I enjoyed this book. It ended on a cliffhanger and I liked it enough that I will read the second one right away. The vibe of the book is kind of Six of Crows meets Peaky Blinders. 

FMC Willow lives in our world and her life is a bit messy. She has been hearing a voice and one night gets high and ends up entering a portal to another world where she is discovered by MMC Caz. Willow is brave and dealing with grief seemingly all by herself. Caz is the Monarch of Blackwater, one of multiple territories in this other world. With his penchant for violence and the weight of responsibility he bears, he is like a mix of Tommy Shelby and Kaz Brekker (right down to the gloves and touch aversion). 

The world building is pretty smooth. There is magic and potions and feuding peoples and class hierarchies, all of which  add plenty of drama to the plot. Some of the plot around the tethers gets a little confusing. Hopefully that is ironed out in book 2.

The secondary characters are lots of fun. Caz’ family are definitely reminiscent of the Shelbys, though slightly less dysfunctional. I hope we see more of Juniper, Maeve, and Killian in book two. I almost like them better than the MCs. 

It is a bit of a slow burn but eventually Willow and Caz have some pretty spicy moments. The tether that binds them seems to be the driving force of the attraction. There is not much in the way of banter or of those little moments that show us they are falling, rather than telling us. Caz can be a bit dominant but other than that, nothing k!nk-e. I give the spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️. Actually, no. Make that 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ based on the s3xt!ng scene. IYKYK. 🥵

The book is described as dark fantasy romance. There are some darker themes to the plot but the spice is pretty conventional. Nor is there anything I would label dark in their relAtionship. Instead, the darkness comes through in trafficking, SA, drug use, and so forth in the plot. So I would say it is dark fantasy and a romance. But not necessarily dark romance. At least as far as I understand it.

For diverse representation there is a fair bit of both racial and class diversity. Willow and several members of Caz’s family are Black. Caz is multiracial though white-passing. The Blackwater territory seems to be more working class than Vanora and, even within Vanora, there are class disparities. 

Overall, I recommend the book. It was an entertaining fantasy world with fun characters and some decent spice. ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ / 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️