Solid witchy vibes to start off an early spooky season ;) Willow is a smart and capable main female character and I even though she did get played a couple times in the book, she gets up, dusts her feet off and keeps going. As for our MMC Gray, check the trigger warnings in the beginning. And in all honesty I don't like him, I didn't like him the whole book. There were no redeeming qualities about him. I'm hoping he is better in the second book because I am NOT rooting for him to get a happily ever after with Willow.

I found that Ali Hazelwood is a pretty divisive author. Her stories often feature a heroine that does not fit in. Which say hello to Rue, a food scientist who isn’t very personable

Once the story is set up and the main characters are consistently in each other's orbit, the intimacy develops in a natural and satisfying way, both through sex and through conversations they share. I loved the complexity of the characters and their relationship but I never fully warmed up to Rue, since I felt we as readers were not really allowed to get to know her beyond her social anxiety, but I loved Eli and rooted for the two of them together because I wanted him to have everything he wanted

I really liked Rue and Eli together, from how they met to how they traded terrible stories to how they connected on their rough upbringings. Rue was obviously much more closed off and detached and didn't want anything to do with anyone, while Eli was much more sunshine and sweet and fell for Rue hard and fast

They both have a lot of emotional traumas, especially Rue, and physical connection is their common language. It's safer than emotional feelings and both really enjoy it. So, physical intimacy is how they begin to connect emotionally, versus the other way around. But these interactions are full of understanding and trust, so the spicy scenes were also sweet.

Overall I very much enjoyed this book!

We've got monsters, we've got gods, we've got a slow burn on our hands! I definitely liked this book, I wouldn't say i loved it, but if someone were to ask if I recommend it, absolutely. It could've been just me but I was confused quite a few times with the world building and the spice level was too low for me, BUT very solid start to a series of 4 books.