Between Wrath and Mercy (The Divine Between Series)

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Who the fuck has time to blush, "train" while frolicking in the fields, and have a steamy sesh in a cold lake? Because the last person thought to be the Beloved was brutally murdered by the enemy kingdom of Folterra, Emmeline has dedicated the last sixteen years to hiding her daughter and keeping her safe. There are loose character threads dangling all over the place at the end of this installment, and not in the "stay tuned for book 2 to find out more" kind of way--more in the "I totally forgot I wrote this character 300 pages ago" kind of way. I’ve been allowing myself to be distracted by all of this because it keeps me from thinking about Elora.

What could have been a typical adventure to recover what was lost (as we see in many books), was instead an intricate, heartbreaking, laugh-inducing, and nail-biting story. The romance wasn’t even rekindled yet and I was swoony for the things he was willing to do/how he showed he cared for the heroine. The mc is a melodramatic woman who can't make up her mind, and despite supposedly being a relatively mature woman and mother, has the internal monologue of an indecisive 20-something, yet never arrives at the conclusion that her entire romatic-emotional level was stunted back at "THE EVENT", which it clearly was.i genuinely don’t have any complaints about this book making my rating much higher than i was expecting.

The action scenes, the emotion, the magic, the heart to hearts, the friendship, the romance, and the character development were all wonderful. Though I did find myself wishing for an Elora pov but I suspect that may be something the author will offer later on. Trigger Warnings: mention of difficult births and infant death, violence, death, attempted sexual assault (nothing graphic happens and it does not lead to something thankfully). the chemistry between the main characters had me in a choke hold and dare i say i think they’re a top 5 couple for me? I read a ton of other books in between chapters as I didn't want t to dnf but wasn't fully engaged in the story either.Once the conversation finally begins, we learn that Emmaline has correctly deduced what everyone is thinking and feeling--by having to see it all play out again. These arguments manifest as literal and frequent sparring matches where the two of them stab each other and break each other's bones (it's okay! I really wanted to like this book, specially after so many amazing reviews, but unfortunately I just couldn't get into it.

Of course, the only person who can help her is her long-lost lover (Prince Rainier) who was once betrothed to her twin but was actually in love with our protagonist. I was worried the romance and adventure might overshadow the rescue mission of her daughter or that her daughter being held captive fades into the background. Let me start by saying that if you're looking to read this book because the MC is 34 and expect an adult read, don't get your hopes up. His character is so well written, you could feel his emotions right on the surface, simmering under all those powerful, sword wielding, horseback riding, warrior muscles.This is one of the most intricate fantasy romances I have ever read and I will be recommending this forever!

With the past and secrets haunting them, Emma and Rainier had to tip toe around each other until they found a common ground to which they are able to settle down and be who they are. Definitely a case where a promising book with good foundations was let down by editing, or a lack thereof.Also the bad guys are paper thin characters, which is disappointing considering how ‘real’ all the other characters feel. But the reason I’m putting it down for now after two weeks of slowly reading it, is because it’s a bit slow for my liking. The romance was done beautifully and with second-chance romance always comes the angst and the haunting thoughts of what could or could have been. Emmaline could learn to have a little more manners and some situations could’ve been handled with a little more tact and compassion rather than instant violence, but those were just a couple of minor moments in a long, wonderfully written book. Or why everyone in this world seems obsessed with The Beloved but nobody actually knows what a "Beloved" is.