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i received a copy of a venom dark and sweet fromΒ new south publishing in exchange for an honest review.

star rating

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a venom dark and sweet review

to read my review of the first book in this thrilling duology, please follow this link.

i really enjoyed reading a magic steeped in poison (the first book). it wasn’t perfect, but it was a good book that held my interests and had a fascinating concept. unfortunately, i felt a vemon dark and sweet fell short.

as with the first book, i loved the world building and the magic system. it’s a unique concept that i don’t think i’ll tire of quickly. the magic of tea brewing is just a fantastic concept as tea is already something that has so many health benefits, that magic isn’t such a stretch.

the first thing i noticed about this book (in comparison to the first one), was the pacing. a venom dark and sweet is very slow. things dragged out for longer than they should have. some scenes could’ve been cut completely from the book as they had no relation to the plot. things didn’t pick up again until the end.

which leads me to my other pro for this book: the ending was so damn intense!! it felt like everything was happening at once. there was plenty of revelations and twists that i didn’t see coming.

but because of the slow beginning and middle, i think this book would’ve made a better standalone. if the author had made the book of tea a standalone novel, that’s slightly thicker, it would’ve been much more interesting. there was too much downtime in this book as nearly nothing interesting happened until those final few pages.

aside from the pacing, i found the writing style and the characters just weren’t as good as the first book. i found the characters lacked depth, which resulted in me not having a good connection with them. i loved them in the first book but couldn’t care what happened to them in the sequel.

overall, i think this book could’ve been consolidated with the first to make a great standalone. having a second book felt like an unnecessary drag.

buy your copy now!

the nile | mighty ape | paper plus

6 Comments

  1. avatar
    WendyW says:

    Nice honest review. A slow pace can frustrate me too

    1. avatar

      i’m glad it’s not just me haha!

  2. avatar

    NOO IM SO SORRY YOU HATED THIS 😭😭 but am also very happy about the fact that i never bothered completing the duology because look i left the first book midway AND WAS JUST SO BORED WITH EVERYTHING. so if it just gets worse from there?? OOPS. love the honest review though!!

    1. avatar

      i really enjoyed the first book which is why i read the second one. i’m glad you didn’t waste your time trying to read something that you didn’t like!

  3. avatar

    It’s always hard when a sequel doesn’t live up to the previous book. I’m sorry you didn’t like this one very much. πŸ™

    1. avatar

      it’s a bummer, for sure.

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