“If girls are foolish enough to call me Sun God, then you are the goddess of the moon. Diana. Selene. Artemis. Luna. My pale and ethereal queen.”

Hi. Let’s talk about the Crooked Sinners series for a second. So I read book book one, Riot House, last year. It’s the tale of Wren and Elodie. It was mysterious and magical. It was weird and scary. It was a lot of things, but let me tell you this…it was NOTHING compared to this book. Holy hell. Carrie and Dash are explosive. This story was incredible. I feel like I don’t have the words to describe how it made me feel. All I know is that I’m fully invested in this world. I love that this story took us back to before Elodie arrived, took us through the time that we read about in book one, and then brings us into the future. It’s dynamic and passionate. We get to see what went on behind Elodie and Wren’s backs. We get to relive the terrifying night where people almost lost their lives. We get to witness obsession from a new angle and get a different perspective on the world we thought we knew. 

So just wanted to be clear with everyone about this book: it is LONG. I’m talking like suuuuper long. Almost 500 pages. I’m not used to books that long unless they are written by Mariana Zapata, so I wasn’t sure how I would make it through this one. BUT…it doesn’t feel long. It flies by. You’re so engrossed in this world and re-living what you thought you knew that you look up and you’re 85% of the way through and feel like crying because you wish it would never end. The other thing about long books? They take a while to write. I don’t even want to think about how long it will be until we get Pax’s story. We get a sneak peak at the end of this book and I’m telling you right now…I don’t think I will ever be ready for that novel. It’s going to punch us in the feels. 

So Carrie and Dash. Talk about the ULTIMATE love story. Dash doesn’t see Carrie for the first couple of years of school. One day he looks up and she’s bulldozed her way into his life and it’s never the same. Carrie has been secretly in love with Dash since she first saw him. He’s British and a Lord and probably the sexiest man alive (I cannot say that with certainty because we haven’t received Pax’s story yet). Dash is a romantic. I’m talking like big, sweeping romantic gestures that have to be hidden away for fear of the backlash he might receive from his friends. See, in the first book, Wren falls for Elodie and ruthlessly pursues her without a doubt in his mind. Dash is less confident. He doesn’t want his friends to touch Carrie. He wants to protect her from everything, even himself, so he hides his feelings away. It isn’t until everything blows up in his face that he admits the truth…he was a coward. In this novel we live through their romance, their downfall, and then their ultimate reunion. There are times when I wasn’t sure I was going to make it, honestly. My heart was bleeding for this couple. 

“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my entire life.”

Carrie has a terrifying past. We get a taste of the brutality of this series in book one with Elodie’s past, but Carrie suffers just the same. It’s scary, guys. She’s alone in this world, running from everything, never trusting anyone. She never allows herself any goodness, until Dash. He breaks open the shell she’s been hiding in. We get to witness her love, her passion for the stars, her brilliance. Dash shows us a different side of him. One we never saw in book one. It was delicious and captivating. I can’t go into much detail without spoiling anything. Just know that you should have tissues ready because the reunion is like nothing you will imagine. You won’t be ready for it. One of my favorite things about Callie Hart’s writing is that she doesn’t bullshit. She doesn’t give you 5 epilogues and a happy ending. There’s always a little bit left over for your imagination. That’s what draws me in. That’s what keeps me guessing and what leaves me thinking when I turn the last page. This is a series I won’t soon forget. Bravo! 5 stars. 

“My darkest fantasy…has always been you.”