📚 Book Stats:

• Author: Colette Rhodes
• Genre: Fantasy, Romance
• Pages: 265
• Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Summary

Astrid is the kind of Hunter that all Hunters aspire to be. Lethal. Focused. Ambidextrous. In contrast to her disgraced sister, Astrid has done everything right. And now, she’s coming to realize that everything she’s ever known is wrong.

Soren wants to be the kind of Shade that all Shades aspire to be. Brave. Decisive. Powerful. But his disgraced sister is determined to ruin him, and now there’s a deadly Hunter in his realm, smelling like the most delicious thing he’d ever taste.

And the king wants them to work together. Can they hold the enemy line with each other? Or will the thin line between love and hate be their undoing?

Review

So, this book was a 5 star for me!
But I want to make it clear, it does not mean it was perfect or checked all my boxes. Not at all, but the overall reading experience for me (what I felt, the way it hooked me) it was really pleasurable.

Superbia is the second book in a series called “Shades of Sin”. The first book I also read and even though It was a good read, I feel I didn’t connect as much with the characters and the story (that doesn’t mean the book was not good, just a personal preference that’s all). In this book we follow the story and characters from the first book, only this time the main couple is Astrid (Ophelia’s sister) and Soren (the Captain of the royal guard of Shades).

Because most of the world building and shades-humans dynamics were already established in the first book, in this installment we get to spend more time with the characters and their inner conflicts.

Unlike the first book’s main characters (Ophelia, a hunter who was an outcast and thus never part of the group at all, and Allerick, the actual KING of the Shades realm), Astrid and Soren have an actual moral dilemma to overcome in their relationship. One of the main plot points is that Astrid is not welcomed in the Shades realm becase for all her adult life she has been a prolific hunter. Even though she leaves her whole life behind to help the Shades, move outcast hunters into the Shades realm to be safe and literally fights with her parents and members of the Hunter group…
And Soren is the captain of the kings guard so his whole life purpose is to protect the King and the realm from the Hunters. He is torn because he knows he is a role model for a lot of the shades, and being open about being in a relationship of any sorts with Astrid could tarnish his reputation and put his judgement in doubt.

I liked the realistic banter and rivalry, also the fact that he started respecting her at the beginning just for her abilities. I think the only plot complaint that I have is that the smut started too soon. It felt rushed and shallow in a way, but I forgot about it as I kept reading so I think it was not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I mean, if we want to be nit-picky then I have to say the start of the physical relationship needed more depth. It was not a deal breaker for me but definitely something is missing in the middle there. Other than that, things went smooth plot wise.