Samantha Young continues her True Immortality series with another action-packed, fantastical adventure—stretching from Europe to Japan—as two more ‘true mates’ bound by magic, destiny and love find one another, joining forces against a new, powerful foe. Amidst heart-racing chase and battle scenes, plenty of dramatic tension, and even a few jaw-dropping twists, the author delivers the sweetest, slowest burn ever between two leads whose attraction is as potent as it is combustible. Young’s crisp, vivid prose captures every subtle nuance of emotion between her characters, making this thoroughly absorbing story an absolute must-read.
“You’re soft. You care about strangers and it makes you weak. That’s not to be admired, Niamh, when that weakness could cause a war. So stop being weak. You could learn a thing or two from me, and it might just keep us all safe.”
As one of the seven fae-born children said to have the ability to reopen the gate between worlds, Niamh Farren has always known that her gifts would forever put her in danger from others. But it wasn’t until she lost her human brother that her visions became angrier, more insistent, leading her on a vigilante path that put others in danger from her. Alone in the world with no family left, Niamh has lost herself to grief and regret, and as her powers grow and change, they make her a bigger and bigger target for supernaturals and humans alike.
Who was she? She didn’t know anymore. All she knew was that she wasn’t the woman she used to be.
For nearly one hundred and fifty years, nomad werewolf Kiyonari Fujiwara has been many things in his long life—a mercenary for hire, an assassin, a soldier, a thief, a bodyguard—but his latest assignment might prove to be his most testing. Sent to protect a young fae from the very real and present dangers around her, Kiyo never expected his new charge to fight him tooth and nail over his every attempt to keep her safe. Or to keep running away from him. Niamh is no helpless damsel in distress, but she is driven by her emotions, and the more he gets to know her soft heart, the more he finds himself instinctively wanting to protect it.
“I am one of only five beings left in this world with powers beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. I’m capable of things you couldn’t conceive of. And out of all my incredible gifts, my soft emotions, as you call them, my kindness, my compassion, my love, are my greatest. Because without them, I am the darkest, most dangerous being you’ll ever meet. Be grateful I am who I am, Kiyo. For everyone’s sake.”
Niamh’s visions begin to lead them to Japan, but their journey to the Land of the Rising Sun is full of unexpected detours and obstacles. Powerful enemies continue to pursue them, seeking the couple’s separation, their destruction or both, yet danger only serves to bring them closer. Nothing can sever the bond between two souls who are fated to be tied to one another for all eternity, and it is in that very connection that Niamh and Kiyo not only find true purpose, but also their way out of the shadows of their own pasts.
“There is light and dark in all of us, Niamh. Sometimes life causes us to let in a little more dark than we’re comfortable with. But as long as we remember the light exists to chase away the shadows, we’ll be okay. The dark is our imperfect natures, but without it, we’d never realize how beautiful the light is. How beautiful it is as it dances with the shadows.”
Rippling with charged emotion, shimmering with magic, and bristling with adventure, Samantha Young has a knack for crafting truly dynamic characters, and pulling us into a world that is at once familiar and strange, real and fantastical, romantic and dangerous. I read this book feeling torn between wanting to speed ahead so I would know what happens next, and trying to savour every single scene for as long as I could. And I already cannot wait for the next instalment in the series.
“I used to resent forever. And now, because of you, Niamh Farren, forever will never be enough.”