*I received an ecopy of this book via BookSirens. This has not influenced my review.*

This is the second in a duology which wraps up Mackie and Blue’s story!

This author has a writing style that I really like. It flows and is pretty with a bit of a sharp edge to it (which really suited this story) while still being easy to understand.

Mackie is such a great complex and imperfect character. A lot of realistically mixed up emotions in that boy. He has his flaws and makes some bad decisions, but he tries to be good. He just succeeds at it more in some areas of his life than others.

I really like Blue too, all grungy and flamboyant and of the forest, and he was so important to Mackie and the whole story…

Which is why I was disappointed there was so little of him in this book. I feel like this book was a lot of weird stuff happening to Mackie in the forest, then more weird stuff happening to Mackie in the forest, then more weird stuff happening to Mackie in the forest. I just wanted a little more than that.

On the other hand, that’s better than rushing through things. Mackie had to have enough time and forest encounters to realize something weird was going on and that it had something to do with him. And it’s great if you like creepy, magical forests!

There was also some friendship, a bit of complicated family, and… I don’t know if I would call it romance, but I would definitely call it love. (They do seem to be the romantic sort of feelings, but anyone expecting the typical book romance experience may not find what they’re looking for here.)

Overall, I enjoyed this and the duology as a whole. It was atmospheric and magical in a creepy sort of way with flawed but lovable characters!

*Rating: 3.5 Stars // Read Date: 2023 // Format: Ebook via TTS*