This latest installment of CJ’s fantasy series elevates fantasy writing in every respect. Conflict ebbs and flows in a way so natural you can’t put down the pages, the character development breaks your heart, and the writing itself is so lyrical and clever that you feel like you’re reading an ancient text heretofore lost to mankind. This book is everything great about TNAIM and even more. My heart is cracked wide open by this beautiful story and yet somehow filled with hope for our own world that we can bring the beautiful lessons into reality here as well. This book was perfect.

The Sun and Its Shade by Piper C.J., published by Sourcebooks is the second book in the Nightr and Its Moon duet.
Nox and Amaris's story continues in this ya, fantasy, full-length novel. I recommend to read the books in order.
An ok read that took me a minute to get into the storyline.

I absolutely loved The Night and Its Moon - so imagine how delighted I was to receive an eARC of The Sun and Its Shade from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say that I love this sequel so much. I feel as though in book one we got a lot of extra details when it came to the world-building and environment, whereas this book felt more dialogue heavy with even more magic and strong character development. I had a hard time putting this book down - I was so captivated to keep clicking to the next page on my Kindle to find out what’s happening next. Not to keep comparing this masterpiece to the previous once, but I will admit that this book is MUCH faster paced than book one; even with 23-minute long chapters. I think this was the perfect sequel, because we already have familiarity with the characters and environment that now we can focus on deeper development without all the necessary “setting up.”

In this book, Amaris & Nox are separated once again, although they have each other in mind quite often. We have Amaris on her own journey with Gadriel, while Nox is adventuring with Amaris’ Reevers Malik & Ash through the Continent of Gyrradin. Amaris and Nox are both bad-ass in their own ways. We find out some wild twists and unexpected revelations in this one for sure - the secrets brings all the magic up a notch.

I find the characters to be so incredibly well-written within this piece. Between Amaris and Nox, Nox is definitely my “favorite.” I love her entire storyline and the vulnerability she has. She owns her sexuality and knows how powerful her sexual energy is. As she says: ”You either have sex for passion or for power.”

There are some seriously SPICY scenes with SERIOUS PASSION- the anticipation definitely builds and there’s satisfaction in the second half of the book. I appreciate the conversations around sex that these characters have, especially regarding consent.

The last 10% of this book had me FREAAAKKKINNGGG OUTTT!!! The dramatic irony & the way that everything comes together is WILD. INSANITY. The ending has me in suspense for the next book!!!

I would recommend this book to fantasy lovers who enjoy romance alongside action packed adventures with strong female leads.

Thank you SO much to NetGalley, Bloom Books, and Piper CJ for the opportunity to consume this amazing piece!!! I look forward to snagging my physical copy once it hits the shelves!

“For now, all that mattered was that he had trusted her, and she had trusted him.”
“Yes, tales would surely be written, and maybe one day Gadriel and Amaris would hear those stories, but that day was not today.”
Wow … this book was incredible !!!!
Amaris and Nox are separated once again
Hunting each other’s dreams they can’t wait to meet again free of any war or evil queen … but it seems that it’s not their destiny
I loved as always that we have chapters from both perspectives so that we can follow their journeys while keeping up with both of them.
The frustrating I felt at them being separated is … enormous
Once again if you feel overwhelmed by the long chapters, the author more than makes you feel at ease thanks to the fast-paced action of the narrative.
Although this time the author gave us the opportunity to learn and discover more about the world and the structure of the magical system of this universe.
I loved getting through Amaris’ journey in particular. Getting to explore her powers with the help of a trusted friend ( I love Gadriel!!!!! Ain’t no denying it)!!!
And the relationships between the characters … oh I am absolutely in love!!!
This book portrayed exactly what it means to be able to love in different ways different people. Or sometimes in the same way different people. I love how the author gave the characters the opportunity to learn more about themself and at the same time explore who and what they are to each other.
And that freaking plot twists happening at the end of the book … WOW !!!
I already can’t wait for the next one to be out !!!!
"The fever gets hottest before it breaks."
“Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse, be it storms, journeys, or lives, all things must come to an end.”

Piper CJ is a great scifi writing style and is able to create great characters in the universe going on. I had enjoyed The Night and Its Moon so I was excited to continue this series. It had a great concept and I enjoyed going on the journey. I hope this continues as I really enjoyed reading this.

"He released her quickly and took a step back, allowing them to find their places on the ground once more. She joined them in the thicket that hid them. The reevers rested their backs against trees. Malik continued to position himself protectively over her, and she did little to fight off his attention. It was nice. She leaned against Malik for warmth and wrapped her dark cloak around her."

What little hope I had for Piper C.J.'s writing has vanished; The sun & its shade is somehow worse than The night & its moon, which I was unsure if such a thing was possible, yet here we are. In Piper's notes on the novel, she states that the book was written in 9 days, which shows in the quality of the writing, which is that of self insert Wattpad fan fiction. Apologies for the long review. I had a lot to say about this one.

*Spoilers ahead*

The Writing
Yet again, most of the problems with the novel start with how the book is written; Piper's flowery writing does nothing to create an environment one can understand. There are novels in which floral writing is used: The night circus and Strange the dreamer are perfect examples of this, as both stories wouldn't be the same without the beautiful writing found within their pages. The same can not be said for this book; I was to the point of wanting to DNF; however, the pure rage this novel sparked kept me going.

The Plot
Is there a plot to this book I couldn't tell you, and I doubt that even Piper could tell you the plot; this novel feels like one really long chapter that could have been rewritten or never seen the light of day. Yet again Amaris acts like a child but wants to go North to help discount Rhysand, and all Nox wants to do is find Amaris. However, if you thought that this book would be trauma free for Nox, maybe even she would be treated like a human; you clearly don't know the fantastical writing of Piper C.J.. Just like in The night & its moon, she is the punching bag for whatever trauma the author feels like giving her; Nox suffers nightmares and has to relive her years of sexual abuse. All while Amaris gets to pretend that she is a witcher alongside a love interest.

The Characters
Amaris remains a self-insert with little to no personality other than complaining about situations she puts herself in and proclaiming that she is independent. This is contradictory to her own actions of literally always needing another person to move the plot along because of her own inaction.
Nox, in this book, keeps on her path of being a stereotype of a woman of color, constantly being referred to as a badass who will not let anything stop her from finding Amaris. This characterization is a slight improvement to The night & Its moon, where Nox was nothing but a trauma sponge in human form. However, even this tiny improvement vanishes when she finds herself in a difficult situation sending Nox back to her status as a hyper-sexualized token woman of color.
Gadriel always has and always will be dollar store Ryhsand, yet is somehow more annoying and mind-numbingly exasperating. I still dislike this character as much, if not more than I did in the first book because, at least in the first book, there were at least chapters without him. Still, this time, his existence is inescapable. His seemingly creepy behavior towards Amaris and constant demands to be recognized as a general makes one annoyed with this cardboard character very quickly.
Ash, surprisingly, is not a person of color, which I am impressed by considering that the only POC main character is named after the Latin word for dark. So a point to Piper for that. Ash doesn't do much in this novel besides gushing about badass Nox and providing the occasional banter with Malik. Ash is also afraid of bugs which was just a detail I enjoyed because it just came out of nowhere and did nothing for his character.

The romance

Gadriel & Amaris
Chemistry has ever heard of it because Piper hasn't; Gadriel and Amaris are the cheapest versions of Freya and Rhysand I have ever seen. Sarah J. Mass was able to execute a romance between her characters that worked within the rules she established for her world. Piper said copy-paste; there is no life in the romance, rather just a feeling of dread as you realize the inevitable. Throughout the scenes with Gadriel, especially the spicy ones, Amaris is infantilized by the language used to describe her actions. As a reader, I find it incredibly uncomfortable as it feels as if the only way this character can interact with a love interest is through her child-like behavior.

Nox & Amaris
Just like in the last book Nox spends the novel pinning after a woman who scarcely remembers her existence. The point is that when Amaris is not at the forefront of Nox's life, she is one of the more tolerable characters within the novel. Still, as it has been well established, she only exists to represent the oversexualized, seductive woman of color. Different Nox spends most of the novel hopelessly devoted to Amaris; she spends most of the novel not even remembering that Nox exists. That is till yet again Piper remembers the romance that is supposed to be the emotional center of the novel in the last 15 pages

Final thoughts
Do I hate this book more than The night & Its moon? Yes, I truly wish someone had spoken to Piper about how sometimes we must keep our thoughts to ourselves. Still, alas, no one did, so here we are with no brain cells left and an increasing desire to carve out my own eyes or scream about how no one should ever even look at this novel. Honestly, this is one of, if not the worst, books I have ever read; so much of this story is pointless, and with only two more novels in the series, I highly doubt that Piper will be able to create an overarching narrative that can tie the mess of plot threads together. Where I was hopeful at the end of my review for the first novel, all that optimism has vanished, and in its place is nothing but the hope that no one will pick up this book.