offer some relief from that. I'm coming straight into this, just an hour after finishing Season One, so it's all fresh in my mind. There are still the infrequent issues of editing mistakes, changes of tense that don't always make sense, as were in Season One, but the recurring issue of font change has been eliminated, which is a relief.

Because of the format Netgalley sent, or perhaps because of how Kindle interprets them, the formatting for the first half of this series of ARC's was terrible. The documents had either one or two lines then a line of gapping, repeated throughout and it wasn't only hard on the eyes, but made it more difficult to follow in terms of flow. The second half were much better formatted.

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Episode 3: Fireworks, by Mary Anne Mohanraj

★★★★☆
Pages: 40

The formatting was so much better on this episode, as it appears exactly how Season 1 did, in its final format. It made it much easier to read and follow, and less tiring on the eyes.
Boyo, there sure wasn't a better title for this episode than 'fireworks'. It perfectly epitomised all that took place in this short slice of plot.
There was menage, which wasn't much of a surprise considering the players, more of Vincent's POV, a bit of Diane and Lionel Chesney, and – huzzah! – my Rafe was back!! (And, yes; I licked him, so he's mine) Not to mention the ever intriguing Esha, who might be the only match for Diane's cunning that we've met so far. I used to count Rafe in that group, but ever since his dear Will descended into madness, he's rather lost his mind, too.
Everything will be better when Rafe and Will are back together. Though, I'm increasingly worried about Will. Three months is a long time and he may not come out of this the same men he began, though I don't doubt Rafe will be there for him, regardless.
Ixkaab had a slightly more intriguing part of this plot, this time around, too. But, honestly, I'm sucked into the story of Rafe, Vincent's broken heart, and I actually would like to see more of Florian and Shade.

Favourite Quote

“It was time for a new challenge – or perhaps, time to truly master an old one.”

I enjoyed this book which is the third in the second series, the plot is being set and the characters are being introduced in more detail. Looking forward to part four.

This instalment finally gets on with the plot. We check in with most of the main cast, and as usual: Rafe is frustratingly obtuse for a supposedly brilliant young man, Kaab seems really incompetent and unperceptive for a career spy, and I can't for the life of me figure why Diane would be this easily attracted to people. Still, with tighter plotting and pacing, finally I'm back to being interested in what happens next. And Saabim made an appearance! Always happy to see her. Overall, it made for an enjoyable and quick-paced read, and I'm hoping the rest of the season will follow.

My one complaint is that I wouldn't have minded there not being this particular threesome. I'm all for poly and non-conventional arrangements being shown, but since there's only one f/f couple here, and their depiction is mostly about how unhappy they make each other in the last few chapters, with the only connection they seem to have being sex, throwing in a friendly guy in to look at them first (a couple of chapters ago) and then have a threesome with them didn't really work for me. It seemed to be male-gaze-y, particularly since the POV was his, and I wasn't convinced that it was even something the characters would be that interested in.

Read courtesy of NetGalley.