I absolutely devoured book 2!!!! The cliffhanger at the end was enough to drive me CRAZY but I got everything I wanted out of this book and MORE. This series and author have me in a chokehold and I can't wait to see where the story takes Talasyn and Alaric!!!

Where is book 3?? My favorite romantasy series yet! Your honor I love them. Even better than the first book!

So, I did really enjoy the first one of this series, but after rereading it and then diving into this one, I fell back into this world so easily! I can't wait to see what happens in book 3 after all of the back and forth and surprises from book 2! Another must read for romantasy lovers!

🌩️🐉 Book Review: A Monsoon Rising by Thea Guanzon 🌊✨
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.25 stars)

Okay, WOW. This book is lush, intense, and absolutely dripping in political intrigue, magic, and slow-burn tension that had me on edge in the best way.

Continuing on from The Hurricane Wars, this one throws us into the middle of all the chaos—alliances shifting, war brewing, and secrets that do not want to stay buried. If you love morally gray characters, palace drama, and high-stakes everything, you’re going to be very into this.

Also… THE VIBES. The worldbuilding is so rich and immersive, I could feel the storm in the air, the weight of every decision, and the danger around every corner. It’s giving: deadly court politics + ancient powers + that slow-burn tension that feels like it might combust at any moment. 🔥⚔️

Now let’s talk characters—because whew. I won’t spoil anything, but just know I’m deeply invested in both the power plays and the emotional damage everyone’s carrying around like a badge of honor. The angst? The yearning?? Immaculate.

Why not a full 5 stars? A couple pacing hiccups early on and I definitely had moments where I needed a mini recap of the world/politics (especially if you haven’t reread Hurricane Wars recently). But once it hit its stride, I was all in. The second half moves like a freight train in a thunderstorm and I loved every minute of it. ⚡📚

This series is shaping up to be something really special. If you’re into slow-burn romantasy, complex worldbuilding, and characters that haunt your dreams… this one’s for you.

🌪️ Big thanks to Harper Voyager & NetGalley for the eARC! All thoughts are my own 🌪️

I love this series. I also loved this book. The Reylo vibes are still strong but I feel like these characters are unique. The world building continues to fascinate me and I can’t wait to find out what will happen in book 3.

I switched back and forth between the ebook and audiobook and definitely preferred the audiobook. I find with fantasy worlds and names of people, concepts, and places that might be difficult to pronounce, I like having a narrator read it for me. Also, I listened to the first book as an audiobook so I hadn’t seen some of those names in print previously and was a smidge confused if I was remembering things right. Basically, I recommend sticking to a single medium unless you are confident in how to pronounce everything 😂.

The dual POV narration is great here. Both narrators are excellent and the style of the POVs really suits the storytelling. I love seeing both perspectives with enemies to lovers romance especially when they are keeping secrets from each other.

The ending had me in an absolute chokehold. I could not stop listening. The name of the third book hasn’t even been announced and I’m dying for it.

Don’t sleep on this series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thea has done it again - and then some - with her sophomore book. We pick up right where The Hurricane Wars left off - with Talasyn and Alaric denying their growing feelings for each other and using bullying as a form of flirting while they prepare for the Moonless Dark (a destructive phenomena that only they can stop). While book one sets up the world and who these characters start off as, Monsoon sees these characters grow. We get to witness Talasyn and Alaric discovering that they can be soft sometimes, instead of just weapons. Of discovering who they really are at their core, outside of the expectations everyone places on them. Of beginning to articulate what they actually want.

While Talasyn does definitely change in this book, I think the biggest change is in Alaric - our poor, dumb, idiot baby boy. Raised to believe that all he could ever be good for was fighting and war, he's slowly starting to see himself as more than that. It's a real crisis of identity for him that makes me want to put him in therapy so so bad so he can get the help he needs. Seriously - if I wrote a fanfic in this universe, it would 10000% be called "I Want To Break Free (of my father's horrific abuse and withholding)". Luckily, he does have Tala to push him into questioning the path he's been put on - and to show him that there is kindness in the world. It takes him literally being broken for him to lower his guard and let her in - which sends Tala into a spiral of doubt about what she was so sure was true. Seeing your husband as a human instead of an evil monster will do that to you.

Talasyn is lowkey a bit of a mess in this one. She's living a double life - developing real feelings for her husband despite knowing she will have to betray him for what she believes is the greater good. Her guilt eats her up more and more the further she falls for Alaric, and the more she decides to do things that she knows she shouldn't. It's very relatable - how many times have we thought "ahhh screw it who cares" as we do something that you know Future Us will have to pay dearly for. Talasyn's had a hard and difficult life, and she deserves to seize her happiness when and where she can. But the bill will come due for her, and the angst building inside of her - and the trust building between her and Alaric - has set the stage for a BRUTAL book three where I'm positive we will get so much conflict and hurt and betrayal (before Thea eventually irons all of it out into a HEA... PLEASE).

You may have noticed the spice level has doubled from the last one (😏). I would say this level ratcheted up half way through the book and just continued on being horny in-between the plot points from then on. Guanzon knows how to write some filthy, delicious scenes - there were several times where I verbally said "Jesus Christ" as I blushed at something Alaric had said or done (ummm... the gauntlets 😳🥵). Hopefully we'll still get a good amount of dirty in the last book of the trilogy in between all the heartbreak and conflict, because Thea knows how to write a love scene. I may or may not have read some of those scenes multiple times - to fully understand the... plot. Yeah, the plot. No other reason.

The non-romance elements of this book also deserves praise because the events that move the story forward are interesting, surprising, and gripping. There are battles, dragons, aethermancing, science experiments, and political intrigue. Thea really does a masterful job of balancing the fantasy action beats with the steamy romance beats and emotional, character-driven discoveries. You're not reading straight-up porn, but you're also not reading a dry, historical text. You're not reading a stone-cold drama, but it's also not a farce. This balance keeps you invested in all aspects of the story - and keeps you turning pages wanting to know what will happen next.

This book absolutely did not disappoint. The Hurricane Wars series continues to be a gripping and exciting read, and I can't wait to see what happens to our star-crossed dummies in the next one - especially with the cliff-hanger we're left with in Monsoon! I believe the third installment will be published in 2026 - and it can't come soon enough.

The world building is like crazy in her books … so detailed and immersive that you feel like you are actually there .. I definitely recommend for fantasy girlies who are into detailed world building

I really enjoyed this! It was definitely a slow start, similar to the Hurricane Wars, but it really picked up at the end. There was a lot of tension between the main characters throughout the book that made it feel tedious at times, but it resolved in the middle making the book feel faster paced. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series!

This one seemed to have similar issues for me as the first one. Long and drawn out and not much of anything happening for too long. I wasn't invested and didn't care about the romance.

I think its just the story matter for me. Ill read other things by Thea but this series may just not be for me.

I appreciate netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book is pure romantic fantasy drama, and I mean that in the best way. A Monsoon Rising dials up the enemies-to-lovers tension to a whole new level. Alaric and Talasyn have that “I hate you but I want you” energy that really delivers.

The worldbuilding is deep, the political stakes are high, and the spice is definitely there—sometimes a bit too much, depending on your taste. There’s a lot of talking and inner turmoil, so if you’re in it for fast-paced plot, just know the romance takes the lead.

Best quote takeaway? "We were meant to be enemies. But my heart never got the message."

If you loved The Hurricane Wars, this one's an upgrade in every way. But if you're not a fan of slow burn and angst? Might not be your cup of tea.

I wasn’t impressed with the first book in the beginning but by the end I was captured. I wanted to hear more about the main characters and the story between them so I was very excited about this book, the tension was really good. I wish there was more world building, it was a total vibe though. 100% will read more from this author in the future!

Definitely needed this book after the way I felt finishing the first one!! And while I was very excited and thoroughly enjoyed this, I do feel as though it suffered a bit from "middle book syndrome." Which isn't at all to say that it's bad, because it isn't!! Some parts just dragged a little for me, and I wasn't quite as invested as I was in the first one.

But I'll for sure be reading the next installment!!

I struggled with the first book, but the end had me curious enough that I really wanted to give the second one a shot. Unfortunately the writing style continues to be not for me so I’ll have to leave this as a DNF.

Love love love this. Book 1 stole my heart and book 2 followed along perfect. So excited to see what comes next!

I thought the first book in this series (The Hurricane Wars) had a lot of promise and I was interested in seeing where it would go in book 2. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be continuing this series. For some reason I thought this was a duology but the story does not end in this book. I like both romantic fantasy (fantasy novels with a romantic subplot) and romantasy (romance and fantasy plot equally important to the book. But this is really a romance set in a fantasy world, which does not do it for me, but that I think others (clearly) really enjoy. This book was 90% relationship building and 10% plot. Very little seemed to happen here, and that was frustrating to me. There was a ton of talking about plans and things to do but very little actual doing. There was a ton of miscommunication/non-communication. There were a lot of sex scenes, which I generally don't mind, but some of the scenes were so cringy that I felt physically uncomfortable and/or laughed at how crazy something was.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing a digital ARC of this book.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The romance, filled with yearning and so much banter, in this book was amazing. Thea Guanzon totally knows what she is doing when it comes to writing romance. The slow burn, will they/won't they was intense and sometimes so frustrating but it kept me reading so that was good!

I can't really say much because pretty much everything I want to see is a spoiler but what I can say is, that CLIFFHANGER was crazy and I need to know what happens next.

I was so excited to read book 2 in this series, and I have to say, it did not disappoint. Thea did an amazing job with the characters and the storytelling, and I cannot wait for book 3!

After the events of THE HURRICANE WARS, Talasyn and Alaric, now married, must trust each other in order to stop the Voidfell before it destroys both of their kingdoms. This book is full of both action and pining, and I enjoyed it much more than the first book in the series! Now that we’ve gotten the worldbuilding out of the way and are more focused on the plot and characters, it was much more interesting and easier to read. I do recommend reading on kindle if possible, because I kept having to look up words! The writing was just a little too wordy and descriptive for my taste! But I did like the ending and am very interested to see what happens next!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for my copy! ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

ARC provided by Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“Kindly do not pinch me, Lachis’ka”
“It’s your fault. Don’t make me sic my eagle on you.”
“Please no. Anything but Watermelon”

I would like to thank Avon, Harper Voyager and Netgalley for a copy of this eARC. Thea Guanzon holds one of the greatest places in my heart, as a author, as a person, and as a friend. There is not a sweeter and more deserving author to get the attention that this story deserves. I mean, I even flew to New York just to meet her in person for the first time and go adventuring around the city with her and other online friends I came to know during covid times.

Thea just has a special way of bringing people together, of building a community around two idiots who just need to I love you and move on with their happy lives. "It would probably save a lot of time" as Alaric lovingly said in the first book.

Thea's debut was astounding, but Monsoon Rising is a testament to how far you can come in so little time. If you asked me previously I would say her writing was perfect in The Hurricane Wars and yet, A Monsoon Rising topped it, significantly bypassing what I could have expected for this world.

This book picks up seamlessly from where we left off in the previous book, but adds a depth to the character. The shock that her "friends" now viewed her as a traitor was a moment I loved because it showed the hard realty of choosing sides in a war, and how decisions have consequences, even if you were looking to help not harm.

The tension still tensioned and the training scenes on the beach were just fun. I will never get enough of Sevraim and Elagbi's humor, and the fountain of microtropes throughout the books that have any fanfiction reader kicking their feet.

My new favorite trope: Only one cave.
Least favorite new trope: who's that pokemon? A giant grumpy dragon.

The next book can't come soon enough, and I will forever throw it into the arms of anyone asking for an enemies to lovers series.

Thank you Thea Guanzon and Netgalley for the e-arc. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.

I waited FOREVER to read the first book, just because I knew the second would be a while before releasing.

well here we are. OBSESSED. this was so good. I love the universe, the characters, The character development was just so good, and that ENDING.