The Darkness Within Us

"3.75⭐ So, I tried really hard not to compare this book to The Shadows Between Us, but I must admit that I failed miserably. It was a good book, but I just failed to click with any of the characters, and it wasn't nearly as amazing as the first book. Still good, just not amazing. It was a bit slower paced than I expected, but the plot was still fun! I enjoyed the writing style, and I liked the main characters, though I did have my issues with them. While I appreciated Chrysantha’s scheming and related to her feminine rage, I never really grew to love her. My biggest issue was her very problematic relationship with her sister. As an older sister myself, I cannot even imagine abandoning my baby sister to her fate the way Chrysantha did to Alessandra. I know she was just a kid at the time, but it still took me a while to get over it. It should be taken into account that I’m a very family oriented person, so maybe this wouldn't be an issue for other readers, but it was for me. Eryx was an interesting character. Very mysterious, powerful, and extremely temperamental. He tended to annoy me, but part of me wonders if that was because we only ever saw him through Chrysantha’s eyes, and she was always irritated with him. I think it would have been very interesting to see his POV. The two of them definitely made quite the couple! Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, morally gray characters, touch her and die, and lots of tension and banter! This is a companion novel to The Shadows Between Us, but it could easily be read as a standalone. Still, if you want to read both books, do yourself a favor and read them in order."

"I received an ebook arc of this book through NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW⬇️⬇️⬇️ I gave this book 5 stars. I loved the first book, The Shadows Between Us, when I read it years ago, and I loved this one just as much! This book is about Queen Alessandra’s simple minded sister Chrysantha. She has been married off to an old, dying duke and will inherit his whole dukedom and all his belongings and money upon his death. Her true wish is to be free of men telling her what to do, and living a quiet life in the country. She achieves that for a short period, then a man named Eryx shows up claiming to be the late dukes grandson. Eryx and Chrysantha immediately hate eachother and want to be rid of eachother. They both claim the rights to the property and money, but it can only go to one. Chrysantha starts to realize she is more and more like her sister, while also revealing her true self to others, instead of pretending to act simple minded. She also starts to find Eryx has some odd qualities that she is determined to figure out. As well as if he is the true grandson of the duke. I loved the relationship between Eryx and Chrysantha! My favorite parts of both of these books are these sisters. They both go for what they want, and are not afraid to get their hands dirty. They know that by being born women, they are limited in ways they have to learn to get around. King Kallias and Queen Alessandra make appearances in this book and the relationship between the sisters is so great! They go from barely knowing eachother and being jealous of eachother so finally truly I’m and being honest. And I love the way both of their men get them and listen to them and basically let them rule. Also Kallias has finally found a worthy opponent. Every detail in this book is great, definitely worth the read!!"

"SPOILERS! The book stared off slow but quickly became faster paced. I enjoyed this book a lot, at least more than I thought I was going to. I’m really happy that they got their happy abiding that the we got to see more of the other couple. I do feel that some of the bickering between the FL and the ML was annoying and got repetitive. Also I got SUCH second hand embarrassment when Chrysantha and Alessandra (what are these names?!) reunited at the wedding. "

"More romance than the last book,kinda cringy because of that but still good book"

"i dnf’d it. it was boring and just couldn’t hook me early in"

"Finished this book in one day omg I loved it. I did want a spicy scene tho…. I really wanted a spicy scene lol."

"A countryside manor owned by a dowers duchess with a mysterious new comer to town and his side kicks. <br/><br/>Like I previously started about this series. I would classify this book as a period piece (fictional historical romance) with slight elements of fantasy. <br/><br/>At sometimes I felt that the chapters were too long, but I think that also helped with the pacing because multiple things happened in each section of the chapter."