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4.75 Stars! I listened to the audio book for this one 🎧, narrated by Laura Horowitz. SO GOOD!
I really enjoyed this book from start to finish—it followed a similar structure to Phantasma (i.e. rounds of games and trials), but definitely still felt unique. And it was chalk full of my favorite tropes: Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, games and trials, he falls first, lost memories and bargains with a devil. 👌
Genevieve is so different from her sister and I connected with her on a deeper level than I did Ophelia in book 1. She isn’t over-powered, she’s clumsy and a little rash at times, she doesn’t take crap from anyone. I adored her.
This book had games and trials and enough twists along the way that it kept me on my toes. Nothing wild, but I never wanted to stop listening! And the build up before the spice was great—I felt like the characters really had a connection before anything physical happened between them, and there was good tension before the spice kicked in. I thought this and the way Kaylie wrote the ending were two things that made me like this installment a little more than Phantasma (don’t get me wrong…I still loved book 1!).
This was largely a stand-alone story. It helps to read book 1 and there are clear hints about where book 3 might go, but by and large it is its own story and I love that it wraps up so nicely. A clear beginning and ending.
SPOILERY THINGS I LOVED:
- Shadow Daddy Alert! — Rowin gives me a Ruhn vibe. Or a cross between the refinedness of Rhysand (i was just waiting for him to pick a piece of lint off his shirt 😂) and the grittiness of Xaden (lethal when he needs to be). But I liked that he clearly has a softer side. The ending of the book really cinched it for me—I’m a Rowin fan.
- Forced proximity is my jam. And a forced marriage??? Sign me up. 😆
- Umbra!! 🥹 A fluffy black fox as a familiar to our shadowy MMC…how could anyone not love that?
- The twist at the end! The fact that he trades his own immortality for Genevieve’s memories and he chooses to live a mortal lifespan with her is a different ending than we usually see in books like this and I loved it! As much as I love a “happily *forever* after” ending, I hope that doesn’t change as we progress in future stories.
- The little nuggets about where book 3 might go! Why did she mention that Genevieve remembers Salem’s real name?? And what implications does that give?? At some point Salem is going to have to face his father, right??
WHY THE .25 STAR REDUCTION?
There’s something about the length of these books that I can’t put my finger on. I feel like they aren’t long enough to do justice to all of the story plot lines or characters that are introduced, but at the same time I appreciate that they aren’t 800+ pages. Half of me really likes that Kaylie is efficient and sometimes short and sweet with her endings, and the other half of me wants more detail!!
Overall I definitely recommend the Wicked Games series! This installment might be my favorite!
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