What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper Woods

I finally had a chance to dig into a book that was on my own to read list. This book came in a bookish box a while back, and first of all...it's so beautiful. I had heard such good things about this book. I couldn't wait to dig in, but felt I really needed to get through my long list of arcs first. 

Synopsis:

Once, we’d worshipped them as Gods.

For nearly 400 years, the Veil has protected us from the Fae of Alfheimr. In their absence, our lives have shifted from decadence and sin to survival and virtue under the guidance of the New Gods. I’ve spent my entire life tending to the gardens next to the boundary between our worlds, drawn to the shimmering magic like a moth to the flame.

Then, we died on their swords.

All of that changes the day the Veil shatters, unleashing the fae upon our world once again. The magic of faerie marks those of us they mean to take, but the Mist Guard protecting Nothrek will kill us all before they let the fae have us. There’s no choice but to flee everything I’ve ever known, not if I want to live to see my twenty-first birthday as a free woman.

Now, they’ll claim what’s theirs.

But before they capture me, Caelum saves me from the Wild Hunt. Fae-marked and on the run, he is able to fight back in ways I only dream of. From tentative alliance to all-consuming passion, our bond strengthens as the fae close in and evil lurks ever nearer. With my life on the line, he is everything I shouldn’t dare to want and a distraction I can’t afford. I can’t seem to stay away, not even with something greater on the line.

My heart.

Author’s Note: This book is intended for readers who are 18 and older. It contains mature language, graphic violence, and explicit content with darker elements. This is book one in a series and ends in a cliffhanger.

Thoughts:

I absolutely love a good fantasy read, and this one hit all my favorite points. There was a new world to learn about, and the author did a great job at slowly laying out what this world was like. There was a gradual setting of the stage, but it's worth the build.  Grab your tea and dig in.

Estrella's life in the beginning is rough. Her society is built around a religious cult with purity undertones, and she has caught the eye of the town's ruler, Lord Byron. He's a bit on the creepy side, but has financially supported her family since the town's cultish religion sacrificed her father when she was a child.

When she meets Caelum, I'm thrown off a bit on their interactions. I'm not sure how I feel about this couple, and I'm wondering if the author wants it this way. He calls her "little one" which I thought was a bit weird, but I absolutely swoon when he calls her "my star". He is definitely a morally grey character making it clear he doesn't care about anything else but her.

Once we get passed the slow burn side of it, I'm honestly a bit shocked how this book turned into smut. I wasn't ready! Honestly, I don't mind smut, but I don't feel the level it got to matched the "purity" mindset Estrella had gotten herself out of, she went from shy to heavy kink super fast.

So while this book felt lopsided a bit with Estrella and Caelum's relationship, I still really enjoyed it and will be looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Triggers:

Religious purity culture, verbal and physical abuse, sexual grooming from an authority figure, ritualistic sacrifice, suicide, suicidal ideation, graphic violence, graphic sex

What Lies Beyond the Veil was published February 22, 2022 and is available at Amazon and Bookshop.

Disclaimer: I purchased this book on my own for my own enjoyment and merriment.  This however does not affect my opinions. There are links to Amazon, clicking these links won't cost you anything but any purchase helps support this blog.  Thanks!