Demon Realm by Tracy Lauren

3 Stars

The writing and editing was clean, with few typos that I caught in the ARC version of this manuscript and pretty sentences. The world building was excellent throughout. The characterization was deftly done, with both hero and heroine being vibrant well drawn individuals. The development of the romantic relationship was also fairly well done, happening naturally and organically over the course of the novel. The plot and pacing was exciting. There was a massive amount of angst and despair in this novel, however, with very little hope and almost no light moments throughout, and I finished this novel feeling drained and depressed. There were high stakes throughout this novel, which I typically enjoy in my romance novels, but am not sure I enjoyed in this case because of the pervading hopelessness in this novel. This novel used the Fated Mates trope and the Road Trip trope. The world building, plot, and pacing rated four stars. The character development and development of the romantic relationship also rated four stars. Normally that would mean that my combined score for this novel was four stars. However, because of the mood of pervading hopelessness and despair throughout this novel, and the sky-high angst on the heroine's part, I gave this novel a three star combined score. This novel ends on a Happy Ever After ending instead of a cliffhanger, so that is a big plus to this novel. I do not recommend this sci-fi/paranormal romance to anyone currently experiencing depression or high levels of fear or anxiety, because it could potentially be very triggering. It was for me, at least. I do not pan to buy myself a keeper copy of this novel.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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