The banter was great at times. Estrella is feisty and Caelum is very persistent. All he wants to do is protect her but she's very untrusting, so whenever he pushes, she pulls. But goodness does Caelum say a lot of great things. For example: "If this is what your hate feels like, then I can't wait to feel your love." I need to talk about Caelum. I loved getting his pov and finding out how much he loves Estrella. He is a SIMP for his woman. He’s possessive, growly, and everything I love, while also empowering Estrella to make her own choices and grow into herself. What’s not to love.

What Lies Beyond the Veil Quotes by Harper L. Woods - Goodreads What Lies Beyond the Veil Quotes by Harper L. Woods - Goodreads

Trigger Warning (18+): abuse, grooming, molestation (mentioned), violence, death of character (side) Okay so this was good. The beginning, to me, felt a little slow and took me a little to get invested. By 50%, not a whole lot had happened, but the last 25% got me super invested. Solid fantasy read with fae/human mates, inter-species war, witches, gods, and a violent FMC threatening to stab the love interest several times per chapter. The dynamic between Estrella (AMAZING NAME) and Caelum gave me Poppy/Cas vibes from From Blood and Ash. I will breakdown my reasoning for rating this book a 3.5 star-rating although it started out with a 4.Number one issue is the gas lighting. He is the most extreme gaslighter. It’s ridiculous at times. After he’s revealed to be a Fae and having lied to Estrella the whole first book he’s insistent that it’s her problem and she should get over it cause she loved him as a human. Like what? Dude you betrayed this woman then blamed her trauma on her. Him being a “bad guy” does not in my opinion mean he can treat Estrella like trash. He hammers on about how “oh she’s just denying herself she totally still loves me” is blood boiling. Never have a read a MMC so insistent that their mate just accept the bond like it’s her problem. One of the worst parts is he NEVER tried to see it from her point of view. He’s right, she’s wrong, she needs to just accept this thing she’s been terrified of. Oh and his so called bros and members of the Wild Hunt? Also abusive bastards. The leader, Holt, is just so upset that Estrella can’t just accept the bond and stop being so selfish “don’t you know this will help out in the realm you haven’t ever existed in and have no ties to?” Asshole. As an individual Estrella was a contradiction from start to finish and it was very frustrating. She wanted to be independent, but only when it was convenient. She’d get upset with Caelum’s possessiveness, but acted totally jealous herself. She would say she trusted Caelum with her life, but put a knife to his throat in self defense a scene later.. you get the vibe. A total hypocrite, and it got old real fast. She was also one of the densest FMCs I’ve ever read about. Yes she was naive because of her upbringing, but there is a difference between naive and totally oblivious.. and she definitely leaned towards the latter. Because life isn’t always tidy. We don’t always have the answers we want, and love isn’t always pretty,” Their romance relationship had a good start, the attraction was there from the beginning, but given the situation, it didn't develop until a little later.

What Lies Beyond The Veil - Abstract Books REVIEW - What Lies Beyond The Veil - Abstract Books

Estrella mentions that she either wants to die, would be fine with dying, should die, or is owed death at least 20 times throughout this novel. It’s concerning and also harmful. The world building is incredibly weak and there's little clarity. The spice is written with heart, the romance is written with heart, but the rest comes across as bland.

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The King really was something else in this, also the whole "lost purity thing" and now won´t be able to get married is quite sexist, but hey, like I said, I feel like this is middle age times. IT GOT A LITTLE MORE interesting with some new characters introduced later in the book. But it still wasn’t enough for me. There was an especially misogynistic characters introduced, and I think the point was to emphasize feminism by giving Estrella a chance to stand up for herself, but all these conversations just made me cringe so much. DNF at 56%…life’s too short to read books that I can already guess the ending of (and it’s annoying). Our servers are getting hit pretty hard right now. To continue shopping, enter the characters as they are shown

What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods | Waterstones What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods | Waterstones

i don’t know how to explain this in the right words, but it feels like recently i’ve read a million new adult fantasy books that follow what i personally like to call the “acotar formula” and this book did exactly that. My favorite thing is when book 2 is better than book 1, and book 2 blew it out of the water for me. The character development was everything I wanted. MOST OF THE BOOK was sooo boring. Like most of it was just them walking around, hiding, getting into a skirmish, walking around again. The ‘point’ of the story and overall goal wasn’t super clear and wasn’t developed enough to keep me interested. The fae are free again and looking for the fae-marked. Every human has been warned about how vile and cruel creatures fae are. overall, this book was just too boring for my taste. i read it because i had read the first one, but i can't bring myself to care about it by now. while i am a bit curious about the twist at the end, it's not enough to make me read the third book with all that i found wrong in this one, so i'll guess i'll never know. i can live with that for now.Expect a catchy story with a morally grey love interest and steamy romance. If you're a fan of From Blood and Ash give this one a try. I like my intestines in my stomach and not shoved into my lungs. You just keep that thing away from me." No, Little One. I'm going to love you. Until you forget what it is to hurt and then long after that. Until the scars you wear like armor have faded from memory, and only we remain." I did enjoy this book and of course, I still want to read the next book coming out in the series but I'm just hoping that number three will have some more action and creative spicy scenes!

What Lies Beyond the Veil By Harper L. Woods |The Works What Lies Beyond the Veil By Harper L. Woods |The Works

Overall, I was intrigued by the storyline and worldbuilding, however, the characters and romance fell short for me. Regardless, I am curious as to what happens next, so I may read the next book. Their journey for survival and to find safe shelter is so much fun to read. Caelum is hot af and Estrella is a smart and independent woman who sometimes makes mistakes but I love her anyway. Their tension and banter is one of my favorites to read. This book has been on my TBR for so long because I wasn’t quite sure if it would live up to the hype surrounding it.entertaining if you enjoy mindless romance. lol. because thats all this is. and i guess a little character development. and a tad bit of world building. but there is zero plot progression, which forces me to label this as filler. Overall it wasn´t a great book and I am kind of glad I finished it now. I don´t think I will continuing the series. I would have rated it lower but Caelum made me bump up the rating. His love for Estrella is so so pure, it's hard not to love him for that. The angst is good but quite repetitive. I found myself getting tired of it in the first half, but the second half of it was good.