Read my review of the first book in the Reckless Damned series, Devil’s Mark.
The slight downside to knowing how some of the worldbuilding works in an established series is that it can be harder to draw certain elements out for the audience. It’s fairly obvious from the epilogue of the previous book in this series that Harlowe and Bailey are fated mates in the same way that Cal and Oscar were. Taylor deftly keeps this from becoming stale by throwing very different obstacles in the way of this new pairing, mingling them with character history in a way that leaves both men with a lot to overcome for a happily ever after together.
What’s more interesting than “insta-love”? (A lot, but that’s an entirely separate blog post.) Two characters determined to keep each other in their lives through friendship when all they want is so much more. The result in this story is unapologetic idiots-in-love vibes that I thoroughly appreciated, especially because Taylor also carefully threads that line of characters being dumb when they are genuinely protecting their hearts. Thus, the first half of this book is a much slower burn than I expected but not high angst, which was an excellent mix for this pairing.
On the side, the external plot started in the first book in this series escalates quickly. Once Harlow and Bailey get their acts together through the power of movie cuddles, we also get a hell of a plot twist (pun only half intended). Taylor makes up for the previous lack of angst by making me genuinely wonder how my new favorite demon family is going to fight their way out of this one. This is still a romance, so rest assured that the HEA is solid—but I enjoyed the wild ride it took to get there, especially since it layered in such intriguing world-building and heightened the stakes of the overarching non-romance plot.
Taylor once again teases the next relationship at the very end of this book (and the romance for the fourth brother has been dangled in front of us all along). I look forward to both relationship stories just as much as the further reveals of the connecting plot in this strong paranormal romance series.