Wow, this was so very wonderful. Very intense, and quite dark. In Hoyt's other books there was quite a bit of dark humor, much of ot self-depricating, mostly on the part of her heroes. While this book is darker than her others, likely due to its subject matter, I still found myself completely engaged. Watching Caire open himself up to Temperance without even a whimper. And seeing Temperance learn to let her true nature shine through. Yes, it was angsty, but the angst completely fit the story.
The secondary characters are wonderful as well, and as always, the fairy tale told fits the story completely. My heart broke for Silence, Temperance's sister, who risked everything for her love and had it backfire. She and William will have a long road to recover from their heartache. And oh, how I hope that Hoyt allows them to do so over tje next couple of books without killing me from the agony.
Excellent, excellent book.