Queen of Myth and Monsters (Adrian X Isolde, 2) Paperback – December 20, 2022

I bought as a gift and was so pleasantly surprised that this copy was signed by the author! The book came in pristine condition and wrapped well.This book as well as its author live rent free in my head consistently. If you like beautiful writing, creative storylines and spice you’d love this!

4⭐️ 3🌶️I finished the audiobook about an hour ago and I’m still feeling a little shell shocked. I loved this book so much, I love these characters so much!Scarlett does such an amazing job of writing characters I care deeply about. I have become so invested in Isolde and Adrian’s relationship and I was so excited to read about how things would change now that she wasn’t fighting her attraction to him and embraced their relationship.I love Isolde, her fighting spirit, and her eagerness to protect others even when it mean endangering herself. But sometimes she would frustrate me with her impulsive decisions and explosive temper. Then I realised that despite learning more about the history of her soul, she is actually quite young. I think she grew a lot in this book. She was willing to ask others for help, find sympathy for those who scare her, and forgive others who have wronged her in the past. My heart broke for the betrayals she is still trying to recover from in the last book and broke again as she and Adrian were betrayed again by those closest to them.After the last book Adrian could do no wrong in my eyes. He was the perfect morally grey character who would burn the world for his love. In this book we really got to understand his ruthless strategy and prioritising usefulness instead of things like loyalty. I would get so defensive whenever Isolde lashed out at him in anger, but sometimes he really did deserve it. I still love him to bits though and can probably justify away any of his actions.This book ended so abruptly. I am now desperate for the next one. But the bonus chapter at the end was a little bittersweet but really helped wind me down.Lilly Drake did a fantastic job of narrating. I love listening to her. Curt Bonnem’s voice is amazing too and had me wishing we had more chapters from Adrian’s POV.

Maybe it’s just my preference but it’s hard to connect with characters that have absolutely no humanity. They seem very one notes. The main characters in this story are worse than the villains so it’s difficult to root for them.The writing style also isn’t my favorite. Characters, themes, and important details are introduced only pages before they become relevant. It reads as if the author had no idea what she wanted to say. It makes each big moment pretty predictable.

Really enjoyed the character development and healthy plot. Would recommend easily. Each character has a story and the history is well knitted together

I started this book a bit disappointed because it felt slow in the beginning, and I just didn't get a good sense of the direction we were going in. However, the book does pick up, and I felt that once it did, it just kept getting better and better, so if you start the book and it seems slow, just keep pushing. I did read a review about a complaint of there being just sex and fighting between Adrian and Isolde which there is a lot of that but I think it highlights an important part of their dynamic they are very different in their views and motives for how things should be done yet they still compliment eachother. This book was also different from the first in the sense that I thought I had an idea of who Adrian was but really he is a lot more tormented than I thought and not as untouchable as I precieved him to be the first book. This really added dimension to his character for me, but I can see how some people may not like that development into his character. I did appreciate Isolde's growth. I always liked her character, and I still do. I can also empathize with her wanting to become stronger to protect herself from always be targeted and her people. All in all I think it was a great continuation, and I look forward to the next book.

This is the second book in the duology. It was great. I enjoyed the story. I feel like the ending is open ended. Like there could be more to this. And I hope there is.

REAL RATING: 3.5/5 ⭐️i got this book shortly after it was released and got about 2/3 of the way through it, and then didn’t pick it up again for about 6 months.reading it was weird… i enjoyed the first book and was looking forward to this one. specifically, i wanted to see how the cosmology of the world expanded and well, smut. the book did deliver on both of those fronts but i just wasn’t as into as i was when i read the first book. i can’t even figure out what made it feel so different, though i do know that my gap in reading didn’t help on this front.i feel that the book went forward but also nowhere until the absolute end. i say forward because i can name many things that happened and changed the story + lots of background was revealed. the plot points were a good mix of expected & surprising. i say nowhere because there wasn’t much resolution to any of those revelations. i’m not holding this against scarlett st. clair (or decreasing my rating) because i think this is a common thing in trilogies/longer series. i’m including this in my review because others may want to wait until the release of the third book to read this one if they find set up with no payout dissatisfying.interestingly, when i did finally pick up the book again to read the last third, i enjoyed it and decided that i’d stick with the series. the ending was just enough of a cliffhanger to get me stoked for the next novel. the enjoyment in finishing the novel is what pushed this from 3 stars to 3.5 stars.