AHhhHhh!! Another smash hit romantasy by Tricia Levenseller! Just like 'The Shadows Between Us', this book promises to be another sensation in the genre. I quickly found myself immersed back in Levenseller's captivating world and writing style.

Deliciously mischievous, it was refreshing to delve deeper into Chrysantha's character and uncover her true essence. Her instantly likable personality compelled me to root for her as the story unfolded. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic added an extra layer of intrigue, weaving the plot together seamlessly. I relished discovering Chrysantha's penchant for revenge and her unwavering determination to prioritize her own desires, without diminishing those around her—except, of course, her sister and Eryx. Exploring Eryx's character evoked both delight and fervent curiosity, mirroring Chrysantha's complex emotions towards him.

Similar to 'The Shadows Between Us', 'The Darkness Within Us' delves into explicit themes, particularly focusing on women's sexuality. While it's empowering to see female characters express themselves freely, the explicit nature of these themes might be overwhelming for younger readers, especially considering these are YA novels featuring mature protagonists.

The audiobook was perfection! Highly recommend that format to consume this book.

"NOTE: It's been years since I read "The Shadows Between Us," so I quickly reread it to jump into "The Darkness Within Us," and I was happy to see that you don't really have to. This is a good way to enter the world Levenseller has set up without feeling confused by not having read the first book in this series. However, I do think that if you read this one first, you would be greatly disappointed by Chrysantha's actions in the previous book. All of this is quickly explained in TDWU, adding a delicious layer to the character's personality.

Absolutely looooooved this book!

Chrysantha (a very young woman) is finally free when her very old and abusive husband (the duke) finally passes away. Free to enjoy life and be her true self. Nothing can get in the way of her happiness.. that is … not until HE shows up. Ericks is the grandson of chrysantha’s late husband. From the very beginning he has been a mystery. No one knew the late duke had a grandson. Theres a darkness to him. Is he the true heir or a con artist ? It’s a mystery that Chysantha is going to solve no matter what! She just needs to ignore the strange butterflies she feels whenever she looks deep into his color changing eyes. And possibly ignore the way he looks incredibly handsome in those glasses he wears.

The intense passion the fmc and mmc had for each other was everything I needed. It was an enemies to lovers and a slooow burn but boy was it worth it!
From the very beginning this book peaked my interest and as it continued, I became obsessed and invested! Would definitely recommend this book!!

This was a good companion to the first book! I think I’m not totally in love with this duology/story so it didn’t really hit right for me personally. But the audio was great and captivating so I was entertained enough at least.

I have preordered this book before I knew anything about it because of the pretty stenciled edges and cover. I am really glad I judged a book by its cover in this instance, it was so much better than I expected!
I had a little difficulty with the very beginning, but then it grabbed me, pulled me in, and would not let go. Since I had never read anything by this author I didn’t have any preconceived notions in any way. Yes, now I will go back and read “The shadows between us”
The audio version was excellent, and I enjoyed the banter between Chrysantha and Eryx. I am so excited to get this pretty hard back now!

Tricia Levenseller is a master at creating fast paced, romance-fantasy, featuring strong female leads. In this companion to "The Darkness Between Us," readers follow Alessandra's sister. It was a quick and fun read. I do question rating this as a "teen" book. While there is nothing explicit, sex is a large part of the book - for example Chrysantha engaging male prostitutes. With the main characters being 21, I just felt that it doesn't quite fit in the teen genre. Overall, an solid "new adult" read.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

In this companion book to The Shadows Between Us, Chrysantha becomes the main character. Rather than being the naive, innocent, and somewhat dumb character that the previous book made her out to be, in this story she is cunning, deceptive, and on a mission. She has spent the past seven years playing a part so that she can become a wealthy independent duchess, however her whole plan is shattered when an unknown man steps in to take away her inheritance, title, and independence. For 3/4ths of the book, I was entertained and loving the strong female character, however towards the end, it lost me. Still, if you enjoyed the first book, you'll more than likely enjoy this one as well.

actually really enjoyed this one. great narrator and all! loved the morally grey fmc and stuff. thank you so so much netgalley for the audio arc!

THE RAGE.

The overwhelming feminist rage of this book about overwhelmed me. NOW. I totally understood and was behind much of it, I just think it became a bit much at some points where I was hoping to see growth and acknowledgement of the other things around her. And I didn’t love the way the book started off with Chrysantha. Rubbed me the wrong way.

ALSO NOTE: This is NOT YA. THIS IS NA. Definitely written for older audiences. I love NA, so that doesn’t bother me, but I’m pretty sure the marketing has been for YA and I wouldn’t feel comfortable handing this to a young teen.

ANYWHO. The characters did grow on me a lot. This is a TRUE enemies to lovers and really got my attention with the vitriol and sass between Chrysantha and Eryx. The slow burn brought them together and the beast that’s prowling makes a show for itself too. I was intrigued by much of this and I liked the general plot. I also loved that Chrysantha was able to reconnect with her sister. I loved seeing her and the king again too.

There’s some good themes and I did see the character growth eventually. I’m still a big fan of Levenseller’s books.

Overall audience notes:

NA Fantasy Romance
Language: moderate
Romance: closed door, innuendo throughout
Violence: moderate-high
Content Warnings: sexual assault (unwanted touching)

I loved this book! The story was so addictive and I loved the cameos from the first book. The narrator was fantastic! I would highly recommend this book!

I wanted to dnf this book so many times. I stuck it out because I heard there was a twist and I had hope, but even after that it didn’t get much better. I gave it an additional star because of the feminist one liners throughout. Our FMC was completely insufferable. She was so rude to most everyone in the book. She delivers low blows to the people around her completely out of left field. I don’t even know what else to say. This book was not for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio ARC. 

Caitlin Davies is simply awesome as narrator. I love how she brings Chrysantha (as well as Alessandra, in the previous novel) to life!

The Stathos sisters are captivating. I love them. Chrysantha is a breath of fresh air, reminding me of my all-time favorite FMC.


The audio book of The Darkness Within Us was so good that I gobbled it up in two days. Chrysantha's quick wit, conviction that she deserves more, and determination to get it, won me over right away. I love a good enemies-to-lovers trope and this book delivered in abundance. The appearance of Eryx after Chrysantha has finally found happiness and peace, is devastating and once again, Chrysantha is under the control of the men around her. But Chrysantha is made of strong stuff and plots a new path to freedom. And Eryx isn’t everything he seems at first.

Such an exciting read! I truly LOVED the FMC! It was interesting to watch her character development throughout the story. I was also super intrigued by the new mysterious MMC. So many twists and turns. The author truly has a beautiful way with world building and making the words seem together flawlessly. I felt like I was on an entire adventure in a new world the entire time. Definitely worth reading! And that ending 🤌 All around a great read. Plus the narrator was SUPERB with storytelling and truly embodying the female main character's personality. I feel the audiobook made it even better of an experience for me!

I received this ARC in audiobook format from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio to read/review. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully listening to this audiobook.

This duology is a guilty pleasure read for me. My favorite characters always tend to be the ones that are "unlikable" on paper, so this was something I knew I was going to enjoy--plus I was excited to hear this story after listening to Alessandra's. The narrator did a great job and I'll miss this world and these characters!

I enjoyed this! It gave folk of the air vibes mixed with heartless. Chrys just wanted to be her own person and I can respect that. Was she a bit overly selfish? Yes. Was Eryx kind of dumb and self centered? Yes. Were they both completely toxic and homicidal? Yes.

This was an entertaining slow burn, enemies to lovers that didn’t actually focus on romance.

The narrator did a fantastic job and I enjoyed the energy she brought to the story. Solid 4⭐️

I loved this book! I read the shadows between us first and enjoyed it but this one was my favorite! I feel like I connected with the characters more in this one and loved getting the background for them! I hope we see a third book in the future showing how everyone’s lives turned out and explaining more of the magic!!! I can not wait for my special editions of both to come in they are already on pre order!!!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me the The Darkness Within Us Audio ARC by Tricia Levenseller in exchange for my honest review.

Initially I had a hard time getting into this Audio book. I didn’t enjoy how the narrator voiced the FMC Chrysanta, and I remember not loving her in The Ex Hex. However I’m glad I stuck with it.
This is the second book in the The Shadows Between Series. It’s not required to read the first to follow the story, but it would be very helpful to fully enjoy. I did not read The Shadows Between Us, and look forward to reading it and more books by Tricia Levenseller.

Chrysanta has schemed for years to gain her financial independence and just when she had it within her gasps, it is taken away by a mysterious Eryx Demos. This is truly a YA Romantasy with Morally Grey characters. I loved the push and pull between Chrysanta and Eryx. The story flowed so well, and had me laughing at times. The Feminist story line was a nicely done, and didn't feel over the top. This was a great book, and only loses a start because it was so hard to get into initially.

I somehow missed this was the second in a series, and stopped about a third of the way through to go back and read the first. Im glad I did, as I don't know that the second book would have made a lot of sense without that background.

The interesting party of it all is that I liked the second book more before I read the first book. That's primarily because the first book was so much better. I had a harder time connecting with the FMC in The Darkness Within Us, and the MMC was less compelling than the Shadow King from the first book.

All of that said, the series as a whole is definitely worth reading. It's accessible fantasy with morally gray characters. There isn't a lot of world building or complex magic systems to wrap your head around. It's a love story with tinges of feminism, and just enough angst and intrigue to keep you turning pages, but not enough to stress you out.

I found the FMC (in this and the first book) to be somewhat unique in the fantasy genre (as least what I've read of it), in that they were pretty ruthless and out for themselves. These are women who know what they want, and have no qualms about killing to get it.

I listened to the audiobook of this and the narrator was very good. She infused the perfect amount of emotion and was great at distinguishing the voices for each character.

Overall, I'd give this a 3.5, rounding up to a 4 since I can't give fractions here.

After listening to the audiobook of The Shadows Between Us and really liking how original and unique it was in the YA fantasy genre, I was super intrigued to discover this sequel with Alessandra's questionable sister Chrysantha. Just like the first book, Chrysantha is a morally grey MC that you kind of want to hate, but then for purposes of the story, she's exactly what the author was aiming for. I did like learning where she was coming from and the motivation driving her actions which was consistent throughout the story. She's wicked and dark, but you can't help cheer for her to figure out what love is and make the choice in the end. I mean, I was cheering for her while simultaneously screaming at her in my head the whole time, but I was happy with the ending I got so that was satisfying.
The narrator did a great job with bringing both Chrysantha and the side characters to life. It was a book that I was really intrigued with where the author was taking things and I would say I haven't read anything like it before.
If you're looking for a dark romantasy, with MCs who are really more like villains, but you can't help but want to find love and some sort of happiness, then look no further than this book.
Content: there are a lot of mature themes in this story that I wouldn't recommend to a younger audience; I'd say 18+ personally. It's closed door, but there is a lot of implied initmacy outside of marriage. Nothing descriptive, but still vaguely aware.
Thank you Macmillian Audio for the advance listening copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Shadows Between Us, so when I saw a sequel was announced I wasn't sure how I felt about it - especially once seeing it followed Chrysantha, a character I was not fond of in the first book.

But I was pleasantly surprised in how much I enjoyed this book! Seeing Chryantha's story from her perspective absolutely humanized her and endeared the reader to her. The two sisters are some of the most murderous, plotting siblings I've read - both with the goal of female autonomy in a man's world but both achieved through different means.

The Darkness Within Us truly encapsulates the enemies-to-lovers trope; the MMC is a detestable character when introduced but slowly charms both the reader and FMC as the story progresses.

I listened to the audiobook and though I'm not usually a big fan of audiobooks I enjoyed Caitlin Davies' narration. Her diction is distinct for characters without being irritating (for the most part - a couple more-pompous character voices were a bit grating but I think that may have been the intent).

I adore Tricia Levenseller's Daughter of the Pirate King trilogy and The Shadows Between Us, so I jumped on the opportunity to request this audiobook when I saw that it was available on Netgalley.

This book was very fun and entertaining. I love the way Tricia keeps the readers' interest and attention with her characters and plots, but also keeps the content appropriate for new adults. I can't wait to see if she will keep going with this series and expand more on this world!

This is the second book in The Shadows Between Us series where we are following Chrysantha, who is the sister to Alessandra. Although she is an interesting character to follow, Eryx was the star of the book for me. The patience that man showed Chrysantha was unbelievable, and who doesn't love a male love interest that would kill to protect the woman he loves?

The romance was a little too slow for me. I was slightly frustrated with how stubborn Chrysantha was and would have liked to see them come together sooner in the book.

I also didn't enjoy the potential second romance situation. I am not a fan of love triangles, and I felt very sorry for the 'third wheel' character. I believe the book would have been stronger, for me, if Chrysantha and Eryx got together a little sooner and the 'third wheel' character could have found a little love interest of his own.

I am quickly becoming a Tricia Levenseller fan and find myself looking forward to seeing what fantastic world she will create for us next!