The Arcane: Part 2 Author C.J. Cooke
Book Review
5 out of 5 stars!
First and foremost! This is part two of a duet! If you haven't read, "The Arcane: Part 1" go read it first otherwise there will be spoilers ahead. This book completes the duet! As the author has mentioned on sites to review or purchase the book, this story revolves around a high school with high school students. But all of the main characters are adults.
"Three nights until the full moon. Three chances to die. Or, three chances to live." - Remi
Remi narrowly escaped the Fae Queen's wrath and warped plan for Ellis and herself. But now her and her guys will have to face something much worse, The Wild Hunt! To gain full freedom from the Fae, they must take on the task of out running The Wild Hunt or suffer the Queen's future plans for the group. To top it all off, the school has a border around it locking everyone inside. . .just perfect.
Will Remi and her mates make it out alive? Will they be able to hold off The Wild Hunt from harming the kids? And will Remi ever realize she's no longer "alone" with her struggle of taking on the world?
"I hear you've been getting yourself into trouble again." - Hunter
I mean it is Remi we are talking about, so this should be a statement not requiring explanation or an answer. Remi's still taking on everything as though she's the only one able to do so. But the guys are slowly working on her and showing Remi that she's no longer alone. I loved getting to see more of their personalities and bonds with her.
I love Remi and I understand the need and drive to be independent. Sometimes being so focused on that and not knowing or understanding there are other ways of doing things. She's learning and growing all throughout this arc!
Remi's not the only one who's growing. I enjoyed seeing the coming to age story of Jared, not a full arc on it but a start! He's a character I have grown to utterly love and would not mind seeing a book focused on him. One where he's an adult and through the teenage years. I loved seeing his growth and how his arc proceeded in this story!
Being locked down with a whole group of people isn't the best-case scenario. Tensions rise and secrets are out! Ellis is already dreading the paperwork he's going to be buried under if they make it out. Ellis is still my favorite! Hunter would have to be my second favorite, but I cannot just choose one. I mean that's why I am here. . . This is a why choose duology with all the gushy romance and very spicy scenes.
I really loved that we got to have some scenes from Ellis' POV while he was shifted! Dragon! I loved how the author wrote in the details of Ellis' dragon and how he moved through the sky and battles. I also loved that Ellis' dragon wasn't just super overpowered. He had limitations and setbacks which I respected because it made his character more believable. Plus, if he was overpowered this book would have been over very quickly.
I liked how the bonds the group was forming had some twists to it. I thought it was an interesting twist and one that made so much sense. There were several twists that were just amazing! I will say there were some scenes I was literally holding my breath with until things were okay. This part of the duology is focusing on survival so there is violence and some gore.
This part was about healing from the past, surviving the present so as to have a beautiful future, and realizing that relying on others is not a weakness. We get so caught up in our search for independence and proving we are just that. We soon forget having someone else to lean on isn't a sign of weakness or regression back to being a dependent. Sometimes having a pack can make you stronger and they can help amplify your strength.
This may be a little bit of a spoiler and you are more than welcome to skip this paragraph. Just a heads up. There are some deaths in the book of high schoolers. Because of course, when we were teenagers, we were hotheads who believed we knew everything. Some believed just this and let the hormones take over, but they also had good reasons. The author does an amazing job with writing and does NOT detail anything out. You understand what happens and feel the emotions along with the main character POV, but that's it.
I loved the spicy scenes in this book. Though there were teases to MM action, but we didn't get any full-blown MM scenes. Majority were centered around MF, MFM, or MFM with little helping hands of MM. They were toe curling in several places, and I loved all the tension! There's blood play because of a vampire mate, but nothing crazy and over the top. Along with biting for the mate marks, multiple POVs, and language.
This was a very good ending to the duet, and I have to admit I was a little nervous with the end. But the author did a phenomenal job bringing it all to a close with all the HAE and the pacing was perfect. I will say if the author wanted to, she could write more books within this world setting. Or even books with side characters being the main. There's a certain hound I would not mind reading about and seeing what comes next for them. . .
Enjoy this wild adventure until the very end! I could gush so much about this read and all the intricacies that took place within the pages. But you will just have to read the book and find out for yourself. Don't forget to give the author some stars!
CJ Cooke - Paranormal Romance Author (authorcjcooke.com)
CJ Cooke (@catherinejcooke.author) • Instagram photos and videos
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