✨Im Literary Anxious✨

𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲🕒: 3 minutes

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: Annie Anderson ✍🏻 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 424📖

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗗𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗬

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿: 🟦🟩🟨🟧
𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁: Trilogy
𝗘𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲: TBC
𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲: Multi-POV

𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙄 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙. 𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙄 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙙. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝, 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩.

Annie looked me dead in the eye and chose violence. 

Book one gave us dragons, magic, found family, and a heroine who solved most of her problems by either throwing hands or threatening to.

Don’t believe me? Check out my review of Ruined Wings.

Book two said:
Emotional damage, who art thou?

Vale continues to be my favorite kind of heroine. The woman walks into a room, identifies the biggest problem, and immediately decides violence is a reasonable solution.

Castle doors in the way?
Gone. 🙅🏻‍♀️

Siren queen causing problems?
Punched. 👊🏻

Someone tells her one of her mates might die?
Sword to the throat. ⚔️

As one does.

You may be thinking—that sounds like anger management issues.
To that I say: I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs.
This is a safe space.
You want to punch a bitch? Say less, I’ll hold her.
If you think this is too violent, you just haven’t met Selene. Bish had it coming. 

The relationship dynamics also leveled up in this one.

Kian may have started with the “I’m mean because I have feelings” approach, but we’re now solidly in the “breathe in her direction too hard and see what happens” stage of things. 

Xavier finally started letting some of his emotions see daylight, which was great for the story and terrible for my mental health.

And Idris… bless your heart.
I felt SO MANY things.

First he’s pining.
Then he’s protective.
Then he’s making objectively terrible decisions in the name of protection.
Then everything goes to hell.
Vale does exactly what she’s been working toward this entire series.

And Idris responds by being… Well. A bit of a shithole.
I understand he’s having feelings.
I simply wish he would stop having them at Vale.

And then there’s Rune. 

My beloved sarcastic emotional-support dragon.

“𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨, 𝙍𝙪𝙣𝙚.”
“𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘫𝘢𝘸 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘶𝘹𝘢. 𝘐𝘧 𝘴𝘰, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥.”

The dragon who alternates between wise mentor, disappointed uncle, and professional menace.
“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣. 𝘼𝙘𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩.”

The dragon who somehow continues to be the funniest character in every scene he’s in.
“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩, 𝙢𝙮 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙣. 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙙 𝙜𝙤𝙗𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄’𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧.”
“𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘸, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦?”
“𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙜𝙞𝙛𝙩.”

I just have one question for Annie… 

How dare you? 

Because WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL WAS THAT?

I spent the last section of this book cycling between:

😭
😡
😭
😡
😭

with occasional breaks to threaten fictional characters.

The best part?

I immediately opened book three.

Because apparently I enjoy suffering.

If you loved Ruined Wings, Stolen Embers raises the stakes, deepens the relationships, expands the worldbuilding, and emotionally curb-stomps you while you’re distracted by dragons.

Five stars.

Respectfully, Annie, I’d like compensation for my emotional distress.