I absolutely loved every second of this audible and couldn't wait to finish it! I listened to it in two days, it had such a hold on me. I loved the characters, the story, the descriptions. I can't wait to get the book! The narrator was perfect and just added to the overall experience of my enjoyment of the book.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio & Netgalley for the audio ARC. :)

4.25 Stars. This was even more fun than the first in the series! I haven't enjoyed YA this much in a while, but Tricia Levenseller gets it right. You've heard of grumpy sunshine but have you heard of grumpy grumpy? The enemies-to-lovers vibes are strong - these two loathe each other instantly.

"I don't want love and happiness. I want freedom."

With Chrysantha, I was getting strong Nesta vibes the entire time - she will do whatever it takes to get the power and peace she wants, love reading, & flirts via insult.

"Are you saying you would kill that man for me?"

Then there's Eryx, who arrives grumpy and mysterious but ultimately provides a delightful gender-swapped My Fair Lady moment. My Fair Duke? Chyrsantha making him suitable for public consumption was one of my favorite parts of the book.

This series is very trope-y but in a way that seems intentional and part of the fun. For a young adult audience, it's a perfect introduction to classic romance tropes, while staying appropriate for the age level since the only on-the-page spice is a kissing scene. Everything else is fade-to-black. The narration was seamless, clear, and lovely. Caitlin Davies delivers a great performance.

Basically, this series is pure fun and I hope there will be more of it!

**I’d like to start off by saying I listened to the audiobook version that I was given from Net Galley for free**

If I could give half stars I would give this book 3.5 but I had to round down instead of up for a few reasons and that mostly boils down to the book not being long enough to let the romance actually play out. That part felt rushed to me.

The story is a spin off from The Shadows Between us which I’ve read a few times and absolutely loved. I rated it 5 stars the first time I read it because it made me have all the feels. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve read a lot more romance books since then but this one seems to fall a little flat.

I loved the main character for the most part. Air head with a pretty face to everyone else but calculating underneath. I especially loved that she got herself some male hookers and owned it, that part had me cackling. I also really loved that she realized how she treated her sister growing up was wrong and takes the first step to fix it. I think the author makes really great characters, the stories are always just too short for me.

Overall I do think this is really nice light read and I definitely recommend you give it a read / listen. The love interest is broody and has the kill you if you touch her vibe and the story starts out as enemies to lovers, which is my favorite!

As far as the audiobook goes the narrator had a beautiful voice and did a great job representing the characters. I enjoyed listening to her bring the story to life.

Enemies to lovers! What Chrysantha and Eryx both want most is their freedom and to be left alone. Neither want to be tied down in marriages but along the way the two find that maybe love is something to be wanted after all. Both characters have their flaws but it’s what eventually makes them work so well together.

I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator. She does a great job giving Chrysantha her own voice in a way that is easy and enjoyable to listen to!

I read The Shadows Between Us a couple years ago and loved it so I was really excited to read this! It can definitely be read as a standalone with very minor spoilers to how The Shadow Between Us ends.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. All opinions are my own!

Remember how I said that <i>The Shadows Between Us</i> was both enticing and forgettable? Well, <i>The Darkness Within Us</i> is both annoying and ridiculous.

I think for me, Levenseller never really had a big hit. I’ve seen her books around and I even sat to read the first two books in her Pirate/Siren’s Daughter series, but somehow the writing never pulled me in and kept me wanting more. It’s not so dull or problematic as for me to stop reading altogether. In fact, every once in a while, there’s something there that either keeps me interested or I find pretty good as far as the writing goes. But they’re almost always one offs or something that doesn’t last very long.

The way I feel about Chrysantha and Eric is just…meh. In a manner very similar to how I felt with the first book in this world, the beginning had me <i>really</i> interested. But that interest just slowly petered out with each subsequent turn of the page. Concepts that could have been fascinating and brilliant dulled, leaving me feeling like the only reason I was finishing the book was because I’d started it in the first place.

I didn’t hate it. But I also didn’t care about it all that much.

<i>The Darkness Within Us</i> wasn’t bad or terrible. It was just…meh. As time went on, I grew less and less interested in what happened with Chrysantha. Her own stupidity at times was grinding, making everything to do with the climax just feel so pointless and dumb.

I think the best description I have for everything past the first couple chapters of this book is stupid characters doing stupid things for stupid ends that have stupid resolutions.

The narrator was fine, I guess? After a while, her voice really started to annoy me. I’m not entirely sure if that was due to the high pitch, the fact that the main character was an annoying idiot, or a mix of both.

At first, I was so sad the second book wasn't about Alessandra, but then. BOOM. This book happened. I loved the first book in the series, but that could not have prepared me for how much more I would love this one. This book gave me regency romance mixed with fantasy- complete with the whole female rights issues. It was amazing to see how the duchess played men for years, with the simple skill of acting dumb in order to further her own agenda. Obviously, we still have a ways to go for female equality, and I really enjoyed this take on it for the fictional time period. Thank you, NetGalley for a copy of this audio!

This book was just as fun as the first one. I liked the way the author writes the main characters. In this as with the first one the main characters are not good people. They do things such as murder and scheming but do not feel bad about it. They are definitely Slytherins. It is refreshing to sometimes have characters that are not always good. But at the same time you are cheering for them to achieve their goals. I liked the characters, the story and the writing. Levenseller is definitely one of my favorite YA authors.

This sequel/follow-up to The Shadows Between Us was just as fantastic as the first book! Although it can stand on its own, reading the first book would provide more background on the world and certain characters. I adored this book, and Caitlin Davies' performance was superb (as always) with excellent inflection that brought the story to life.

Fun & Fast Paced With Great Characters and A Steamy Romance


Thoughts: 💡
I loved Chrysantha. She was cold and calculating and so smart it was almost scary. She used what she had to make her place in the world, but she was secretly a sweetheart. And the angry hate filled enemies to lovers trope was brilliant. I really wasn’t sure that she would have a partner until almost the very end.
My favorite things about this story was all the complicated relationships with various characters. The romance was an important factor of the story, but the story seemed more about Chrysantha finding herself, gaining confidence in living authentically, and learning to trust people. Which admittedly wasn’t an easy feat when living in a complementary society that has little to no respect or protection for women, and the person you’re falling in love with is hiding dark and dangerous secrets and unaliving people in front of you.
The narration was perfect on this one. It was a single narrator, because the book is a single POV; but she was a fantastic storyteller.
I also really need to read The Shadows Between Us now.

Fun Bits:
⚜️ Hate to lovers
⚜️ He has secretes but isn’t hiding the dead
bodies from her
⚜️ Monster love for the win
⚜️ The best side characters
⚜️ An interesting and well crafted fantasy world

✨Note✨ This is a standalone but set in the same world as The Shadows Between Us with some of the same characters.

Stats:📊
YA: Lots of Steam, Fade to Black
Characters: 💙💙💙💙💙
Audio: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧
Narrator: 🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️
YA Romantasy: Enemies to Lovers, Hidden Secrets, Found Family, Morally Grey, Monster Love 📕
(Single POV)
⚠️: violence, blood & gore, death, sexual harassment and attempted sexual assault

This was a great audio book. It was the second one I have ever listened to. The narrator did a great job with the characters. The story was great. I will definitely look for other books from this author.

I'm incredibly sorry about this but here we go...

Main Character:
She is incredibly unlikeable. Sure a girl being a bit materialistic is fun at times and we all love pampering, but it being a main character trait? No thank you. There are other things a woman can be. I understand she's standing up for herself to be her own person aside from a man (which in regency era women struggle with this), but there could be better ways than her just wanting to spend money. Similarly, she is RUDE. Like incredibly mean. She consistently puts down the love interest until at least halfway (even then she continues), which, I don't understand how I am to like a person that is constantly viewed negatively by the point of view telling the story. She calls him a lot of things and "stupid" is one of them, at which point she BARELY knew the guy. I don't think it's ever appropriate to insult someone's intelligence. In the same vein, there is a very kind and wholesome young single father in the book who she is best friends with and loves his son, BUT SHE PUTS HIM DOWN TOO (!!!!). She uses the fact that he has "a child out of wedlock" to win an argument over him -- THIS IS NOT OKAY!! That poor man. I do not know how he was still friends with her after that because I would have said "see ya!" I pushed through to the end and probably should not have to avoid that entire scene.

Genre/Age Group:
I believe this is being marketed as YA. This is more NA than that. The FMC hires a 'mistress' within the first 20% off the book. Good for her, but also does not see to have a place in a YA marketed book. Similarly, there is the start of a spicy scene at the end (it is closed door), but again, I don't agree with it in a book that could be in the hands of children around the ages of about 12 (a lot of this age group read YA).

Dialogue vs. Exposition:
One criticism many reviewers had about book 1 of this standalone series is that they didn't really understand the world. It should be regency but you don't get much description of the surroundings. I found this to be fairly similar. There is some small improvements but not too much. It feels very dialogue focused, very little showing over telling, mostly just exposition of the FMC's thoughts and descriptions of clothing. This could have been more balanced for readers to feel immersed in the world.

I really did enjoy the Pirate King and Siren Queen books by this author so I do feel quite let down by this, unfortunately. I've never written so much of a negative review because I really respect authors, but this one just missed every mark for me, and I'm truly sorry. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I do hope to still read future books by this author! This one just did not meet any expectations.

This was my first time hearing about any work from this author. I enjoyed it and thought the narrator did a wonderful job. While I enjoyed the book overall, and it was paced well, I would love to see more building of the the magic system itself. A solid understanding of the world and how it works would have made it more enjoyable to read and understand.

I sure love a real enemies to lovers story.
The FMC is a bitchy ambitious woman that just wants to live a life not controlled by men. When a mysterious stranger comes into her life and takes over. Takes her freedom, takes her money, and also takes her breath away. The audio was fantastic. The story kept me wanting more at the end of each chapter. I would categorize this as "New Adult" not "YA".

rating: 4.25/5
spice: 1.5/5 (fade to black but has lead up)
narration: 3.75/5

the narration was great and simple but as an avid audiobook listener this was very simple. there was no deeper tone or different voices for other characters, it was all the same. it made it a bit hard to figure out who was saying what some moments but overall a good narration throughout.

i read The Shadows Between Us a few years ago and although I don’t remember a whole lot about it, I do know I loooved it, and was so excited to hear there was a follow up about her sister Chrystantha.

i was expecting to dislike the FMC but actually really liked her character. Chrysantha was fierce, calculated, and very relatable.

Chrysantha and Eryx were a true enemies to lovers, the build up and tension was absolutely exquisite! I devoured this book in a single day, I couldn’t put it down.

I do wish that there were more of the fantasy elements, more shadow use! Other than that this was such a great read!

*thank you netgalley for the arc

I loved the Shadow Between Us so much I didn't know how she was going to achieve the same level of greatness with The Darkness Within and she did!! By far my favorite series by the author.

This was my 1st book by this author and what drew me in was definitely the cover. I had no idea what the story was about, but I give every book a fair chance. The narrator did a great job with distinction of characters and moved the story along at a decent pace. Chrysantha is a fun character and her plight to finally be in control of her own life is a tale as old as time. In fact, this story did give me Beauty and The Beast vibes. Eryx and Chrysantha's energy were that of Belle and Beast. The mutual dislike from the beginning draws you in because you want to know more about them. Each of them trying to get what they want has you rooting for each of them, respectively especially when Chrysantha learns of her sister's wedding. Eryx secret has you going back and forth in your mind to figure out who or what he really is. I enjoyed this book and look forward to more from this author.

Chrysantha Stathos has tricked everyone into underestimating her and gotten everything she has ever wanted. Until a man shows up to ruin all her plans and steal her inheritance.

I overall enjoyed this book. At times I really enjoyed it and other times it frustrated me.

The plot was intriguing but I would have liked for there to have been more world building and understanding of the magical system. The magic seemed to be thrown it without adding a ton to the plot.

The pacing of the book I thought was good. There wasn't any lulls and a fair bit of action.

I found Chrysantha annoying in the beginning. Even though she grew on me, I needed more growth to genuinely like her. I am glad the relationship with her sister improved because it was so immature. I respect her feminine rage but at times it was over the top. I found her funny and enjoyed her relationships with the staff.

Eryx was meh to me. I enjoyed him as a true enemy instead of a love interest.

I really liked Caitlin as the narrator and the production was very enjoyable.

Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Tricia Levenseller and Caitlin Davies for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was hoping this book would be more enjoyable than the first, but I was disappointed. I appreciate what the author was trying to do by creating a story for women to be more in control of their lives in a time when they didn't have that option, but it fell short. The added "fantasy" aspect did not do anything for the story and seemed unnecessary.

As for the characters, I didn't like any of them. Chrysantha Stathos is not any better when you get to know the real her and Eryx Demos is unremarkable.

LOVED IT!

This was such a delightful 2nd installment to this realm, this time featuring Allesandra's sister, Chrysantha. Although described as dimwitted in the first book by her sister, you will quickly learn that Chrysantha is no wilting flower. In fact, she is much more like her sister than she ever seems to realize. She became a wealthy (widowed) duchess by manipulating all the men around her to get one thing - freedom. When an heir shows up saying the house, fortune, and dukedom are his, she immediately sets out to challenge this claim. He is, of course, extremely handsome.

This book was delightfully chaotic, with so many twists and turns, and a strong FMC. The ending was a bit anticlimatic, but I still love a HEA. Highly recommend this one if you liked the first in the series!

First wanted to sat thank you for allowing me to be an arc listener!

I was so excited to get into the second book! I love that we get to learn more about the sister in this book. I enjoy that the women are always trying to find a way to better themselves. They do not settle for less then they deserve. I would love to hear the books from the male perspective!