How did she make me fall in love even harder than I already was?

One of the hardest things to do is to make me love the second book more than I like the first. There is a tendency to have things slow down in the second book as it makes way to the climax of the story in a trilogy in my opinion. I can say without a doubt that it was not the case in this story. This book was even better than the first and had me devouring each word as if it was the very air I breathe.

I thought I loved Leo in the first book. However, that Leo has nothing on the Leo of this book. There was magic happening in this book as I not only experienced things that were happening from Haley's perspective but also from Leo's. It added depth to the story. The author's writing seemed even more poetic in how she crafted certain sentences and she kept me captivated throughout, even more so than normal.

Even though this technically is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, it is so much more than that, and in my opinion, I think that it is better than any of the other retellings that I have read. It is uniquely its own story and I love that. Strong characters, some of the HOTTEST (and I mean hotter than a Las Vegas sidewalk in August type of hot) smexy times (one scene in particular almost melted my kindle), and a great buildup of what is to come in the final book. I might have sworn when the end of the book happened and ended on a cliffhanger (by might, I TOTALLY did). All I can think about is how Leo is going to lose his ever-loving mind at how things ended in this book when he discovers it.

I love the little cameo of another favorite character of mine too. Highly recommend this book and author. She is one of my favorite discoveries of 2020. ( )