by A.L. Jackson
Publisher: Author
Pub Date: January 7, 2025
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Format: ARC
Source: Author
Book Links: Goodreads Amazon
Aria Rialta is a girl of two realities. One she was born to. The other she was chosen for. Both are a threat.
Every night when Aria falls asleep, she enters the nightmare world of Faydor to fight a war. It’s her calling to help destroy the Kruen, who feed sin and chaos to our everyday world of vulnerable humans. It would be a lonely realm in which to do battle if not for Pax, Aria’s dangerously irresistible soulmate whose mere touch can kill. It’s also a realm that’s getting harder to escape.
Aria’s hallucinations are seeping into her waking world. And the Kruen are coming for her. To help Aria, Pax must do what no one in Faydor has dared to do before—join his soulmate in the light of day. Giving in to their forbidden attraction could be the death of them, but they might not be able to stop themselves as they embark on a cross-country journey to fight the evils hunting them.
As their desire grows, so do Aria’s untapped powers, and a menacing new force far darker than the Kruen.
A.L. Jackson took a shot with this being her first fantasy book and she could not have been more brilliant. Fantasy, romance and some dark tones were served with this book and I could not pull myself away from it.
Aria is special. She can go into another world when she sleeps in which she can get hurt and it will show in the human world. Which leads her parents to think these marks were done by her and forced her into a psychiatric hospital in which will only cause things to be worse. I will say, parts of it did cause some trigger moments, so just to be aware/prepared for those scenes in the beginning.
So what does Aria do now? She reaches out for the one person she needs the most, the one who will do anything to protect her. Pax.
Together they go on the run. Where they work on figuring out how Aria can work in both worlds, what it means and how to keep Aria from meeting the same fate as others. Pulling back and forth on their need and their oath and to never give in. The second Pax saved Aria from that hospital, the intensity rises and you'll be sucked into a world you don't want out of.
Oh and the ending?! Don't even get me started on it, I'm so disappointed that I don't already have the next book, because who ends it like that and leaves someone to wait in agony for the next one?! But seriously, I'll take the next book now. The best fantasy I've read all year.
My Rating:
✪✪✪✪✪
