The first time I read this book, I really liked it, I still do but at the same time I see a lot of issues that really bothered me. Something that Conroe has done in his book 13 and now book 14, is that he's forcing actions/plots/drama far too hard that it doesn't feel organic at all, which previously wasn't an issue he had until Summer Reigns. This book he basically dumbed down my favorite MC Declan to force the plot forward, he did something similar in Summer Reigns and luckily for someone who's read the series more than once, he stops "dumbing" down his characters to force the plot forward, but that doesn't change the fact that it happened several times in this book.
Re-read Oct 2023: While not my favorite book of the series, it's not horrible, but like I said in my initial review some of the plot feels forced and inorganic. Especially when Declan fights the main Demon for second time, there's a few things that made me just want to eyeroll at Conroe. He fought her just a few hours ago and realized that elemental magic is the only thing that works on her, and what does he do? Well he gives his necklace that at this point in the books helps him use elemental magic to Mac, for honestly no reason, just to make the demon let her guard down a bit more? Stupid idea that he normally would never let happen, and after his initial attack Declan and Mac talk about the new gadget he used to hurt her while she's getting back up instead of taking back the necklace asap, stupid on two counts there, once again not something a person who over analyzes and prepares for even the most minor thing would let happen. After that guess what, he yells super loudly to ask for the necklaces back, so the demon smacks away Mac before it can happen. While all this is happening where the fuck is Chris? Why would Declan even go through with this plan without having Chris very close, so when his initial attacks go off Chris can step in and do the only thing he's useful for these days, banishing demons, so once again the author makes Declan a total dumbass out of nowhere. Last but not least after Chris finally steps in and the fights coming to a close and the Demon is just about out of options, here comes Declan jogging to the battle, with no shields up and I guess no eyes on the demon, and then bam in a last ditch hail mary the demon rushes for Declan and grabs him like she's a falcon and he's a dumb rabbit in her talons and there goes Declan, shoulders crushed and now passed out because of the pain. So basically this whole sequence of events was just soooo dumb that it made me drop this from an entertaining 4 star to a "okay I like the rest of the series so here's a 3 star instead of 2".