What Hunts Inside the Shadows
- Harper L. Woods
- Albany, WA
- January 21, 2023
GOODREADS BOOK BLURB:
Once, I fell in love with a man who deceived me.
For weeks, he stood by my side, twisting his words into pretty half-truths. He enraptured me with his smooth temptation, leaving no corner of my being untouched. He consumed my mind and my body, then finally claimed my heart for himself. But Caelum’s true identity is terrifying enough to bring me to my knees.
Then, I discovered the truth of who he is.
Caldris is whispered in the Nothrek wind. The legend we only speak of with hushed words, in shuttered rooms, for fear of drawing his wrath once again. His intentions are a mystery, his desires impure, and he seeks to shackle me to his side for all eternity. With the Wild Hunt as our guard, he points us back to where it all began: the village of Mistfell and the boundary where the Veil once shimmered in the wind.
Now, another secret crouches, poised to change everything.
The Mist Guard have been sworn to keep us from crossing into Alfheimr, and from treading Faerie soil, even if innocents must pay with their lives. They have orders to resurrect Mistfell’s shimmering barrier, but, once again, there’s a greater cost than what has been revealed. Once, the people of Northrek blamed me when the Veil fell.
For weeks, he stood by my side, twisting his words into pretty half-truths. He enraptured me with his smooth temptation, leaving no corner of my being untouched. He consumed my mind and my body, then finally claimed my heart for himself. But Caelum’s true identity is terrifying enough to bring me to my knees.
Then, I discovered the truth of who he is.
Caldris is whispered in the Nothrek wind. The legend we only speak of with hushed words, in shuttered rooms, for fear of drawing his wrath once again. His intentions are a mystery, his desires impure, and he seeks to shackle me to his side for all eternity. With the Wild Hunt as our guard, he points us back to where it all began: the village of Mistfell and the boundary where the Veil once shimmered in the wind.
Now, another secret crouches, poised to change everything.
The Mist Guard have been sworn to keep us from crossing into Alfheimr, and from treading Faerie soil, even if innocents must pay with their lives. They have orders to resurrect Mistfell’s shimmering barrier, but, once again, there’s a greater cost than what has been revealed. Once, the people of Northrek blamed me when the Veil fell.
SERIES / GENRES:
FIRST WORDS:
My soul had split. Half of it consumed by the panic coursing through my veins—the fear that I knew logically did not belong to me, but was hers. The other half of my very being, whom I had felt as the phantom whisper of a caress along my skin through torturous centuries of waiting.
MY REVIEW:
average:
☆☆☆☆☆ 3/5
I knew this was going to happen. What Lies Beyond the Veil was too good, and the second book in a series is almost always disappointing. It’s sad that What Hunts Inside the Shadows follows this trend, but there are some good moments.
Where I admired Estrella’s strength in What Lies Beyond the Veil, she seems to have lost it in What Hunts Inside the Shadows. Instead, her personality appears to fluctuate in every chapter. Every decision she makes – self-sacrifice, killing Caldris, appeasing the Fae marked, not caring what others think, giving into the mate bond – she changes her mind seemingly at will. Every time I accepted a choice, it changed without warning. It was incredibly frustrating.
We’ve also stumbled into the main problem with fantasy romance. Smut is wonderful. It never hurts to have a little spice in the narrative. But there is a time and a place, even for mated fae. And the time and place is not every other page. Instead of making the book more exciting or captivating, it makes it routine and uninteresting.
If you can get past all of the talking (and fucking), there are some very interesting magic moments. I have to agree with Caldris; snakes are the worst – but this new power being discovered was fascinating. By the end, it was exciting to see the development of this power, and I’m keen to see how it’s used in What Lurks Between the Fates.
I do wish the ending wasn’t so predictable. It was a shadow hanging over the second half of the book, knowing what was coming. And, sure, it makes you want to get your hands on the next book as soon as it comes out for some resolution, but it is a bit obvious.
Where I admired Estrella’s strength in What Lies Beyond the Veil, she seems to have lost it in What Hunts Inside the Shadows. Instead, her personality appears to fluctuate in every chapter. Every decision she makes – self-sacrifice, killing Caldris, appeasing the Fae marked, not caring what others think, giving into the mate bond – she changes her mind seemingly at will. Every time I accepted a choice, it changed without warning. It was incredibly frustrating.
We’ve also stumbled into the main problem with fantasy romance. Smut is wonderful. It never hurts to have a little spice in the narrative. But there is a time and a place, even for mated fae. And the time and place is not every other page. Instead of making the book more exciting or captivating, it makes it routine and uninteresting.
If you can get past all of the talking (and fucking), there are some very interesting magic moments. I have to agree with Caldris; snakes are the worst – but this new power being discovered was fascinating. By the end, it was exciting to see the development of this power, and I’m keen to see how it’s used in What Lurks Between the Fates.
I do wish the ending wasn’t so predictable. It was a shadow hanging over the second half of the book, knowing what was coming. And, sure, it makes you want to get your hands on the next book as soon as it comes out for some resolution, but it is a bit obvious.
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