trigger warnings – Got Meghan's Blog

Hello again.

A couple of years ago, I finally finished reading Glass Sword and it wasn’t an easy journey, as I thought it was very boring. Despite my love for these characters and the story Victoria had written, that book was awful! Once I completed it, I really didn’t want to quit the series–I was worried about it–but I tried my best to have some faith… and I’m happy to say, I enjoyed King’s Cage a lot.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Some things like degradation, forced prisonment, childhood trauma, PTSD are included in the book and this post. So, if you’re not into any of these themes, please ignore the review.

In this breathless third installment to Victoria Aveyard’s bestselling Red Queen series, allegiances are tested on every side. And when the Lightning Girl’s spark is gone, who will light the way for the rebellion?

Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother’s web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.

As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows. And Cal, the exiled prince with his own claim on Mare’s heart, will stop at nothing to bring her back.

When blood turns on blood, and ability on ability, there may be no one left to put out the fire—leaving Norta as Mare knows it to burn all the way down.

taken from Goodreads.

One of my somewhat favorite things about having multiple POVs (point of views) telling the story. I wasn’t a big fan of it at first, but I thought they were essential to the narrative because Mare Barrow has always been the heart of the series, adding newblood Cameron in the beginning shows you the inner workings of The Scarlet Guard. She also has a different intention for joining the Guard, and she develops a “friendship” with Farley, so you get to see that highly respectful and intimating character in a softer tone compared to the previous books.

A prison where I was kept. Starved, neglected, forced to watch people around me wither and die because they were born…wrong.

While I wasn’t for the sudden stop of seeing Cameron’s POV, you do get another one, with Evangeline. This was an interesting look into the imposing character that is Lady Evangeline Samos. She has a bigger role concerning Maven, as she is now engaged to the other Calore brother. She is still an enemy to Mare, but once as the reader gets into her first chapter, you realize there is a lot at stake for her, and goes back to a theme that surrounds everyone, and that is their families.

My only thing about the entire book was the big battle. I believe a lot of it could have been saved for War Storm, but then again, the direction as the characters moved wouldn’t feel as authentic without some of the elements featured in the last bit of the book. I love a good battle, but again, I would have enjoyed it more if we were able to let Mare take a break and find her footing again. And maybe once I get into the thick of the final book, my tone will change of those last ten or so chapters. However, that’s just my opinion.

“Not a god’s chosen, but a god’s cursed,” I murmur, recalling the words he scrawled in a forgotten book.

I am thoroughly excited to start on the final book. I have already read a few chapters and I love it, mainly because we get yet another point of view that may be interesting to see later on.

Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to spend a lot of time outside, we have really bad mosquitos and since we are heading into the summer heat faster than usual, that is yet another factor in my quest to read my fantasy, larger-than-life books with my cats. So, in other words, don’t expect the next review of this series to come out anytime soon.

Have you read “King’s Cage” by Victoria Aveyard yet? If you have, what were your thoughts on this book?

Hello.

I can be easily influenced when it comes to books. Sometimes the cover can be enough but every once in a while, I find a book that is being shared by a favorite of mine: Brooklyn. I follow her on Goodreads and somehow I found her on Instagram and she is a lover of romance books like me, but she creates edits and shares cover reveals, deals and steals and the occasional recommendation, which is how I found out about this book: The Bratva’s Heir by Jane Henry and Sophie Lark.

I still consider myself a newbie while reading these dark romance stories, it can usually be a hit or miss, especially if any kind of mafia is involved which I know a lot of these books are–I mean this series is called Underworld Kings, which the concept is both odd and superficial in a lot of ways, that being said, I find it incredibly interesting how this series isn’t written by one author. There are over 17 books but they are all written by various women! I have the first book “”Razor’s Edge” by Mia Crawford on my e-reader to hopefully get me through these cold months a little easier! The entire series is available for FREE on Kindle Unlimited at the moment so if this book seems right up your alley, you should check them out soon. Every story is a standalone as they can discuss a different gang from each ethic background and it’s not just Italian and/or Irish. This is my second mafia dark romance where it is centered around the Bratva, which is the Russian branch and this was definitely my favorite of the two so far!

WARNING: There are spoilers below, along with some trigger that I discuss in more detail, such as bondage, rape, and regular BDSM terms!

Prison’s a dark, bleak place.
But Clare brings me light.
My sweet little bird will be my ticket to freedom.

The first time I saw her, I had to have her.
From her big, dark eyes, to the curves she can’t conceal…
The way she can only hold my gaze so long.
The way she shivers every time I move inside these chains.
And most of all, the way she’ll bend the rules when I order her to…

I know a natural submissive when I see one.

Her degrees and titles don’t change who she is: a woman who will bend to my will.
She doesn’t know it yet, but Clare is mine.

Mine to train.
Mine to protect.
And mine to control…

taken from Goodreads.

When I began, it had a similar backstory like when Harley Quinn meets and falls in love with The Joker, however, the main defense with this, Clare did not have any romantic feelings for Constantine when they first met. He scared her like he should have for any woman honestly! Despite the events that happen within that first day together, I do not believe she was interested in him as much as he was, and even after they make their escape and what happens at the club would technically be in a form of rape. I know she doesn’t give rise to either situation but this part was a bit difficult to pull away from the act itself.

I understand that this is one of the main factors of these darker romances, but this was my first time since reading Fifty Shades of Grey back in 2011 that I’ve been brought to a similar scene where both female characters are subjected to things they may not want to experience but yet do not voice the other person’s actions immediately. This was one of my reasons why I abandoned Christian Grey in the first place. What I want to explain is that, I immediately saw a different side to both of these characters than what I saw between Christian and Anastasia throughout reading Fifty Shades. Clare was understanding and become much more confident as we continued whereas Constantine was able to flourish as a person outside of his persona there within the Bratva.

My whole body fits inside his in our reflection. I’m fully outlined with raw, muscled, inked alpha male, and I. am. here. for. it.

When there were BDSM elements, and the book is full of them by the way!

They were almost sensual which I really enjoyed since that lifestyle seems so frightening to outsiders, myself included–even though I read these types of books, I don’t consider to know the ins and outs of this style! The one thing I do know is there it is mutual understanding between the couple, and the other’s limits so even though Constantine is definitely an alpha male in this story, he was amazingly gentle to Clare. One thing that I am also learning about these books is that the authors are trying to portray these violent people as real human beings. Who they allow into their inner circles, much less their bed, has to be understandable about their intentions as a whole and change can be accomplished in some form or another too.

Have you read “The Bratva’s Heir” by Jane Henry and Sophie Lark yet? If you have been reading the rest of the Underworld Kings series, do you have a favorite book?