After loving The Hurricane Wars I was delighted to get to spend more time with Talasyn and Alaric in A Monsoon Rising. We pick up right where the first book left off, Talasyn and Alaric are married and Talasyn is preparing to become the Night Empress. They need to work together to protect the world against the Moonless Dark, despite holding allegiances to complete opposite factions. You get politics, you get a dope magic system, enemies to lovers, the world is set in south east Asia - truly, what more could you ask for and go get to reading! 

Thea Guanzon does such a great job getting the reader inside both Talasyn and Alaric's headspace, while also ensuring that the other characters surrounding them are not just caricatures for them to volley off of. I absolutely adore the relationship between Alaric and Sevaim and was so happy to see more of those two together in the second book. Seeing how Alaric grew over the book with Talasyn doing her best to make her own decisions in a difficult situation was so gratifying. The mutual longing throughout the book is delicious. 

My literal only regret in reading this early is that now I'll have even longer to wait for the next one. And also, what a cliffhanger!! I highly recommend this one and if you haven't read the first one make sure you get right on it!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and to Avon and Harper Voyage for the advanced copy.