Talia was kidnapped by evil fae that can shift into wolves when she was twelve. She spends the next nine years in a cage, being drained of blood every month and tortured in between. Her captors hate her, but they do feed her enough to keep her alive because her blood is valuable to them.
Being the smart, determined cookie that she is, Talia finds a way to get out of the cage before a worse fate (discussed by the men who kidnapped her during her last draining) befalls her. Unfortunately, she isn't quick enough and is forced to hide as four other fae she's never seen before stalk into her prison looking for something. Talia's very good act of a regular unmoving blanket doesn't help and she's taken yet again, to a different sort of keep.
Her new kinappers are undoubtedly nicer, giving her a room, comfortable bed, healing her injuries and feeding her with proper food, but she's still not free to go home. And what is "home" anyway? Her family is long gone and the relatives she has left, she barely knows. And she can't help getting closer to certain two (possibly even three) men.
Sylas, the leader, originally planned to just hand the girl over to the arch-lords and be done with it, but how can he now, with his growing affections? As the book goes on, he and the others realise just how far they're willing to go to protect Talia from anyone who might try to do her harm, and by any means necessary.
This book was sooooooo addicting, I had trouble putting it down to go sleep. It hooked me from the very first moment and now I can't wait for the next one. Hopefully it won't be too long.
The writing was so easy to follow, I had no problems jumping straight into the story and all the different POVs didn't confuse me once.
The plot? WHO CARES ABOUT THE PLOT WHEN WE GOT THAT POOL SCENE?!
No, the plot was nice, it didn't drag on and it didn't feel like a "filler" book. It did set up things for the next one, but most of that happened at the end.
A small issue I had was how quickly Talia started eating normal portions. She was starved for almost a decade but it takes a week for her to eat around half...yeah no. Her stomach would've been too small to be fixed that fast.
I liked all the characters, some more than others. I wasn't expecting Kellan to...not change? That caught me by surprise. I thought he'd warm up to her.
August is the cutest with his cooking and his video games and smiles. And I really like Whitt too, can't wait to see more of him. Sylas was both hot and cold for me, I'd prefer the other two over him if Talia ever chose just one guy.
The pool scene gets another mention because it's the best scene and no one can convince me otherwise. Even if I didn't love the rest of the book as much as I do, I'd reread it just for that scene, it's that good.
THE ENDING.
Two things to say here, Talia acts stupid during the full moon, but she gets a pass because she's been an angel every other time. She could've just waited till it was over though. Too late now.
And the very end, THAT'S SO EERIE. BUT THAT'S ALSO MY FAVOURITE VILLAIN SO FAR. If he dies in the next book I will be all kinds of upset.
Bonus: The short story linked, IT'S ADORABLE. I love Whitt even more now.
*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*