Fated Thorne by Susanne Valenti & Caroline Peckham
Why does the guardian bond not need to be consensual… That feels very predatory and fucked up. Meanwhile Tory is literally twin one of the most powerful fae to ever exist. I don’t believe for a single second she’s not powerful enough to break through the rape bond.
Speaking of Dante Oscara… (We weren’t, but the characters were) Doesn’t he have video blackmail on Lionel? I feel like I remember that from the Ruthless Boys but fuck me if I’m going to go back and find out. Anyway, I feel like I’m remembering that correctly, so… Why aren’t we using that against our new king? Dante is husbands in law with Gabriel, the Vegas’ brother. It would make sense that their goals would align to some degree or another. Are we just pretending Dante doesn’t have that blackmail now? He’s still being name dropped with Darcy using him as a cover to get in to see Lance which means we still have contact with him in some degree or another.
I love the growing friendship between Darius and Darcy. Not just them, but the Darcy and later Tory with all the Heirs. It’s so wholesome to see them bonding and loving each other and becoming a family.
As if Lionel weren’t bad enough, my boy Eugene!!! Of course he’s purchasing mass quantities and hoarding good luck crystals, that poor man suffered endless bad luck for the majority of his college years. I would too, man.
We keep dancing around an apology from Darius but he just never quite gets there and it’s beyond infuriating. Just nut the hell up and say it.
Excuse me while I crash tf out: IF ONLY A REIGNING SOVEREIGN CAN USE THE DAMN THING, WHY WOULD YOU UNEARTH IT FROM ITS HIDING PLACE WHEN LITERALLY ONLY LANCE ORION CAN GET TO IT WHILE LIONEL FUCKING ASSCRUX IS THE REIGNING FUCKING SOVEREIGN???????? THAT IS JUST ASKING FOR TROUBLE!!!!!!!!!
Darcy and the Heirs putting Washer in his place made me want to weep tears of joy. I am so over that human wet wipe.
I still get whiplash from the constant POV switching over the last 100 pages. I’ll never like it, I’ll never not complain about it. This isn’t a tv show where we can just pan the camera to fit the narrative. It’s a novel. Build the suspense through us NOT knowing wtf is going on with our favorite characters. Let us suffer and wonder a little. Then give us a full length chapter from their POV. I don’t want Darcy-3 pages, Tory-3 pages, Darius-4 pages, Orion-2 pages, Tory-4 pages, Darcy-3 pages. It’s mental gymnastics for me.
I’m so glad Clara was dead the whole time. Actual stakes for a character for once. However, she wasn’t a pivotal character to the core relationships of the book. Even Diego barely got any true on page time and they never committed to his relationship to Sofia for a reason. Darius has whole chapters from his POV. We know how his story will go.
All in all? Not thrilled with the ending. I was hoping to get some semblance of closure for at least one aspect and the closest we get is the Guardian Bond and sort of the Star Crossed Bond, not really, though, because Darius wasn’t actually shown having that “we can be together now” moment with Tory (AS I CALLED FROM THE BEGINNING BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY). I do like how the authors handled that, though. They didn’t directly say fuck you to the magic system like they did in Ruthless Boys, but gave us a new element (or should I say a rather old element) to the magic system that shows clear consequences (that Darius won’t actually face, let’s be real). It was a fun read, though. I didn’t want to bash my face into a wall.