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inkerly's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
3.8-3.9ish
Wow, I've now read the final book to the SOTE saga and I have a lot of thoughts. First, I love the world Smauggy has created where her badass female MCs all have amazing powers (whether supernatural or not) and have amazing men to support. Gabby was a character that irritated me in Books 1-3, but by Book 4 I think she really grew and I appreciated her for what she stood and can respect her values/decisions. This was a great finale, but sue me for having slight criticisms for this monstrosity (800 pages! You had me binging from dusk till dawn Smauggy) because I have loads of questions/thoughts.
heavy spoilers below
0. The meme that goes "D*ck...D*ck...D*ck" should replay over and over because that's what this entire book was. An orgfest of d*cks. And one sore p*ss
1.How will the Sons of the Elites take over and deal with the dark side of their Family's empire?! I would think that with them being Fathers and Husbands now, and them bending to Gabrielle's moral code, they would be out of this game!
2.Speaking of which, I for the life of me cannot see them as "good" Elites. I know they don't hide the fact that they aren't good guys but the rationale they keep saying is that they only sell arms to the "good guys" or trade pharmaceutical drugs to countries in need... I call horsesh**. If their line of work requires them to turn a blind eye to other bad guys that are dealing in human trafficking and whatnot and it takes their loved one being PERSONALLY attacked for them to take action ... they are just as complicit. A better resolve in my eyes would have been them giving up this line of work and giving this "legacy" to their retiree friends - Malcolm and Roy and whomever - and them only focusing on the legal side of this empire with the clinical foundation Gabrielle is doing.
3. Elijah Richardson is a name that's brought up - but he's supposedly an great grandfather who had beef with a Beaumont that catapulted the Beaumont-Richardson feud but he still remains a mystery until another cast of characters mention him vaguely and now I wonder --- shouldn't he be dead if he's an ancestor? Why would he be alive?
4. A 15-year feud being resolved with a few google searches and a 5 min conversation is absolutely bizarre to me. Gabrielle makes these mobster men of hers look like idiots. And also --- why was there never a subplot to go after the person that made them go at each other?!
5. What was the logic for Charlie being the legal husband of Gabrielle? He is the most unhinged...I'll wait. LOL
6. I peeped that there are several characters from other storylines/books that were higlighted. The RaVage team, Kiara Lafluer and her men, and Tiana. I've yet to read these books but they all seem interesting. I think it was overwhelming trying to remember all of their names and keep up with their storylines. Maybe if I read their stories and come back to this, it'll make sense.
7. UGH! As terrible as Ronan is, I wanted a Pop Ronan - Penelope, Steven, CJ moment. I want him to redeem himself so Michael can have true closure and not just anger. I'm glad Michael reunited with his mother though. I think emotional closure in general was missing from all 3 of them. even charlie and chris..never really got closure from their abusive uncles. They still operate like wounded kids who were thrown into this life and still hate the life they were thrown in which begs the question, then why continue to be in it and potentially continue the cycle with their kids when that time comes... Closure would have been a great theme for the last half of the book, its a shame it was not touched on in that way.
8. Similarly I feel like the Steve debacle was brushed over quickly! like now i want to know why he was killed and how it was "dealt with"
9. Um you're just going to leave us hanging with Dean/Angie and Arthur/Rhaven having a romantic connection?! gurl you had 800 pages to give us Something! lmao. Half of those pages were Gabrielle building her big happy family with her men. and some plots like taking down lionel took waaay to short of a time compared to the moments we got of gabrielle getting d*cked down. Lord.
10. I know this book was written during covid so the addition of the outbreak subplot was neat. it raises lots of questions but i assume thats for another series
All in all, I think this was a good sum all book. Everyone gets their HEA by the midpoint and Gabrielle gets a train run on her multiple times by her obsessive possessive men, as a woman should. Would I make some plot changes and trim this by 200+ pages? Yes, yes i would. But I have accepted this light, campier series of hers for what it is - campy, melaninated black girl fun.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Xenophobia, Blood, and Stalking
ashatroyal's review
2.0
2.5 stars
First let me say there is no reason this book should be 800 pages!!!
Spice on 1000! When Gabrielle met with the Elite and they kept calling her Ms. Johansson I would’ve corrected them every time and said Dr. I knew it when they dropped the dime about papa Steve. I also thought it was clear that the guys were Sons of the Elite. I know the part where the guys went off on the elite was supposed to comedic relief but it was stupid. Not these bad a**es who are pissed acting like they can’t talk elders/superiors. How did Sam get away from the guys? gabs is definitely a hypocrite talking about she’s a doctor and doesn’t harm people. Just because it’s not your nature doesn’t mean you didn’t do those things. I bet the remote is in Sam. How were the guards gullible enough to believe that she went from hating and fighting Sam every step of the way to oh we just had the best sex ever. That’s just not believable. Also how did all these phases happen in one/two days or is the timeline different than Gabrielle? I feel like the more logical reason for Gabs to marry Charlie is that he’s not the head of the family. Why would Gab want the Elite at her wedding? Dumb. I’m glad the story didn’t end after the “resolution” of the book.
First let me say there is no reason this book should be 800 pages!!!
Spice on 1000! When Gabrielle met with the Elite and they kept calling her Ms. Johansson I would’ve corrected them every time and said Dr. I knew it when they dropped the dime about papa Steve. I also thought it was clear that the guys were Sons of the Elite. I know the part where the guys went off on the elite was supposed to comedic relief but it was stupid. Not these bad a**es who are pissed acting like they can’t talk elders/superiors. How did Sam get away from the guys? gabs is definitely a hypocrite talking about she’s a doctor and doesn’t harm people. Just because it’s not your nature doesn’t mean you didn’t do those things. I bet the remote is in Sam. How were the guards gullible enough to believe that she went from hating and fighting Sam every step of the way to oh we just had the best sex ever. That’s just not believable. Also how did all these phases happen in one/two days or is the timeline different than Gabrielle? I feel like the more logical reason for Gabs to marry Charlie is that he’s not the head of the family. Why would Gab want the Elite at her wedding? Dumb. I’m glad the story didn’t end after the “resolution” of the book.
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