You know you’re excited for a book when you literally set your alarm to get up hours earlier than necessary, despite being a nocturnal creature and therefore NOT a morning person, just so you can start reading as soon as possible.

But it was worth it! Because now it’s 1 in the afternoon and I finished yet another great book in the Steel & Stone series.

My thoughts are little scattered since I literally just finished, but it was nice being back in the world Annette Marie has created. This book was not as continually action-packed as the first two, it was more like isolated action-packed moments with character development/relationship moments in between, but it still had enough to keep me on the edge of my seat, and the character moments were fine with me because I do love these characters! Lyre was so damn lovable, and of course Ash was all sorts of dangerous and brooding and sexy with his signature heart of gold underneath it all. Then there was Piper who was dealing with a lot but trying to do what was right. And Zwi was so freaking adorable! I love how she’s basically adopted Piper as her family.

But I’m dying to know more about Lyre’s past! I’m looking forward to some real answers in the next book because who is this guy?

I also loved, as usual, the beauty of both Ash’s and Lyre’s daemon forms and their magics. It always sounds so breathtaking. And the contrast between Lyre’s glowing gold and Ash’s shadowy black in that one scene just made it sound even more beautiful.

One more thing before I wrap this up! I don’t often share quotes in my reviews because I always love too many to choose, but this one stood out too much not to mention:

Some problems aren’t fixable, but that doesn’t mean you should stop. That sense that you can’t move forward … that’s the trap. It’s better to take the best future you can manage with what you have, than to put your life on hold trying to fix everything in the hopes of a perfect future that might never come.

Those were wise words from Ash that maybe we could all do well to listen to when times get tough or life is less than perfect. It seemed worth sharing.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book, much like all the others, and can’t wait for the next!