Quick Synopsis – Monroe Benson is now among the rebel army and nothing turned out the way it was supposed to. Out of one dangerous court and into a dangerous rebel uprising, Monroe and her friends are trying to survive and take the throne.

Song This Reminds Me Of – I Did Something Bad by Taylor Swift

Publication Date – June 18, 2024

Content Notes – This is the second in the Culled Crown Series, spoilers if you haven’t read that book. There are scenes of gore, body horror, child soldiers, child abuse, and starving. There is off page parent loss, childbirth, child loss, domestic abuse and poisoning.

Steamy Rating – 🌶️

Overall Rating – 3.5 out of 5 stars ⭐

Review – Okay, this is the second in a series that really reminds me of The Selection or The Red Queen. Spoilers below if you haven’t read the first book.

I liked this book but didn’t love it. I felt it suffered from the curse of the second book. There was too much time meandering around in the plot. Monroe, Uriel, Nadia, etc. all spend months in a rebel encampment, and it feels like nothing happens. I get that they were training their powers and there were political things going on, but it just felt like there could have been more lore building or information revealed during this time period. Instead, there was an info dump in the last 25% of the book.

I will say the author is very engaging; I had a hard time putting this book down. I loved how conflicted Monroe was over her actions and how she just wanted to be left alone. The secondary characters were fleshed out really well, and we got more information about the backstory of some of the other goddess-touched girls. Also, whoever edited this book, shame on you. There were so many typos and grammatical errors. It drove me nuts!

The overall story was good, and there were some twists and turns. I don’t think the ending paid off as well as it could have, but it will be interesting to see what the next book holds.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group for the ARC; all opinions are my own.