The story seemed really interesting but I don't consider this romantic, a slow burn, or enemies to lovers.

This world contains dark themes, violence, loss, and elements of horror some may find disturbing, and readers can find more detailed information on www. SpoilerThe villain has a strong disdain for the living, with a complicated past involving another human woman.Towards the end of the book, Ada begins to feel conflicted by her body's arousal response to these acts and distorts this natural bodily response to assault for real building emotions of affection towards the King. Explicitly not for you if you mind any of that and/or graphic descriptions of death and decay (incl children) Spoiler or violent child death - though that's the cliffhanger so not sure how that will actually work out. But despite everything that has happened and how the people of her town have treated her, she is an amazing woman. To be clear, it is *not* ok to actually rape someone, but fantasizing about that is just something that many people do.

The reason I can still enjoy the book is probably that the rape scenes aren't truly fleshed out - we get the mechanics, we don't get a lot of description of how it feels (beyond "my ass still hurts") or the fallout (ie. I might read an alien romance one night, then a fictional biography about the last princess of Korea the next. But what she is, is determined to give it everything she has to make sure she doesn't lose herself in the process of falling in love with him.I was entirely tangled up in the story of Ada and Enosh: her determination to stay true as it is overwhelmed by his possessiveness, his questionable nearly non existent morals, and each carrying their own pasts.

At its core, this dark fantasy romance is about how love can turn us into fools for liars and monsters. When I do, I love to go to the museum, try out new recipes, or sit in my chair in my office to daydream. And because it is a fantasy, a dark one at that, it's acceptable that this is not CNC but actual non con. He is a malevolent god, not a human, and a being who only knows how to bend others to his will instead of treating relationships as businesses like humans do. The Pale Court duet is a two-book dark fantasy romance, following the story of a ruthless god and the woman he holds captive in his kingdom of the dead.Due to a misfortunate event involving a wayward mule ends up dragging her into the Pale Court at the feet of the King of Flesh and Bone himself. That's why when I was near the end I put down this book for two days to prepare myself for what was coming. I found it easy to both hate and love him particularly when I wanted to know more about him and his history and why/how he became who he is now. Even though the book packs some serious angst, she remained rather level-headed throughout, using her brain to assess the situations and come up with plans.