'Covet' by Tracy Wolff

FTC disclaimer: I was not sent this product. I am not affiliated with the companies mentioned. All opinions are my own.

Loving the cover art going on here. Very snazzy. Totally inconsistent with the first two books... but snazzy.

As a general rule of thumb, book reviews done the day after you have finished the book should be avoided. However, the other rule of another digit is that when you are reading a quality book, you will be reading it into the early hours of the morning. Now as you can expect, these two rules have clashed here, but I will do my best to articulate my thoughts all the same.

If you want to read other people’s opinions, the goodreads link is here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53426743-covet

And if you want to buy it, you should probably stop reading my review in case I give out any spoilers… the Waterstones link: https://www.waterstones.com/book/covet/tracy-wolff/9781529355604

Okay so here is the blurbedy blurb blurb:

I may have reached my breaking point. As if trying to graduate from a school for supernaturals isn’t stressful enough, my relationship status has gone from complicated to a straight-up dumpster fire.

Oh, and the Bloodletter has decided to drop a bomb of epic proportions on us all…

Then again, when has anything at Katmere Academy not been intense?

And the hits just keep coming. Jaxon’s turned colder than an Alaskan winter. The Circle is splintered over my upcoming coronation. As if things couldn’t get worse, now there’s an arrest warrant for Hudson’s and my supposed crimes — which apparently means a lifetime prison sentence with a deadly unbreakable curse.

Choices will have to be made…and I fear not everyone will survive.

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In summary, a fun fantasy novel that sped up a lot after the first half. Not predictable at all, but we were told a few things (and showing is always key).

So I’ve got to rate this a 7 out of 10. Im aware that it’s trashy, and aware that I didn’t even enjoy a massive chunk of the first half, but Wolff has left me with no choice. *Her website is here: https://tracywolffauthor.comThe* The second half just pulled out all the stops *note to authors -please write books that are consistently good the whole way through otherwise you are being mean to your readers who write book reviews*. The whole concept of the Aethereum just blew me away.

Ending on such a dramatic cliffhanger in the previous book in the series meant that I had been thinking about this sequel for a while (6 MONTHS!!! - this book was published on 2 March 2021 by Hodder & Stoughton). However, the disappointing thing was that Wolff used this cliffhanger to coast her way through the first half of the novel, using its unresolved-ness to fill up pages for no apparent reason. Saying that, this book was totally my favourite of the whole series so far (cannot believe I shipped Jaxon and Grace… -eek, spoiler). The whole coasting thing, however, led to what all authors should be doing their best to avoid: I ended up reading other things whilst putting off finishing this. Furthermore, the first half also felt like a bit of a never ending “to solve the problem, we need to get this. But to get to this, we need to talk to her. But then to talk to her, we have to travel here. But to travel here, we have to meet him.”. With hindsight, I can see that all of these detours were required to setup later events, but I think that they could have been done more succinctly.

Other flaws include the fact that making a character say the words “wanker” “bloody” and “shite” does not make them British -nor is there any such thing as a “British accent”. American authors, please learn to get this right, as it slightly tainted my character appreciation of Hudson. The sex scene was extremely PG but I think it worked, as the book is more adventure based than romance based. Some may say that its lack of a super climatic ending was a flaw, but I would disagree and say that it worked, and I’m still curious about the last book.

After a tirade like that, I hope you all are ready to hear why I gave this book a seven.

So, as soon as Hudson and Grace got to the prison, it felt like a film rolling behind my eyes. Un-put-down-able, believable, and the whole idea just demonstrates such an incredible imagination. I luuuuved all the new characters we met, Hudson was the kind of guy that every girl imagines themselves dating (or maybe it’s just me…) and Grace was just pretty kickass. Sure, she was sometimes less physically and magically powerful than her friends, but she was strong all the same.

Additionally, the use of setting related to the plots and characters, and although the descriptions weren’t extensive, they were effective. World building was a key feature of the book; the fantasy world practically tripled from the previous books. At first, I questioned this move as I liked the originality in limiting the species’ of magical creatures, but I was pleasantly surprised when it benefited the novel.