Red-Haired Ash Reads

With this series I never know if I am going to end up liking the book, sadly this one I didn’t really enjoy. Like the first book, I struggled a lot with Bowen MacRieve, but I also struggled with the plot and pacing of this book, so much so that it took me days to read a 400 page book when normally I can read that in one no problem. 

Bowen was a damaged Lykae who lost his mate nearly two centuries ago. He is a bit of a mess and is obsessed with only getting his mate back, so much so that he ignores the truth right in front of him, that Mariketa is his mate as well. After the Hie, we see Bowen treat Mariketa like shit multiple times and even plots to get her pregnant just to make sure she is his mate, which is where I gave up any hope of liking him. On top of that he calls her by the wrong name during sex at one point and frequently accuses her of enchanting him to make him think he is mated to her. Oh also, he even mentions stopping her from using magic once he mates her, so yeah he is just not a great guy.  Yes by the end of the story we see him reform himself and realize his mistakes but I really struggled seeing these two as a romantic couple when he treated her so badly to begin with. 

Mari was an interesting heroine because this was our first witch and she was the mysterious Awaited one, but sadly, I found her young and hard to connect with. She is a sheltered woman who has never really interacted with anyone outside her coven but is forced into this even before she even comes into power, which just feels very stupid. Once she comes into her power we do see her be deadly with them but at the same time be stupid with them so that Bowen has to rescue her in the end. She was just a MFC who I liked but didn’t love and that didn’t help my feelings on this book, but I still think she deserved better than Bowen. 

I think the plot in this book was a bit all over the place. There was just too much going on with three separate storylines smashed together and in the end, it didn’t really deliver a satisfying ending. Because of the different storylines, I think the pacing of this book suffered and sections of this book were very slow and made it a slog to get through, on top of already struggling with hating Bowen. 

Overall, this was ok and while I really like this world of Lykae, valkyries, and vampires, I am also struggling with the toxic male characters. I think I will continue with the series but I am probably going to be spacing these out some to give myself a break since they hit or miss for me. 

TW: death of a mate; imprisonment; fear of heights; kidnapping and threat of rape; airplane crash; misogyny; 

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Goodreads | The StoryGraph | Amazon

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Previous books and reviews for the series:

#0.5 The Warlord Wants Forever
#1. A Hunger Like No Other
#2. No Rest For the Wicked