For Eternity

Geneva Lee

Magic has awoken.

As Thea takes her place as Queen with Julian by her side, their world splinters. A new game of deceit begins between factions vying for control. Power is the prize, and Thea and Julian are caught in the middle of it. Targeted by the Vampire Council, the Mordicum, and their families, they soon discover an even deadlier threat to their future.

Someone killed the Queen whose throne Thea now reigns on, and time is running out to find the killer before they get to Thea.

My Review

This felt like reading a first draft.

There were a lot of surface-level mistakes that could use a copyeditor. Those I can forgive. But the developmental problems really undermine the whole series leading up to this point.

There are smaller plot holes, like when Thea sprains her ankle and then immediately is fine. Not in a “magic healing plot point” way — the author clearly just forgot homegirl was injured.

There are character development setbacks, like when Thea has magic at the beginning of the book and seems to be on a path of learning about it and hopefully learning to use it. Her and Julian’s magic frequently interact, mostly during the spicy scenes. Then halfway through the book she’s stating she’s not even sure she has magic. Bitch what?? At least the moment passes, I guess.

I do appreciate that the book circles back to Thea’s original connection to music. That felt natural. A lot of the plot feels more forced.

Multiple characters say one-off things that feel like the author trying to write something cool and quotable, but the characters don’t sound like themselves/real people saying them. They also sometimes say or think things based on knowledge that character doesn’t have yet.

The storyline is all over the place. The Council doesn’t seem to know what it wants. Camila pulls a big stunt that gets her nowhere and might as well not have happened. Sabine is full of contradictions. Julian and Thea do “face the Third Rite,” but the whole concept of the vampire society season has taken a major back seat to other, newer storylines. The Mordicum and its mystery monster, the old gods, the Fae court, the Queen-killer… it’s impossible to keep up, and when things do get resolved, it feels rushed and out of nowhere.

There’s a new side character romance introduced that really should be left for its own inevitable spinoff books. I have a soft spot for queer love in Jacqueline and Camila, but following two side stories is tiring and distracts from the already-overloaded main plot. Even the Camila/Jacqueline story has some odd pacing that just doesn’t feel natural, and what should have been the peak of their story is completely glossed over. Such a disappointment! Camila’s own individual story also feels like it was building to something that falls completely flat.

This isn’t the finale it was originally supposed to be. As a writer I can understand a story growing beyond your original plans. As a reader, I don’t have it in me to push through another book of this mess. I know the author changed some of books two and three before publishing this one. I hope she goes back and cleans up book four as well. It has potential, it just doesn’t feel ready for readers.