Tame the Dark by. Ella Fields | Book Review – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Title: Tame the Dark

Author: Ella Fields

Pages: 491

Format: ebook (kindle unlimited)

Categories: Fantasy, Dark Romance, Romantasy

When enemy heirs shelter together from the war, forbidden love sparks between bookshelves and behind dormitory doors…

When war erupts, heirs from across the continent shelter on sacred ground at the Archives of Avyshla. But our sense of safety is shaken when the enemy king sends his heir to join us.

Voran is not merely a prince but his uncle’s hunter and assassin. And what his uncle seeks belongs to my family—control of the wyverns—the Scale Crown. Although no one can spill blood on sacred ground, I fear the prince’s intentions are as sinister as he seems. He proves as much when danger breaches the isle, and he saves me to have me in his debt.

To survive, I make a secret deal with him.

Except survival soon becomes longing. A hunger for calloused hands, stifled breath, and accented murmurs that doesn’t end with the war. Instead, it blooms into something even more forbidden.

Something that could be my salvation—and the downfall of my kingdom.

A standalone romantasy with evil sunshine, enemies to lovers, and dark romance.

Content Warning: death, violence

+~ I’ve read one Ella Fields book and I thought it was pretty good and wanted to try her newest book. Ayla and other royal heirs/children are taking refuge on an island which houses The Archives of Avyshla, but then the enemy shows up, the Wolf Prince, Voran. He’s morally gray and a beast (literally he is a shapeshifter). The first part of this story takes place on this island where these royals have jobs the priestesses give them to stay busy. I thought it was strange at first that all of them are hanging out on the island staying safe. But while reading I didn’t see the point of knowing when they were going to do their chores or who’s turn it was to take a bath. It only gets interesting when Voran and Ayla interact because she’s an innocent and he’s got a scary, ruthless reputation. We learn a little about the conflict happening between the kingdoms, Voran’s uncle is laying siege to Ayla’s kingdom, but they can’t do much from the island and news comes sporadically which I thought was a little frustrating. I would have liked to know what was going on outside of the island.

+ I liked a few of the secondary characters, especially Celestine, who is Ayla’s best friend. I loved the baby wyvern, and later on I thought Ruvus was an interesting character. I think the person with the most growth is Ayla, she is someone who follows directions and doesn’t fight but I think near the end, she’s a tiny bit more assertive.

+ The romance is an enemies to lovers, forbidden romance. Voran is obsessed with Ayla but Ayla is so innocent she doesn’t know much about guys, just that he helped her so she is in his debt. He allows her to help him how to read but that means they spend a lot of time together. And all that forced proximity leads to kisses and then more. So in a way I felt like they were horny, college kids trying to find places to be alone and fool around! They get to know one another, and things get spicy! She likes him being in control. But things change when Ayla’s dad surrenders and Ayla is set to marry Voran’s uncle. I loved all the love confessions at the end though, swoon! I did love the two of them together and how opposite they were but so attracted to one another.

~ Throughout the book I kept thinking, this can’t be a standalone, because I felt like things weren’t progressing in the first part like I would have liked. I just kept wondering what was going on and why were they stuck at the Archives? I think I wanted more of the political intrigue and that does come in the second half of the book. But it didn’t feel balanced, and the pacing felt off because of the two parts. And even near the ending I was wondering if this was truly a standalone because Celestine’s story feels like could be a whole new book. Also, I want to know how Dusk will turn out. On a side note, there were some phrases that were repeated a bit too much throughout the book like “wriggled my lips”. 😅

Final Thoughts:

This is the kind of book that is good to vibe to plus it’s a standalone, which is nice. Though I do want a book about Celestine! It’s got a dark romance that isn’t super dark, and spice that’s is frequent but not too crazy. I think the two parts of the story made things unevenly paced so I did have some issues with that but Ayla and Voran’s romance kept me invested. They really are cute together because she’s soft and innocent and he’s hard and ruthless, but he’s obsessed with her. The love confessions were so sweet. I would have enjoyed it more if there was more political intrigue in the beginning as much as the end. But overall, this was a good escape.

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