✨Im Literary Anxious✨

𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲🕒: 2 Minutes

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: S.L. Prater ✍🏻 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 256 📖

“𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.”

🐦‍⬛ Murder Attempts = Flirting (Obviously)
💀 Shadow Daddy and Shadow Mommy
❤️ Poetry-writing MMC
🐦‍⬛ Hidden Identities
💀 Hunger Games-ish x Groundhog Day vibes
❤️ The Hogwarts Express’ Creepy Cousin
🐦‍⬛ Witches
💀 One Breathtaking Kiss

“𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙚.”

“𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳.”
 

S.L. Prater, 🙋🏻‍♀️ I have a question:

How dare you? 😩

What kind of bookish sorcery does this woman possess that makes me feel all the things in just 256 pages?

I went from heartbreak over Maven’s loss, to “Oh no he didn’t—that little piece of shit” levels of rage when Bram reappears after she leaves the Upper Realm (yes, that is an emotion, don’t @ me).
 

At just 17 chapters, the pacing does dip in a few places—but even then, nothing felt like filler. Every word had weight. S.L. Prater knows how to make a scene earn its place.

Maven is a gray witch who—OK, maybe had a minor unhinged moment—and tried to “off” the God of Death. (In her defense, her logic tracked… it was just a tad hasty.) Naturally, this lands her in the Under Realm and on what I lovingly refer to as the Creepy Hogwarts Express™—a purgatory-slash-Hunger-Games situation where sinners are thrown into never-ending trials.
 

“𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗱.” 🤷🏻‍♀️

“𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰.” 🤣

“𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙨𝙝𝙚’𝙨 𝙟𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝘾𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙊𝙡𝙙 𝙊𝙣𝙚, 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪?” 👀😐

“𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱, 𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸.” 🤔
 

Enter Asher: broody reaper, poet, and shadow daddy with a side of emotional intelligence and a man bun (aka my new religion). He basically invites himself into Maven’s ragtag coven—which, rude—but we allow it because he’s hot and clearly has trauma. He says he wants her help escaping the Under Realm. I’m not going to blame Maven, though, for thinking the vibe is more “mysterious agenda” than “transparent collaborator.”
 

There’s not much spice (we’re talking slight sizzle, no scorch), but S.L. has promised the heat gets cranked up in book two. My body—and Kindle—is ready 🫡

And finally… that cliffhanger?? RUDE.

I’m upsetty spaghetti we have to wait until next year to find out what happens with Maven, Asher, and the rest of our dark and witchy crew. Will she keep choosing vengeance? Will we get more poetry and pining?
 

Stay tuned. I know I will. 👀

For my KU book dragons, yes, it will be available on Kindle Unlimited!
And for those without KU, I have good news—𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘀 .𝟵𝟵𝗰 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗝𝗨𝗡𝗘 𝟮𝗻𝗱!