4/5⭐️ • 4/5🌶️

This was a good book to finish off the series but when it comes to the series just know that the events of the three books are the same just that each book covers different characters. If there was a way to read all three books at the same I would recommend it honestly. I think the characters and how they went back and forth with the dominate and submissive roles (you can interpret how😉). But while it did drag a bit in areas where we already knew what was going on I think it was refreshing to add this to the plot with a witch instead of just the demons and humans. I like this series, definitely something I haven’t read before so I’m glad I liked it.

This was a hard read - it took me almost 6 months to read this 450 page book… I was a bit disappointed because I loveddd the first two books in this standalone trilogy but this last book was so painfully boring. Definitely suffered from being too long, and the style Laroux employs with these interconnected standalones means there’s a lot of rehashing in this book. I didn’t even like the romance that much which usually hooks me even if the book isn’t good. Everything just felt so cheesy, so forced, and so slow… Bit of a disappointing end to an otherwise strong series.

2.5/5 The review contains spoilers! It was great, until it wasn’t? I feel bad for rating it so low. Especially, when I waited almost two years for this book. There were actually two main factors why I rated it this way, with one of them being the reason for my personal preference, so it might not be an issue for everyone. I know, I know I put three stars and wrote two and a half. That's because I didn't have the heart to put there two. Moving to the point, my thoughts. I will start with the positive sides here. Callum, aka the Archdemon, Elder Warrior of the Onyx Stone Order, Defender of the High City, Prince of the Nine Circles, and guardian of House Laverne, Magni Deicide. As you can see he has quite a lot of titles, the same way he has a lot of good, even amazing qualities. I loved this man, he had one preference that I hate in my heroes, but he was cute enough to let me overlook it and finish the book. So why exactly did I love him? His nicknames. "lady witch." "my lady" “My beautiful thread of fate. My lady. My mistress.” "darling." “Yes, my love." ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Ughhhh. He had a way with words. I know 'my lady' sounds like a nickname used in some historical romance novels, but I’m a big fan of it. “You should wear a bell so you don’t give me a heart attack.” “A bell? Like the one’s humans put on their cats?” He tipped his head to the side curiously, seeming to give the idea some thought. “Only if you promise to drag me around on a leash. Then I’ll gladly wear your collar.” *SCREAMINGGGGG* “I don’t understand your anger,” I said. “Would you have preferred she penetrate me instead?” Whispered curses floated through the air. “It certainly would have been preferable.” That was fair enough. I still didn’t understand, but humans worked in mysterious ways. “Well then, we’ll try that next time.” The explosion of cursing that followed my declaration told me perhaps I should stop talking entirely." He was so funny without even trying. The best things is that he was serious here. "Everly is not, and has never been, a mere fascination. She is my reason, my logic. She is my one and only God. Think I’m mad if you wish. There is nothing left for me in this existence except for her, and I would sooner rip myself apart than allow you or any other being to stand in her way." “I’ll love you endlessly, darling.” 'Darling' always does it for me. “I would build a temple for you if I could,” I said, dragging my nose along her skin as I inhaled. “Lock you away like a gilded goddess and worship at your feet for eternity.” ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ He was obsessed. Honestly, I think the word obsessed is not enough. I was confused at the beginning when after a few minutes of knowing her he went with the "Who f*cking hurt you? Give me their name.", but it made sense after he revealed why he knew who she was. He searched for her for CENTURIES before she was even born. He had a vision with her, which is almost impossible for demons, in which she begged for his help, and it made him come to Earth to look for her. Imagine your man waiting for you for centuries. A new standard. He also threatened a freaking Lucifer and was ready to betray Hell for her. Now to my main problem. Sharing. When there’s a mention of the hero wanting to share a heroine in any way, it’s an instant dnf for me. It might not be a problem for everyone, but it’s just something I personally don’t like. I like it when heroes are possessive to the point that they would never let any other man touch you. Don't get me wrong, there's not a single scene of this in this book, but Callum mentions that it's not a problem for him. “I thought you weren’t the jealous type.” “Oh, certainly not, love. I’m very welcoming and generous to guests. It’s intruders I have a problem with.” Then he started talking about the other men "helping him" while he f*ck her. As I said, it might not be problem for everyone, but I hate it. I loved Callum enough to continue, but it left a bitter taste for me. Our heroine Everly is next. I liked her, but at the same time didn’t connect to her character at all. She was a powerful witch who was learning to contain her magic, but at the same time was a rather sweet and shy (?) girl. She was also a virgin and read smutty books. She discovered she had a dominant side in bed thanks to Callum, but when she suddenly started talking dirty to him, it was so unexpected that I didn't know what was going on. Like, she was so sweet and then BOOM, “Do you really want it that bad? Such a needy boy.”. I don’t know why but I couldn’t visualize that. When I talk about smutty scenes, I have to admit that I enjoyed them. Some even a lot, but I couldn't stand such words like 'my puckered hole'. They just made me gag. I’m sorry. The second thing that made me lower my rating is that I was a bit bored. It's not that nothing happened here, but where I usually read a book this length in one day, here it took me three. At the end I will just say that I enjoyed some aspects of this book, but in overall would I recommend it to anyone? Unfortunately not. I wish though.

I should start with two things: I have been looking forward to this book immensely while still having only moderate expectations. How does that even work? I love the previous two books, while it annoyed me, that we always returned to the same storyline. The only reason this still works for me is that I have severe dementia when it comes to anything media – I can and read books multiple times and still forget everything that was in them. In this case, that works in my favour, because it was like reading a completely new story with vaguely familiar faces popping up every once in a while, for me – while I do see that people who remember more than I do, probably won’t have that much fun with these books.

The other part of my hesitation lay in my slight disliking I had taken to Everly in the previous two books. This was dismantled so quickly, it almost gave me whiplash, let me tell you. I love Everly. Head to toe, insecurities to bad-ass dominating bitch. She’s a baddie that needed to grow into her role and did so fascinatingly fast.

Who I did love even more was Callum though. His devotion from the beginning took me totally by surprise, his ease while switching from dominant to submissive, damn, that was straight (uh, bad choice of words here, babe) up hot. I can’t even pretend it wasn’t and I won’t. I expected a super duper dominant dude and was pleasantly surprised that the most powerful MC we find in this series was also the one most in tune with switching.

It was a bit “insta”-all, but while that usually bothers me a lot, it somehow did not here. Maybe I simply enjoyed the characters too much to care about that, but it wasn’t something that annoyed me.

There were bits and pieces that even made the whole shebang more enjoyable to me (Winona, Darragh, …) and some that grew a bit tiresome, but I am a sucker for a small stages in books which we had for an extended period here due to them being in the house and on their own (I love this, because I can focus on the development between the characters only and it always feels so cozy and I just crave it, I’m a sap for these passages).

The one thing I would have wished for would be more interaction with Callum’s old comrades.

Oh, I lied. And the one thing I would like to erase from this book was foreshadowed so blatantly obvious that it annoyed me from the first indication so much, I wasn’t able to focus on all the stuff I did like anymore. I just wanted it to be over and that is such a damn shame, because I really, really loved 80% percent of the book and if I were to only rate them, I’d give this thing the 5 stars quicker than Callum sinks to his knees, but this way it really took the fun out of the final part for me and that does affect my rating.

It all comes down to personal preferences, for me it was a trope that usually drops a book to a 1 star rating, so I’m sure tons of people will enjoy what I found horribly misplaced here. But also a few probably will agree with me and both is fine.

I adore the way Harley Laroux effortlessly draws me in these fantastically horrifying worlds and I will read anything else they publish for sure.