*Warning: This review contains spoilers to book 1, Fortuna Sworn! Tread carefully*

(See my review of Book 1 here)

Genre: Adult Fantasy/Dark/Fae

Plot: “Before I met you, I thought Nightmares were creatures of pain and darkness. Why, then, are you constantly seeking freedom and light?”

Fortuna’s entire life has changed.

She has no idea how to balance her new responsibilities and who she used to be. There are hundreds of faeries in her head, her brother seems to have lost touch with reality, and a werewolf won’t leave her side. Maybe the utter lack of control is why her abilities seem to be changing, as well.

Then there’s Collith. Enigmatic, beautiful, and infuriating. Not only a king of the faeries she despises so much, but also her mate. His gentle pursuit causes confusion in her normally unwavering relationship with Oliver.

As a result of it all, Fortuna now finds herself surrounded by new enemies and ones from the past. The question isn’t whether she is strong enough to make change in such a corrupt court.

It’s whether she will survive long enough to do it.

Content warning: This novel depicts scenes of sexual violence and domestic abuse.

Opinion:

“What do you fear, faerie?”

“The lights of anger and resentment in their eyes gave way to pain and terror. Screams, cries, and moans filled the room, more lovely than a string quartet.”

Where…do I even begin?

This book has ravaged my soul. Ripped my barely there black heart from it’s cobwebbed, rock bottom hole in the rubble of my chest, and left me aching like a widow at a love parade. I am shock. I am devastation. I am wondering how I didn’t see this coming, what with HB stabbing me in the back with Wicked King last year, and me assuming Kelsey Sutton would only want to bring a smile to my face…instead of this contorted expression of betrayal and deeply sadistic thrill that is now etched into my features.

Well done, Kelsey.

Fortuna Sworn has just been crowned the Unseelie Queen, rescued her brother Damon, and returned to life above ground. But try as she might, she can’t escape her new duties or the faeries she is now bound to. And with her relationship to Collith, her mate and the Unseelie King, shifting from loathing to something…more, she can’t help but revel in this newfound power. But Fortuna’s ruthless decisions that helped get her on the throne are coming back three-fold, and there are threats at every turn. Unsure if she can finally trust the mate that she has bound herself to, and suspicious of the motives behind the Seelie King’s kindness, Fortuna is forced to do confront everything that makes a Nightmare – Fear.

“Nothing had been real and then with no warning, everything was.”

There is SO much happening in this sequel, I hardly know where to begin. Restless Slumber is packed with magic, supernatural creatures, betrayal, murder, lust, secrets, blindsides and anything and everything that could make you want to weep with unhinged joy. Gone is the ethereal and mystifying tale about a woman rescuing her brother and marrying a Fae king. This book is DARK. It’s raw, it’s unapologetic and it gets right in your face forcing you to dismiss every sense of morality that you so desperately cling to. There are NO RULES in this dark fantasy, but don’t worry, you won’t even miss them.

Restless Slumber is W–I–L–D. There are constant assassination attempts, eloquently phrased sentences spoken to entrap someone, blindly made deals in secluded areas, secrets woven into webs of deceit, and completely OUT OF NOWHERE blindsides that will make you want to scream. There are witches, werewolves, sirens, vampires and goblins. There’s necromancy that brings a slew of corpses after Fortuna, epic battle scenes that pit supernatural creatures against one another, and moments where you question if you’d actually want to be dragged into the forest by a faerie. Because these aren’t the sweet and mystical beings that YA Fantasy likes to portray them as.

The Fallen in this book are brutality at it’s finest and beauty as it’s darkest.

Speaking of brutal, let’s talk about our dark Queen Fortuna.

“Then, once they were all crowded within my skull, I released the creature living inside me. The creature that I’d denied too long, too often.

Fear.”

If you guys thought Celaena Sardothien was a sassy badass who didn’t give one Fae Fuck, you need to rethink what recklessness in it’s most stunning form looks like. Fortuna, is the literal definition of a Queen. She has no mercy, loves the thrill of shoving a nightmare down someone’s throat, and has a sharp tongue that would leave anyone shaking. She is brash, unrelenting and unapologetic for the things she does. She doesn’t care if anyone likes her or is on her side. She doesn’t need someone in her corner rooting for her and holding her hand.

She holds her own damn hand.

But even so, Fortuna does have morals and dreams of making things better for the faeries. She stands up for victims and those who are tossed aside or abused. She is a voice for the sufferer and an executioner for the wicked. She is incredibly resilient and strong, and doesn’t look for approval from others. She knows what she wants and takes it, and it’s impossible not to love her completely. Especially for her patience and persistence with Damon.

Fortuna has indeed “rescued” Damon from the Unseelie court and from Jassin (good riddance), but Damon is a shell of who he once was. He is gaunt, withdrawn and has vowed to never forgive Fortuna for what she did to the faerie he loved. Most of the time he refuses to even acknowledge her presence, and it makes rooting for him so hard. But of course, that’s all you want to do. Damon’s situation is so tangled and doused in trauma, leaving him a skeleton of the Nightmare he once was. He’s in a haze of Stockholm Syndrome for this beautifully wretched faerie that enslaved him for two years, yet some piece of him also knows that he was treated horribly. Throughout the story Fortuna battles against giving him space and wanting to force him to forgive her, because though she hates to admit it, Damon is her weakness.

“I have weaknesses. I am vulnerable. But all of them are tied…to you.”

Speaking of weaknesses…

If you’re looking for a slow-burn romance that will beckon you towards its fluorescent flames with promises of warmth and contentment, fulfillment and happiness, coaxing you closer and closer, until you’re only a breath away from its beautiful blaze…only to have it push you in, engulfing your body in an agony and anguish that you can’t escape – well, this is the book for you.

The romance that is, but also isn’t! Strong as she may be, Fortuna just can’t seem to break down that wall for Collith. And to be honest, who can blame her?! The guy bribed her into marrying him, and still withholds so many secrets from her that I can’t even decide if he’s a good guy or not. But of course, I am horribly in love with him. He is darkness shrouded in gentleness. He is eloquent, calm and sincere. Sure he holds back and is a faerie of few words, but there’s something to be said for his patience and stability. He proves to be dependable at every junction and always puts Fortuna first. Sounds like the real deal to me.

But in classic K.J. Sutton style, she has to put my heart into a panic blender.

Collith isn’t the only love interest in Fortuna’s life. There is Laurie, the Seelie King who is both slightly irritating but also swoon-worthy, who keeps flirting with Fortuna even though I wish he would just BACK OFF. But then…there’s Ollie. *Sigh*…my heart. When Fortuna was a child, Ollie was, what Fortuna assumes (and what the reader is told, but I’m suspicious), created by her through her subconscious. He lives in a dreamscape that they created together, and she meets him in her sleep every night. He has been a rock for her for years as a friend and confidant, and since recent years, something more. The bond Ollie and Fortuna share is so precious and gentle. Around Ollie, this fierce and harsh form of Fortuna falls away, leaving a regular girl with regular feelings and thoughts. She is vulnerable and honest with him, and it brings such a loving and alluring side to Fortuna that the reader doesn’t normally see.

But what I really need to talk about, is this goddamn cliffhanger.

My soul, was shattered by this ending.

I spent 45 minutes staring at nothing after finishing this book. I sat on my living room floor at a complete loss, unable to form coherent sentences, and stricken by what happened. Usually I crave for an author to torture me and shred my feelings into nothing…but THIS?! THIS?? This was just cruel….and I loved every second of it.

But now, all we can do is wait for book three. And I am praying to all hell that it comes quickly, because I still feel like I’m going to vomit all my hopeless romantic emotions up. And so with that, all I have left to say is…

a demon? FFS.