I have to admit I struggled with The Hurricane Wars. This probably stems from the fact that I've read this story in its original form, and seeing it transformed so heavily was a shock. Experiencing a whole new universe of backstory for the characters I already loved was a lot. Which probably explains why I couldn't say I loved THW. When I saw that A Monsoon Rising was preparing for release, I couldn't pass it up.

I enjoyed A Monsoon Rising a lot. This novel is much more focused on Talasyn and Alaric's relationship, their challenges and the secrets they keep. I think this novel benefits from the fact that most of the heavy world building was taken care of in THW. It checked all the right boxes for me, and I can't wait to read the final installment.

I do think AMR is more enjoyable than THW, so I do recommend continuing with the series, if you're on the fence.

Literally a perfect sequel. The plot and world building expanded on the first book. And the relationship of course as well.

One area that I really wanted more of from book 1 was the magic. And I definitely got that in this sequel! I enjoyed getting to dive deeper into Alaric and Tala's relationship. However, I don't feel like there was a compelling and driving plot to this book, I think I wanted more tension in the plot to balance the romantic tension. In truth, this felt more like a 1.5 than a sequel; I almost think I would have enjoyed it more if it were shorter. All that said, the ending got me! I love a cliffhanger! I can't wait for book 3!

Thea is quite possibly one of the greatest fantasy/romance authors of this generation. Her story telling is so well done and keeps you on the edge of your seat. There were points I wasn’t sure where she was going to go next, but she has surprised me at every single turn! My jaw was on the floor by the time i finished this book. 1000% recommend can’t wait till the next one!

4.5 stars

This book did NOT suffer from second book syndrome that’s for sure.

The emphasis of this book was placed on the development of the relationship between our two main characters Talasyn and Alaric. It’s been a really long time since I’ve read an enemies to lovers that’s actually enemies to lovers.

Thea Guanzon was able to write a romance plot where the characters were trying to fight their chemistry and attraction and failed. I ate it up! This did not take away from the plot and world building which I really appreciated.

I wish the voidfell plot was a little more action packed considering the culmination of the plot up to this point was about stopping it from destroying the world.

That ending was bonkers and I need book 3 NOW!

Man this was such a good continuation of The Hurricane Wars! I loved the deeper dive into Alaric’s character and background, along with the depiction of Talasyn’s family and how she’s adjusting to having them in her life. And adding to all this was the wonderful tension between these two as they continue to plot against each other while trying to ignore their attraction. I’m officially obsessed with these two if I wasn’t already in the first place. 😍

I’m still a heavy skeptic of the romantasy genre and will probably never get over feeling like a little nasty fly on the wall during “spicy” scenes, but this series will probably be the only one that 1) I didn’t read because of its explicit folklore/mythology inspired plot, and 2) don’t mind the sex scenes. There’s something about the way Guanzon writes and crafts the world and its characters that just acts like crack to my brain. 🤭

The story continues a few weeks after the ending of the first book. Talasyn and Alaric are training hard for the Moonless Night which could spell death to the world they know if they fail. I really liked how we get more scenes of them together and learning more and more about each other. I liked that Talasyn has moments of perceived weakness and Alaric does nothing but try and understand her. I also adored the idea that Alaric is a golden retriever boy locked behind the literal and figurative mask of a wolf. Honestly, I was just squealing with glee as these two bickered but came back together to be honest with each other in rather tender moments. 🥹

But really though, I just had a hoot of a time back with these characters. I loved the new inclusion of one particular figure from Filipino mythology and that ending? . . . WWHHHYYYYYY??????!!!!! 😫

HUGE thank you to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for accepting my desperate request to read this sequel in exchange for an honest review (I’d also be forever in debt if I got a physical ARC 🙏🏼) and to Guanzon for finally making me get romantasy. ❤️

Publication date: December 10!!

Overall: 5/5 ⭐️

'A Monsoon Rising' is a strong follow up to the first book in the series. If you liked the first one, then you surely will like the second. To me, 'The Hurricane Wars' started a little slow and could be quite long-winded. This one does have moments where I wish the writing was a little tighter, but overall, I enjoyed it, and look forward to reading the third one.

In this ever growing 'romantacy' genre, 'A Monsoon Rising' hits somewhere in the middle between the two. Guanzon has built a very interesting world and magic system, and it's easy for me to go along with it without thinking too much.

This book focuses more on our two main characters and their motivations. We get mentions of the inner workings of Kesath's and Nenevar's politics and of Alaric and Talasyn navigating their courts, but we don't see it too much. That would give us a book considerably longer than what we got and undoubtably mess with its flow - which here moves along at a brisk pace. Guanzon seems to understand that the majority of the readers are here for the growing relationship between our two main characters.

We get a deeper understanding of their motivations and fears, and I feel like, on a deeper level that some other authors miss, Guanzon is telling a story of how trauma impacts relationships - not only trauma from our families and past experiences but the realities of trying to have a positive impact on a world more focused on power, consumption, and politics.

As a person who reads genres widely, I have to admit to giving romance/fantasy books a little more leeway than others. On its own, I would give this book 3 stars, but within this genre, I give it 4. Yes, we have the continued tropes of a 'shadow daddy,' a fun subversion of 'who did this to you?,' and a relationship built upon two antagonistic main characters, but Guanzon seems aware of these tropes and does her best to build upon them in a way that is (I can't find a great word for it) respectful of the reader.

First of all, thank you to Netgally and the author for letting me read this book early! I loved the continuation of the story of Talasyn and Alaric. The progression of their relationship and their individual powers throughout the story was captivating. I really enjoy getting to see their character progression as individuals as well. For me, personally, there were a lot of intimate scenes, but that’s 100% a personal preference. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

First of all thank you to NetGallley , the publisher, and the author for this e-arc. For me this book had second book syndrome so bad. I struggled the first 40 pages trying to remember everything and everyone. I felt like I needed a recap of the first book. The plot just also didn’t progress like I needed it to. However, the development between Talasyn and Alaric was good. Both as a couple and as individual characters.

I received an eARC from NetGalley/Harper Voyager in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. Thank you for the opportunity to read this early!

Oh my goodness I loved this book. There wasn't a moment after I started it that I wanted to put it down and when I wasn't reading it then Talasyn/Alaric were occupying my mind! This one picks up where we left off after book one and I honestly preferred it over the first. We already had most of the worldbuilding out of the way and instead just got to spend time with Talasyn and Alaric trying to power up to save the world together. I loved ALL of their interactions. They both are absolute dummies in the best of ways when it comes to expressing their feelings. Granted their feelings that are developing for each other are very complicated considering they both are hiding secrets relating to war and politics on opposing sides.

I liked the pacing and the relationship buildup with their banter. The soft moments when past trauma was shared was very sweet and well done. The "who did this to you" moment was one of my favorites since its almost always the MMC saying this, but having it be the FMC this time was awesome! Honorable mention to the short baking scene because that was cute as heck!

I got to read this book early, but now I have to deal with a very long wait until the next book. That was quite the cliffhanger! I want both of them to be okay and I know it is going to be a mess to get there though I am here for all of it!

Thank you again NetGalley/Harper Voyager as this was truly a treat!

EXCUSE ME I loved this book so much.

HOW WAS IT SO SATISFYING ON EVERY LEVEL??

How is the writing still the most beautiful, lush, exquisite thread of words ever?

As usual, I don't want to give much away, but suffice it to say that Thea is incredible and managed to stock this book full of as much tension as it is feels. The balance of hate and love between Alaric and Talasyn is beautifully done. Their relationship and romance is not a linear one, but it's so raw and effortless (to their great dismay) and it's handled beautifully and with nuance. But I particularly love that the world building does not suffer, nor does the quality of the story, even though this is largely intimate with their relationship taking center stage.

It's everything I wanted from Reylo but so much more. I love this series dearly.

I am terrified of book three.

4.5/5 Stars This is the romantasy series of my dreams. The tension that tensed. The banter that banted. The romance that romanced. Also there were more dragons???????? COULD WE HONESTLY ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE?????

What I liked: The two books of consistent character building that led up to the cliffhanger was INSANE. The heavier relationship focus in book two was what I needed! The further political machinations brought more depth to what can sometimes be a book two drag. I liked the emotional depth and background we got to explore in both the main characters (and even some side characters) that helped explain their actions.

What I didn't like: I'm still confused how the magic works, but that might be a me issue!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC.

WOW. I inhaled this book and so very grateful I waited to read The Hurricane Wars right beforehand. Because this story consumed me. The beauty of the world Thea developed, the tension between Alaric and Talasyn, the angst, the banter, I loved it.

I think I read somewhere this was loosely ReyLo fanfic inspired and honestly I am HERE FOR IT.

It also crushed any predictions I had, which I love - it kept surprising me with the twists and turns. I will be sharing and recommending this one for a whileeee.

Tropes/Elements:
- Enemies to lovers
- Arranged marriage (royalty)
- Warring kingdoms
- One bed/cave 😏
- Unique magic system
- Possessive MMC
- Virgin FMC and MMC

Note: Thanks to the NetGalley and Harper Voyager for providing an eARC. The decision to read/review was my own and represents my honest opinion.

I flew through this book and now I feel like my life is over because I have to wait 9q03840928340982430923 years for the 3rd one. HUURRRYYYYYYY THEA WE NEED MOOOOREEEE.

This was an amazing sequel. I love the story of these two.

An excellent sequel! I loved this! I really like the rich and lush world-building. It's very atmospheric. I adore Alaric and Tala, and I love the dynamic of their relationship. This was definitely more character-driven than the first book. It also focused more on the romantic relationship. I wish there was a little more plot to this. There was a lot of build-up for the ending, but I didn't feel like it paid off. The ending fell flat for me and was very anticlimactic. Also, some of the dialog, especially the spicy scenes, felt very forced and unnatural.

Let me first say, I liked this book and will ABSOLUTELY read the next. That being said, this one didn't hit the way The Hurricane Wars did.

It felt like Guanzon wrote this one for the romantasy girlies vs the fantasy girlies and I think that explains a lot of my feelings about the book as I definitely fall into the latter category (with zero judgment of the first category to be clear). So much of this book focuses on Alaric and Talasyn's relationship and attraction to each other, to the detriment of the overall plot. The first half is all inner strife and denying their feelings and the back half is just a lot of banging. Which to be clear, there's nothing wrong with copious sex but I like a little more world building and plot development.

For instance, the Moonless Dark reveal was honestly underwhelming because the Bakun mythology is too under developed. I totally understand the use of easter eggs and not spelling things out for the reader but I'm pretty sure Bakun isn't mentioned at all in this book until the reveal (and its not like it was a central focus in the first book). And it just felt too neat for something that was this central, driving conflict for 1.5 books. Also the cliffhanger at the end really came out of no where -- there needed to be some work done to seed the idea of an internal Nenaverene revolution that would target Talasyn in that way. It felt super out of left field and while I'm sure the next book will explain it, I don't love books that introduce MAJOR plot developments with zero context just to have a dramatic cliffhanger-y ending.

I think my hopes were a little too high for this one, which is on me, not the book. Guanzon is a very talented writer and I'm still super excited to see where this goes next even though this review sounded super negative.

Being back with Alaric and Talasyn was like breathing clean air again. I loved them so much and the will they/won't they/when is it finally gonna happen tension woven throughout this book was just SO good. The ending surprised me so much and I can't WAIT to see what happens next.

A Monsoon Rising is the second book in The Hurricane Wars series and continues the story of Alaric and Talasyn's alliance. While I really enjoyed parts of this book, it was also very difficult to get through. The writing style was so complex that it took a lot for me to get though each paragraph.

~~What I liked~~
-The storyline was good, continuing what happened in The Hurricane Wars.
-We continue to learn more about Alaric's history, better helping to understand his thoughts and motives.
-The relationship between Alaric and Talasyn also continues to develop and I thought I was reading a YA novel, but those ❤️ scenes are NSFW.

~~What I didn't like~~
-The hardest part for me to process what the writing style. As an avid audiobook reader, I really struggle with books that are overly wordy, and this novel was overly wordy in spades. For example:
Obsidian energy from aetherspace twisted into eel-like bodies that unleashed the guttural shriek of the Shadowgate with lions’ maned heads and galloped through the air on antelopes’ hooves.
It was like this the WHOLE book.
-I also felt like the tension between Alaric and Talasyn was overdone. Already having one entire novel devoted to them fighting their feelings for each other, it was hard for me to stomach an entire other novel of the same vein.
-The pacing was pretty slow.
-The ending was a cliffhanger and left me pretty unsatisfied...😞

Overall, I liked the second installment, not as much as the first, but I will definitely be reading the last book to see what finally happens to (hopefully) end the war.

I can’t even. I devoured this book and absolutely loved it. The first book I struggled to get through at the start with all the world building but really enjoyed the last half. I will say this book was my favorite of the two. I enjoyed it from start to finish. One of my favorite parts of this series is that the relationship between Alaric and Talasyn seems really unique to other books I’ve seen. The romantic scenes are done so well for two people who are doing things for the first time. I truly enjoyed every moment they were together. But that ending… I need book 3 like now!!

I've recommended Hurricane Wars to all of the fantasy readers at the bookstore, and I can't wait to tell them that Monsoon Rising was even better! Thea Guanzon has done a remarkable job of building on this world and its lovable, frustrating characters. There are twists, turns, and romance in every chapter, and I'm dying to know what happens next.

Thank you NetGalley for access to this ARC!