Book: My Blade, Your Back by K.M. Moronova
Reviewed by plotdrunk
Rating: 2.5/5
This one unfortunately didn't work quite as well as book #1 of the duet, so it's getting a 2.5 stars rounded up to 3. I still liked the premise and was super interested in where it was going after the end of the first book, but a lot of the writing issues from book #1 persisted here, and the plot didn't make up for it the same way.
I did really loved the beginning of the book. Cam showing restraint and trying to take care of Emery by pushing her away was heartbreaking and sweet and made me love him all the more. Her understandable anger and betrayal when she remembers everything hit so hard because of that. I love a man that's hard to everyone else but soft for his girl, so this all landed really well to me.
As much as I loved their dynamic across much of the duet, the sex scenes in this book took me out of the story several times. These characters are dark, and I felt like the sex scenes we got were more generic and all started to blend together. I think those scenes could have been used to further explore their characterizations and relationship, but it all felt surface level and added into the story for the sake of having spice instead of to say something about them or their relationship.
A lot of the other emotional moments unfortunately didn't land for me either. Characters die, nearly die, or we think they're dead, only for them to pop up again, which really lessens the impact and removed the stakes. Cam was forced to confront his father figure, and I felt like we breezed right past the emotion of that moment. I wanted to sit with those moments long enough for them to have impact, and I wanted them to have more consequences. Like a lot of the buildup, the ending felt too quick as well. Major conflicts are resolved too quickly, and suddenly we're at the HEA. After everything Emery, Cam, and Fury Squad went through, I wanted the end to feel more hard-fought and earned.