OMG!!! This was utterly amazing, glorious, wonderful and still FLUFFY, but I quite frankly could not put this instalment down! I loved seeing the new parts of the world we didn't see in book one. I love the POV of Aurelia and MY GOD....the banter was just so good...

**Please note: this is Book 2 in a series that cannot be read as a standalone even if the main love interests have changed. As a result, there might be spoilers for Book 1 - so if you do not want to see those, I might advise not reading the rest of the review until you have completed A Dream of Stars and Darkness.

I am not going to lie and say I wasn't DYING for this story during A Dream of Stars and Darkness. I fell in love with Aurelia and Aspen when I met them in book 1 and it broke my heart in utter pieces to see that they were basically enemies at the end. I felt Aspen's behaviour towards her was uncalled for and very selfish, so to see how broken Aurelia was at the start of this book while he kept her at an arm's length and didn't forgive her actions was difficult. All I wanted to do was hug her like Ember and tell her Aspen is an ass and he will come around eventually.

This is a second-chance romance immediately following the events of Book 1. Ember is now Queen of all Fae and married and bonded to Hadrian. Soon emissaries of the Dwarven King approach offering help in the Seelie and Unseelie war if they can offer aid against a blight damaging their crops. Aspen is sent due to his nature magic and Aurelia joins him as his protector.

This book has the following tropes which are sweet as candy!
▶ Second Chance Romance
▶ Enemies Hate to Lovers
▶ One Horse Bird
▶ Forced Proximity
▶ Fated Mates
▶ Love Triangle (kinda)

What I loved about this was that the world-building was taken up by a few notches but it was still easy to understand and beautifully described. I felt like in book 1 that the worldbuilding lent itself to "general knowledge" of Seelie/Unseelie Fae so we didn't see as much of the world explored. This book introduces new magic, new creatures (most of which are given names by Aurelia after flowers), and new races and takes place for the majority of the book in the gorgeous underground Dwarven Cave system!

The relationship dynamic between Aurelia and Aspen was perfect and I completely prefer them over Ember and Hadrian (Sorry, Not Sorry). Mostly because Aspen seems to draw on his "hidden" jovial spirit (which he lost after Aurelia broke his heart) in sarcastic comments that made me giggle like a teenager. Their relationship felt so real, and to see the transition of the relationship bloom from anger to jealousy to almost "angry attraction" to "no man will ever touch you again" was just what I needed for my heart to melt!!!

The steam was also taken up by a few notches and this seemed a little kinkier. All I can say is Aspen has an AMAZINGLY useful power that can summon binding vines when he needs them...

There were a few things that kept this from being a full 5 stars.
1. Whilst I love Aspen's Power he mentioned that he can only grow things from seeds, and I am not sure how he made vines sprout when they were having some naughty time...Did he just carry them in his pocket???
2. Madeleine Eliot has proven she can write and she can write a good book, but her action scenes are VERY rushed and over very very quickly. I am not sure if she is saving the action for the "war" coming in book three but I felt that some of these scenes were over too soon.

Especially the escape from the Dwarven Realm as this was over in a few pages, the same as when the escape happened from the Unseelie Court...I just wanted these explored more

 
3. Even though Aurelia's magic was small, the plot felt a little repetitive for her to experience the "unlocking her power" as much as Ember did.
4. 

I do not like surprise pregnancy as a trope. With war coming, this adds a complication and I want a couple to enjoy themselves first and find who they are without a baby. I know why it was done but something else could have been used to motivate why Aurelia wasn't going to be an assassin anymore. I also felt it very irresponsible how much Ember is trying for a baby and validated when it was called out in the book by Hadrian that it's not a good idea with the war coming - save this bliss for the Final Epilogue :P

 

Overall you would do yourself a disservice not reading this especially if you love Fae Fantasy Romance Books! Madeleine Eliot has added herself to my auto-buy author list and I cannot wait for the final book where Seline should get her happy ending!!!