invokedreverie's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
Grief is neither exclusive to one person, nor the same for everyone.”
Title : Infernal Enchantment
Rating : 4 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐
Spice : ✖️
Tropes : Slow-burn romance, Whodunit Mystery, UF Sassy Heroine, Age Gap, Crime Fighting Duo, Close proximity, Protective Alpha
Blurb : Detective Constable Emma Bellamy is the sole police detective in London's Supernatural Squad, navigating a world of supernatural creatures and supernatural abilities. She is confronted with a gruesome case of grave robbing and the mysterious death of a vampire in the centre of the city.
Trigger & Content Warnings : Graphic Death, Murder ,Gore, cw, Gun cw, Gunshot, Grave Robbing, Corpse Eating, Leukaemia
Right off the bat, I enjoyed this one way more than the first book. The general vibe and feeling was just much better and I’m glad I pushed through the epic failure of the ending of the last one to get here. That, and as a character, Emma is much more likeable in this book.
Emma has now been the sole detective at 'Supe Squad' for six weeks, navigating a world of supernatural creatures, abilities and their political power plays. Not only is she working hard to create a stable working environment for her colleagues, but she’s trying her best for the supernatural community too and is gaining more leeway into their world, earning the respect of them on her own merit without the word of a certain vampire lord. The wolves were concerned she was too enamoured of the vampires, and that her allegiance to them would be to their detriment. But, as a supe in her own right, her allegiance is to herself, which works out better in her favour, which they can respect.
”Police detective or not, I wasn’t immune to pain and suffering – and for that I was glad. The day I became inured to such things was the day I should resign.”
The connections from the first book just continue to grow throughout this one. We see Emma nurture her colleagues by having confidence in them and they shine under her leadership. I am so excited to see more from them and how they deal with cases as a unit. It’s not only the connection to her team, but in the community too. Enter the mysterious Devereau Webb. He is an intriguing one— I’m so excited to learn more about him ( hopefully he's in further books ) despite being the mastermind behind a criminal organisation named the flock ( which feels Robin Hood esque ) I wonder if he could be beneficial to Emma in the long run? Nothing in a romance sort of way, but elsewhere.
The potential love interest is still our Lord Vampire Master. There isn’t any romance in this one, per se. It’s more like them getting to know each other, helping each other out in a professional capacity when they can. I enjoy a good slow burn, so it’s nice that it isn’t being rushed, it’s not being forced down our throats, but instead we’re along for the ride with Emma as readers, learning as we go if we can trust him or not. The author is building trust before any intimacy which feels so real to me.
“Over-thinking is an anaesthetic for the soul. It should be conducted over a good whisky, or in a hot bath, or not at all.”
Kennedy, the alcoholic satyr, has become a training partner for Emma too, which I love—he just shows up, does his thing and spouts out inspiring advice. He’s the first to mention his observations of the changes in her after dying and resurrecting. On the surface, nothing has changed, but something has altered inside her to gain more strength than she had in the first book. Dying doesn’t make her want to curl up and sleep – it’s quite the opposite effect. It's getting harder and harder for her to deny the evidence: the more times she dies, the more powerful she becomes. ( Some might roll their eyes at the amount of times the girl finds herself in the morgue, but I didn’t particularly hate it.🤷🏻♀️)
Her best kept secret is quickly becoming known and word is spreading about their newly anointed Squad Leader. Even though they would prefer a supe than a regular human in her place, they try their little pranks, attacks and power plays, which she swiftly shuts down and deals with. She doesn’t care what they think of her or Supe Squad in general – she takes no shit. I admire her for it, and I feel like they will in time too.
‘We all have a capacity for evil. And for good.’
We are also heading in the right direction to find out more about what she is, thankfully. There is mention of the possibility, but not a clear-cut definite answer. The Whodunit case was so fascinating too, especially since it opened up the door for more world building and supe information and introduced Emma to the world of Ghouls.
I’m eagerly anticipating reading the next instalment of this series!
Title : Infernal Enchantment
Rating : 4 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐
Spice : ✖️
Tropes : Slow-burn romance, Whodunit Mystery, UF Sassy Heroine, Age Gap, Crime Fighting Duo, Close proximity, Protective Alpha
Blurb : Detective Constable Emma Bellamy is the sole police detective in London's Supernatural Squad, navigating a world of supernatural creatures and supernatural abilities. She is confronted with a gruesome case of grave robbing and the mysterious death of a vampire in the centre of the city.
Trigger & Content Warnings : Graphic Death, Murder ,Gore, cw, Gun cw, Gunshot, Grave Robbing, Corpse Eating, Leukaemia
Right off the bat, I enjoyed this one way more than the first book. The general vibe and feeling was just much better and I’m glad I pushed through the epic failure of the ending of the last one to get here. That, and as a character, Emma is much more likeable in this book.
Emma has now been the sole detective at 'Supe Squad' for six weeks, navigating a world of supernatural creatures, abilities and their political power plays. Not only is she working hard to create a stable working environment for her colleagues, but she’s trying her best for the supernatural community too and is gaining more leeway into their world, earning the respect of them on her own merit without the word of a certain vampire lord. The wolves were concerned she was too enamoured of the vampires, and that her allegiance to them would be to their detriment. But, as a supe in her own right, her allegiance is to herself, which works out better in her favour, which they can respect.
”Police detective or not, I wasn’t immune to pain and suffering – and for that I was glad. The day I became inured to such things was the day I should resign.”
The connections from the first book just continue to grow throughout this one. We see Emma nurture her colleagues by having confidence in them and they shine under her leadership. I am so excited to see more from them and how they deal with cases as a unit. It’s not only the connection to her team, but in the community too. Enter the mysterious Devereau Webb. He is an intriguing one— I’m so excited to learn more about him ( hopefully he's in further books ) despite being the mastermind behind a criminal organisation named the flock ( which feels Robin Hood esque ) I wonder if he could be beneficial to Emma in the long run? Nothing in a romance sort of way, but elsewhere.
The potential love interest is still our Lord Vampire Master. There isn’t any romance in this one, per se. It’s more like them getting to know each other, helping each other out in a professional capacity when they can. I enjoy a good slow burn, so it’s nice that it isn’t being rushed, it’s not being forced down our throats, but instead we’re along for the ride with Emma as readers, learning as we go if we can trust him or not. The author is building trust before any intimacy which feels so real to me.
“Over-thinking is an anaesthetic for the soul. It should be conducted over a good whisky, or in a hot bath, or not at all.”
Kennedy, the alcoholic satyr, has become a training partner for Emma too, which I love—he just shows up, does his thing and spouts out inspiring advice. He’s the first to mention his observations of the changes in her after dying and resurrecting. On the surface, nothing has changed, but something has altered inside her to gain more strength than she had in the first book. Dying doesn’t make her want to curl up and sleep – it’s quite the opposite effect. It's getting harder and harder for her to deny the evidence: the more times she dies, the more powerful she becomes. ( Some might roll their eyes at the amount of times the girl finds herself in the morgue, but I didn’t particularly hate it.🤷🏻♀️)
Her best kept secret is quickly becoming known and word is spreading about their newly anointed Squad Leader. Even though they would prefer a supe than a regular human in her place, they try their little pranks, attacks and power plays, which she swiftly shuts down and deals with. She doesn’t care what they think of her or Supe Squad in general – she takes no shit. I admire her for it, and I feel like they will in time too.
‘We all have a capacity for evil. And for good.’
We are also heading in the right direction to find out more about what she is, thankfully. There is mention of the possibility, but not a clear-cut definite answer. The Whodunit case was so fascinating too, especially since it opened up the door for more world building and supe information and introduced Emma to the world of Ghouls.
I’m eagerly anticipating reading the next instalment of this series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Death, and Murder
More...