Cyn trying to protect all the girls that Soren has taken is so brave and courageous of her especially knowing that her actions will have horrible consequences. Cyn making that to give her and the guys the best chances to make it out of the skull brotherhood alive was genius Particularly on Cyn’s part, due to the battle she had suffered through leading to her having to endure her own inner obstacles before fully reuniting with Deana-Dhe mentally and physically once and for all. But nothing is ever that simple when it comes to us. True happiness only comes when you’re free. Free to love. Free to dance. Free to live. Ah, I super love this book. Like I am super obsessed with this. I love Cyn. She is so fierce and so clever minx. I love the men. You will slowly, slowly and I promise you will fall in love with them. It is a slow burn but their chemistry is so electric and I knew from chapter 6 that I would cry from this book and the angst would be so good. This is really good shit. I would say this book is a diamond itself to be honest. There was also the case of appearances being made by her family members, which brought forth some revelations bringing more to the story from what was revealed, filling in some missing pieces when it came to Cyn’s life story.

This book hits some deep places. It’ll make you cry and smile and everything in between. It’s dark on some levels, yet no longer enemy/bully behavior we saw in book 1, thankfully. I loved the growth for all the characters, as we all the character crossovers! I would definitely recommend this book! Bea did a good job with the first part to the duet series in not only bringing the characters to life, given all that we learn about each of them. Courtesy of their individual POV chapters. Holy Mother of Dark Granulation. This is the one to read. Don’t get me wrong, everyone else is great in this shared universe, but this is the crème de la crème. But if I am the apple they never wanted to bite, then they are the snakes willing to use me for their own benefit. Another thing I like about this series and the world that Bea has created is that it's contemporary with a touch of paranormal/magic which I never see! I usually read things that lean heavily into contemporary or paranormal but not both. To explain, it's set in a contemporary world but we've got clairvoyant characters who see visions of the future and an herbalist FMC whose so good at her craft some could argue she's a green witch! It helps to add the perfect amount of magic while still keeping everything set in our modern world!

Success

Furthermore, it is important to note that diamonds do not hold their value as well as other investments. While they may be a girl’s best friend, Part One focused on the events that took place at the end of Debts & Diamonds,leading to the showcasing of two different journeys. The different POVs allow us to see the inner workings of the group dynamic and I loved it! I also really liked how the past was chronicled so we could read all the events that lead up to the present without the book being an academy romance.

I still don’t feel like I’ve seen them be seriously formidable and scary. Call me crazy, but if I’m reading a duet where they’re the main characters, I should walk away feeling like I completely understand why they're such a big deal! So far in this world, the Breakers and the Masks have both come across as more competent, in their books. The Deana-dhe seemed more formidable in Academy of Stardom than they did in their own books. Additionally, the resale market for diamonds can be challenging. Unlike other luxury items such as designer handbags or watches, diamonds are not as easily resold. The demand for diamonds can fluctuate, and finding a buyer who is willing to pay a fair price for your diamond can be difficult. This can result in a loss of value when trying to sell your diamond, further decreasing the potential financial return on your investment.Deana-dhe are twisted sociopaths and sexy as hell. They trade information for debts owed to them at a time of their choosing. We take a look at the early days of these debt traders. The heat in book 2 is HOT and many developments occur. There are scenes of MM and MFM so if that is not your thing then skip ahead! Overall, the book was written well and the characters made you love the world. I mention this in every review but idc, Bea's writing is beautiful, she is one of the few authors whose writing can captivate me so thoroughly with every book of hers I read! She makes me feel so much emotion while I read and I love that she consistently prioritizes her characters making emotional progress before any spice comes along, it makes the spicy scenes feel so much more significant and intimate and unsurprisingly I loved it in this book too!

I thought book 2 was full of emotion, tension, heartbreak, humor, and everything you want in a book. I liked book 1 but I liked book 2 even more. I think this one showed the brutality from outside the harem more and the group coming together to save Cyn, even with their sworn enemies as their allies, it was just a beautiful story with how it unfolded. Book 1 focused on how the guys tortured and bullied Cyn when they were kids, how they ended up the way they did at the end of the Masks and the Dancer, but this one gave us more depth of who they are now, how they overcome deplorable situations, and how they become a cohesive and strengthened unit, family by the end. And again loved all the cameos!! There was always a change between the present and the past and that was done by having a chapter in the present and then immediately having one in the past. I myself had a lot of trouble with that at the beginning because I was more interested in the present, and didn't find the chapters in the past interesting. However, the chapters in the past are necessary to understand the storyline.

The second issue I had with this book is a death that happens in the middle, of Faith, Cyn’s new friend who she meets during her time kidnapped by the Skull Brotherhood. Her death feels needlessly tragic and traumatic, like Tragedy Porn just for the sake of it. An author’s note at the end explains that she didn’t plan to kill Faith, but it just happened, and she’s justifying it by saying that sometimes in life, good people die. We all know that! Dark romance readers aren’t looking for extreme realism in these stories! We also don’t need a lesson about how life works!

I’ll be honest, Academy of Stardom is one of my favorite RH series....that said, all the books that Bea Paige has put out since then have been not bad, but just okay. So, I was pleasantly surprised this was very enjoyable. It’s definitely the best thing she’s written since Finale. Yet it worked well since it played in keeping us in suspense at times from the build up that kept us hanging on. Particularly when it came to the mystic element that was included, considering the part it played with having connections to Cyn and Arden due to the special gifts they possessed. Some of the things they did to Cyn were downright awful but there were also so many sweet moments too mixed in. They were clearly fighting their attraction and connection with Cyn at every turn and failed more often than not and then would punish her to reset that boundary. Those moments were really hard to read especially the tree scene. I don't often like to bounce between the past and the present but I'm really grateful that Bea chose to splice the two together. For every chapter or event in the present that they experienced, we got to see the history that sparked that turmoil for them.Thanks so much, Bea for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. OMG, this book may be my favorite in Bea's overall series. It's so angsty, powerful, and the most amazing enemies to lovers I have ever read. I had to devour this book in one sitting. There is no shot I couldn't put it down! Narration was good again. Nothing more to say, same small criticisms but the emotion in this one was more intense than the others. With the different baddies and the aftermath of their chaos and destruction, the confrontation with new characters, the deaths, etc. So an emotional rollercoaster, but the narrators did a fab job bringing the characters to life in my head while I listened, I felt like I was in the studio, their home, Pen’s old family home, the bar, etc. The narration just helped prove this could be an incredible TV show and how the readers would eat every word up haha.