the last book set up this one to be a tension filled, close proximity, enemies to lovers (what else could you ask for!) instead, i think we got an attempt at that. the main characters were sooo cringey. their internal dialogue and conversations were nearly unbearable to me. adding to that, the fatal attraction and chemistry they were supposed to have felt so bland. it didn’t help the build up and it didn’t make the story more engaging, it was just looong and repetitive. i nearly DNFed around 60% but i persevered at last. 

one of my biggest pest peeve in this book (and in general): whenever significant moments happened between them, you weren’t left to feel them. you didn’t get to go "omg she finally likes him" or "wow are they opening to each other?" and dramatically underline and tab the page because the author would tell you when these moments happened. a scene would happen and then right after it was written something like "they just opened up to each other. this is big. something is shift". i hate that. sometimes it’s okay (and beautiful), but more often than not, i want to absorb and interpret the book by myself. 
i want to believe things are shifting because i can FEEL it in the words, not because you’re telling me. when you do, it’s like suddenly i don’t believe you as much.

all in all, because this is a romantasy, a lot of the plot is the romance. and because i didn’t like the romance, this book lost a lot of points. the actual fantasy part was okay but it felt dragged out in the mix of the pitiful romance we were served (i’m dramatic).