Red-Haired Ash Reads

I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed aspects of it but other aspects I didn’t love. First, I will be honest, I think the time skip was a mistake.  I have mentioned this before and my opinion has not changed.  I do not love how this war continues to be dragged out when there was a chance to actually have this series wrap up on a positive note a few books ago. 

This book follows Lyric, daughter of Qhuinn, Blaylock, and Layla, as she has an early life crisis basically and starts falling for a human, or at least she thinks he is. Honestly, Lyric was fine. She was an influencer who basically realized how shallow it all was and is trying to step away from that life and find a new career. I didn’t hate her but also she is probably one of the least interesting females in this series. Also, she is the daughter of two BDB and yet she doesn’t know anything about how to protect herself, or how to shoot a gun. I really can’t see the BDB brothers not teaching all their kids the basics of self-protection or gun usage, especially with a war going on, yet Ward has them acting like there is no danger to them. It makes no sense and frustrates me with this series. 

Lyric falls for a human, which is forbidden, named Devlin. Devlin was interesting because from the beginning you can tell something more is going on but when the truth was revealed it was a bit surprising. I liked Devlin and how once he revealed himself he tried to help take down Lash and the Omega. Unfortunately, this is where Ward continues to frustrate me with this series. Devlin is probably the one person who can easily take on Lash and actually take him down, but Ward doesn’t do that. She backtracks and makes him lose everything and become useless in the fight against the Lessers. So in the end, Devlin ended up being useless for this series and makes me wonder why she went through all the trouble of trying to make him so mysterious and important. 

Lyric and Dev’s relationship was fine. It was basically a crush and the very beginning of the start of a real relationship, but we get no personal discussions between these two about what they want in a relationship or any get to know you discussions. Honestly, out of all the romances in this series, this one was pretty disappointing because it had no real development or steam really. The whole forbidden aspect of this relationship was also very disappointing. There is no confrontation with parents or anything like that. It just fell flat and was underwhelming. Also, the whole reveal about Devlin is basically just skipped over in the end. We don’t get to see the fallout of that, it’s just briefly mentioned in the epilogue and was again underwhelming. 

Another issue with this book is that Blay’s mother is sick and dying throughout most of this book. Instead of having Blay’s POV on this though, it’s all told from Qhuinn and Lyrics pov. Blay is basically never really talked about in this book. It’s all Qhiunn’s feelings, Lyrics feelings, Qhiunn’s not being able to have his favorite meal anymore. It was so disappointing. Why is Blay getting overlooked when it’s his own mother? I would have been happy with at least one chapter from his POV. 

Honestly, this book was a bit of a disappointment but it was fine overall for me. Like I said, I haven’t really enjoyed this time skip and I don’t love how Ward keeps undercutting characters’ abilities just to drag this series out. I also just expect the brother’s children to be capable of protecting themselves, so that has been another disappointment. 

TW: PTSD; near death experience; torture; suicide of a sibling mentioned; gun violence and injuries; death of a parent/grandparent; grief; 

---

Goodreads | The StoryGraph | Amazon | Bookshop

---

Previous books and reviews for the series:

#0.5. Darius
#1 Dark Lover
#2 Lover Eternal
#3 Lover’s Awakened
#4 Lover Revealed
#5 Lover Unbound
#6 Lover Enshrined
#6.5 Father Mine
#7 Lover Avenged
#8 Lover Mine
#9 Lover Unleashed
#10 Lover Reborn
#11 Lover at Last
#12 The King
#13 The Shadows
#14 The Beast
#15 The Chosen
#15.5. Dearest Ivie
#16 The Thief
#16.5 Prisoner of the Night
#17 The Savior
#17.5. Where Winter Finds You
#18 The Sinner
#18.5 A Warm Heart in Winter
#19 Lover Unveiled
#20 Lover Arisen
#21 Lassiter
#22 The Beloved
#22.5 A Bloom in Winter