I really enjoyed this book more than it's predecessor. Chrysantha was definitely headstrong and very independent. When she has her mind set on something, she goes for it. I really loved that about her. She is fierce. I think she definitely outshined her sister. I think the storyline was fun and kept me engaged. The ending felt a bit rushed, but still good nonetheless.

The Darkness Within Us was a quick read. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as book one but I was still really entertained. There were moments that actually made me laugh. I love a strong willed independent female main character. The banter between the main characters was fantastic!
Thank you NetGalley for an arc.

It's tough to route for a morally gray character who overcomes her unfortunate circumstances in all the wrong ways. And yet, I found myself still hoping things would work out for her. And maybe I was supposed to be annoyed by her enemy...and yet, I felt myself intrigued by that mysterious character, too. That's what good writing can do to readers.

I had such high hopes for this book, because I absolutely LOVED the first one! Unfortunately, I ended up DNF'ing it at around 15%. I was absolutely and utterly bored out of my mind. The premise sounds wonderful. I liked the idea of Chrysantha at first, but once her husband passes, it just takes too long for the story to move on and DO SOMETHING. I found that I set it down and just had no desire to go back to it.

The Darkness Within Us (2024) is Levenseller's sequel to The Darkness Between Us (2020). While I really enjoyed the first book in this duology, the second one fell a little flat for me. I think the main reason for this being these novels fall into YA/NA territory and that's just a genre that I've fallen out of love with. For good reason! I'm no longer a YA/NA, so it makes sense that I won't always love books intended for that audience.

I loved the idea that Chrysantha was not at all how Alessandra thought her. She pretended to be this mild and meek young woman and enter into a marriage where she could easily inherit her elderly husband's land and money and become an independent woman of means.

Then all of a sudden, I found the writing lazy. The Queen, Chrysantha's sister, passes all these "modern" laws but this subverts the structural mores in this fantasy society that was modeled off patriarchal England of olde. Removing the rigid social strictures that are the basis of understanding how this world operates was an odd choice.

And the pink. God, the dumb pink obsession. I couldn't deal with that.

Admitting this wasn't for me, but mainly because I'm no longer the target demographic.

I think this book was okay. It wasnt as good as the other series she has written. The pacing was a little off. There was such a heavy pressure on the enemies part that we didnt get to see a lot of the lovers part of the troupe. I would've loved to read more about the lovers part of their relationship and see the partner in crime aspect. Overall not a bad book

Original review posted on July 7, 2025 on the FYA blog:

Cover Story: On Theme

I appreciate how this thematically relates to the first book while also representing Chrysantha’s Marie Antoinette-esque aesthetic.

The Deal:

Chrysantha survived her father’s house by acting like an airhead to fly under the radar, and she did such a good job everyone, even her little sister, Alessandra, believed it. It was the smarter, more calculated move. So imagine her surprise when Alessandra’s plan to be a king-toppling villain works out too! Alessandra is now in love with the Shadow King and about to be literal queen, and Chrysantha has been stuck in her manor, tending to her extremely-old-and-about-to-croak lech of a husband.

Since nature isn’t taking its course fast enough, Chrysantha takes matters—and a pillow—into her own hands, and in just a few minutes she’s suddenly a widow and recipient of an extremely large fortune. Armed with her newfound freedom and loose purse-strings, Chrysantha can see her beautiful, quiet future laid out in front of her until HE shows up.

Eryx Demos claims he’s the secret grandson of late duke and that the inheritance actually belongs to him. But Chrysantha smells something fishy about this secretive and infuriatingly uncouth man, and she won’t let her future go without a fight…even if it means she has to kill again.

BFF Charm: 100% That B

Chrysantha is that kind of prickly bitch with a secret soft heart that I love in books. She had to play dumb for so long that now that she can reveal how smart she is, she is not shy about cutting unworthy men down a peg or ten. She also finds it hard to open up to anyone without at first wondering what their agenda could be. At the same time, she knows the value of treating your staff well, so when she finally has access to all her estate’s funds, she raises wages and improves the lives of those who help her run the place. She wants things to be beautiful and calming, preferring to retire away to her estate to hang out in the garden and read her books versus being around society, and, honestly, girl, same. So I was totally vibing with Chrysantha, even as she considered some, ah, more drastic solutions to her problem than I’d prefer.

Swoonworthy Scale: 6

As always and like Chrysantha, I also eventually fell for Tricia’s male main character. Eryx is mysterious and enjoys frustrating Chrysantha to keep her at arm’s length, just like she uses put-downs and wit on him, but under it all they’re two lonely people who never had the safety net of unconditional love when they were young. They both closely protect their secrets, and thus, have legitimate reasons to argue and banter until they finally trust each other enough to work together.

My only gripe, and it’s the same one I had for the first book, is Eryx’s background and subsequent character growth would’ve felt more “real” to me if he was aged up a few years. They all should’ve been in their early/mid-twenties at the very least.

Talky Talk: Totally Tricia

Why did I wait so long to read this?! I have a problem, y’all. When I reviewed the first book in the duology I did NOT expect it to blow-up the way it did on BookTok with the romantasy girlies years later. (It then faced the inevitable backlash of becoming too popular with people complaining, “it wasn’t really that good anyway.”) Because of that, I don’t think this book caught on in the same way, but after I finally cracked it open, I was fully on-board…and I think I enjoyed it even more than the first??

Tricia has a way of writing that sucks me in, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise to find that I stayed up to finish this in one sitting and was thoroughly immersed in Chrysantha’s antics the entire time. Parts are a little whimsical almost to the point of silliness, but it felt intentional for the tone of the book, and Tricia still infused enough depth into the froth to make me care for the characters and their inheritance feud outcome.

Bonus Factor: Sisters

I like that Tricia spent time on Alessandra and Chrysantha finally seeing each other as they are and not what they thought they were when they were warring against each other under their father’s roof. You didn’t need to read the first book to get the plot points, but it does give their potential reconciliation more richness and sweetness.

Bonus Factor: Magic

Magic isn’t really a big Thing in this world, but there are pacts with demons and shadowy things people don’t understand, and just like in book one, it becomes a plot point.

Bonus Factor: Feminism

All Chrysantha has ever wanted was autonomy over herself and her life, to be able to do what she wants, when she wants. And this really pisses off the multitude of shitty men she has to deal with.

Relationship Status: LYLAS

You made me smile, giggle, and roll my eyes, Book, but I’ll be your sister in spirit if not by blood.

This book gave everything—sass, murder, blackmail, beast horns, and a banter-fueled enemies-to-lovers that ate.

Chrysantha was never meant to outshine her sister… but she did. Ruthless, clever, and fiercely independent, she’s the kind of heroine who poisons first and apologizes (maybe) later. Her dynamic with Eryx? Pure tension. He’s dark, mysterious, and very much not who he says he is—and their chemistry crackled with every insult and near-stabbing.

The sister storyline brought unexpected emotional weight, the world-building was immersive, and though the ending was a tad rushed, I devoured every scene. Would I have loved his POV? Yes. Did the audiobook narrator absolutely nail Chrysantha’s voice? Also yes.

If you like your romantasy with sharp tongues, soft confessions, and just a hint of monster tail, this one’s for you.

I loved Darkness Within Us just as much as it's predecessor. The characters are rich and engaging, and who doesn't fall in love with Eryx? Chrysantha is a headstrong female character that I adored. The symmetry between Chrysantha's inner beast and Eryx's physical one was a beautiful reminder that we are all capable of both lightness and darkness.

Tricia Levenseller’s sequel to The Shadow’s Between Us is everything you hoped it would be.
Chrysanthemum, the evil sister from the first book, finally gets her own story in this sequel. She married and old man for money and finally, it looks like she is going ot get what she wants most in the world - independence.
That is until some unknown guy claiming to be a family member waltzes into HER house and says it’s all his. The nerve!
So that’s when Chrysanthemum decides he has to go.
Right?

I ate this book up. I think it took me like three days. It’s easy to fall back into this world and Chrysanthemum is a delicious anti-hero. She’s smart, motivated with a lot of gray morals. I love her thought process, how strong she becomes once her husband’s demise, and how thoughtful she is in carrying out her plan. Don’t get me wrong, some of the things she does can be seen as questionable, but isn’t that the fun? She justifies her actions every step of the way, and Levenseller’s best at writing anti-hero who you root for because, YOU DO. You want her to succeed. She should get the house, the fortune, the lovers. Because you want her to. Because she is a well rounded character who somehow, along thew ay, you realized she is trying to survive.

So much fun.
What a great sequel.
And yes, we do see some familiar faces at the end, which just made my heart explode.
In a purely devious way, I assure you.

Such a great second book in this series! I was blown away by how much I loved these books! Definitely recommend to all fantasy lovers.

--I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.--

3.5. I didn't enjoy this as much as I enjoyed the first in the series--Eryx and Chrysantha were a little trope-y for my taste with the abrupt "I WILL KILL THOSE WHO HURT YOU" shift from "I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF," but it's an immensely readable story.

While I loved the first book in this series the second didn’t live up to my expectations quite as much. The dynamic between the main characters was interesting but over a little slow in plot.

It’s been AGES since I read The Darkness Between Us, so I wasn’t sure how I was going to like this or even if I enjoyed being back in this work to be honest. But I was so pleasantly surprised! I remember reading the original book back during lock downs when all I had was books to really escape into and was so obsessed and wanted for from this story and this sequel or companion did just that!

I really enjoyed that we go to learn so much more of Chrysantha about how and of course why, she’s this mortally grey sister of Alessandra’s! Even better.. we were able to see Alessandra again and the Shadow King himself all while the two sisters mended their relationship.

I did knock it down a star because it was definitely a insta-love book and I really don’t love that trope. I love to watch relationships grow over time and strife tbh and this was just not that. I’ve been struggle with YA romance lately but I’m also able to remove myself a little to see that it is for young adult’s which could definitely be why lol.

Overall, a fun companion novel that I’m happy I read!

At first I was like “meh..” and it took a bit to get into but once I did, I didn’t want to put it down. Would definitely recommend if this genre is your jam.

Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends for this eARC for review.

5/5 stars!

I know I am vehemently behind, but life has been life-ing and the nation is on fire. Alas, onwards.
This comes as no surprise because it's THE Tricia Levenseller, but this book was absolutely DELICIOUS. I used the audiobook to help me keep up progress on this read, and the narrators were absolutely fantastic. I laughed so often and was gob smacked at least once per chapter. I honestly didn't want to stop listening/reading, and didn't want it to end! It brought back the exact same feelings I had while reading The Shadows Between Us, and I honestly wish she could find a way to write more books with these characters or this world. The pacing and dialogue were perfect, and there was just the right balance between hatred and fun between the characters.

“I love you. I fought loving you, but it was inevitable as the sun rising everyday. For you are my equal in nearly every way and my superior in all the rest.”

Chrysantha was a bit much at times but Eryx handles her just fine ☺️

Absolutely loved this one. It was a great follow up to the original and I loved the character development.

Okay
Alright
At first I hated it. I was like boo I thought it was a continuation of the same characters. Then I was celebrating her and hoping she get her happy especially if it was just her. Then the rest of the book! Ooooo mmmmyyyy goodness!!! Why is no one talking about this book!?

I’m really glad that another book for this series came out as k really enjoy everything this author writes. Was really sad when the shadows between us didn’t get a book two but this makes up for it all