It was the first moment of contentment I’d felt, the first moment when there wasn’t any pain. I didn’t want to hurt anymore. I didn’t want to be afraid of what was to come. I like my intestines in my stomach and not shoved into my lungs. You just keep that thing away from me." 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. Come out and play with me, my star. I know you’re in there somewhere, burning away where you think no one can see you. Imagine how brightly you’d shine if you embraced all that fire.” Caelum and Holt told Estrella exactly how I felt as a reader towards her hating Caelum for almost the entire first half of the book basically just because he is fae. “See how brightly you burn when you lean into all that hatred in your heart? Think of what you could do if you didn’t waste it on the one person in this world who loves you more than anything” “He is the same male he was a week ago. The only thing that’s changed is you” etc etc. 😩 It made her internal struggle feel that much more frustrating.

I like how possessive and protective he is of Estrella, he'd literally burn the world down for her. He's loyal and won't let any harm come to her — "Touch her and you die" trope right here. I absolutely loved the worldbuilding. It was well described, many details and the things we find about the fae and their world are really interesting.

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." And Estrellas flip flopping? SO ANGRY. She could not decide what she felt to make up her damn mind. And I get that’s a normal human thing to do but it was so drastic the turns she would take. She, almost immediately after learning of his complete betrayal and lies, sort of gets over it. I can’t fault her cause again this bitch is getting gas lit. When she finally accepts the bond, but not really cause we still need conflict between these 2, it feels so unearned. And of course he’s all “I knew you would eventually be so gas lit you’d think you were wrong and the cause of all this conflict” Character driven storytelling has been replaced by will-she won't-she nonsense where the female MC vacillates on whether or not she'll stay with the male MC. 'He lied to me, I'll hate him forever or die rather than be with him! But he's hot and uses his infinite regeneration to protect me, I guess I'll sleep with him instead.' Toxic with a capital T... Re-read #1: URGH, I still love this so much! I re-read it to get ready to get into the next book and I adored every moment. The suspense, the intrigue, oh my! I loved how the heroine rationalized away all the "coincidences" about the hero and any indication of something being slightly off about him. Like you go girl! The hero's sexual innuendos are gold and I love that even through it all he's SO emotionally available that it's disarming. Though on my second read though I did come across someone saying that another person had "eerie mismatched eyes" as a negative trait. In this house, we don't shame people for things they can't help. Heterochromia is a genetic mutation and it's not indicative of someone being good or bad. It just is. It's pretty cool if you ask me *shrugs*

The two main characters Estrella and Caelum where easy to fall in love with. But I definitely expected Caelum not to be telling the complete truth. And although some parts of this book ended up being a bit predictable, there was still so much going on I didn’t expect at all. And I loved every moment of this read. For nearly 400 years, the Veil has protected us from the Fae of Alfheimr. In their absence, our lives have shifted from decadence and sin to survival and virtue under the guidance of the New Gods. I've spent my entire life tending to the gardens next to the boundary between our worlds, drawn to the shimmering magic like a moth to the flame. By the end, I came to the conclusion that this book felt like one big filler but I adored every single second of it and the emotional damage it caused. Though one amazing thing came out of all this by the end: Lord Byron (I listened to the audiobook I have no idea how to spell anyone's name) is NO MORE. The cliffhanger for this one is rivaling the cliffhangers from the Blood And Ash series! Something I thought I would never say 😭

Living in a world where women are only meant to marry and bear children, she's had a lot to deal with in her life. She's trying to protect her family, seemingly naïve and fearful, she turns out to be a great character — brave, kind and sassy (just how I like them, heh) Getting information in this book was also very choppy. There seemed to be more emphasis on the romance aspect of this book then literally anything else, but when you have a book with a world and political system this complex, you should definitely be putting more energy into the detail of everything instead of your characters having sex just for the sake of having smut in your book. Again, the romance was the front runner for me, rather than the plot as I feel like I knew what was going to happen. But I am definitely going to be reading book two! I need to see how this unfolds!!! Holt sounds very promising as a character! he gives me total sassy wildhunt general, dare I make a Cassian comparison, vibes. I was really looking forward to this book. I had high hopes for this author being a diamond in the rough and this series being their chance to really grow and shine. Instead, this book is one of the worst I've ever read.

The plot? Literally what was it?? Why was he pretending to be human? Literally no motivation? Why didn’t he bust up and cut some people like the amazing men he has attempted to emulate? At least make it worth my time! The veil protecting the humans from the fae has fallen, and upon its destruction, a human woman named Estrella develops fae marks. This essentially means she has a fae mate she shares a soul with who will stop at no ends to find her and make her theirs. Humans have been taught since birth that the fae are evil, so when this mark is revealed Estrella flees her village not only to get away from her fae mate, but from the humans who want her dead for being marked. During her escape she runs into Caelum, another fae marked, and they decide they have a better chance of surviving together than they do apart. From here their journey to protect each other from all the dangers of this world begins. Book Genre: Adult, Dark, Fae, Fairies, Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Magic, New Adult, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Romance This was a really enjoyable read. I loved the world building in this book, it feels like it is set in the middle age with the whole book feeling a bit like ACOTAR from the start. The FMC Estrella kind of reminds me of Feyre in the beginning with her wandering the forest at night, which is forbidden by the king. What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods is the first book in a dark romance fantasy series on kindle unlimited. The second book in the series comes out in August 2022.All of that changes the day the Veil shatters, unleashing the fae upon our world once again. The magic of faerie marks those of us they mean to take, but the Mist Guard protecting Nothrek will kill us all before they let the fae have us. There's no choice but to flee everything I've ever known, not if I want to live to see my twenty-first birthday as a free woman.