I hated the mmc in this book. He was an abusive jerk who had horrible temper tantrums and would literally destroy furniture and shake the fmc. She then apologized. I kept waiting for this to be a Tamlin situation or for her to realize he was awful, thinking maybe he was a temporary love interest, but no. He's the permanent love interest, and he's an abusive brat.

ugh idk this just wasn’t as good as the last book. there was basically insta love. in the first book, cat finally accepts that she even likes griffin, then she’s immediately admitting her love for him and all lovie dovie despite having never allowed people to touch her before him? i also lost all respect for griffin with his giant temper tantrum in the beginning. he knows the supposed love of his life has severe trauma around violence and yelling, yet he destroys every piece of furniture in their bedroom and essentially crashes out then just walks away from her?? and she then goes on to immediately forgive him and tell him she loves him?? and we just move on from that?? it totally tracks that they have a decade age gap atp. he’s kinda a pos for that and it really ruined a lot of the book for me. i didn’t even feel like her secret deserved such an explosive reaction. he acted like she killed a family member of his or cheated on him. also, i’m getting tired of the gods constantly stepping in to prop her up. she’s supposedly super powerful but we never actually see her use her powers successfully? and she’s constantly being bested in a battle? don’t even get me started on the constant mention of spanking at the most idiotic times. this book ruined spanking for me!!! it’s all very repetitive and exhausting.

i will say, i did enjoy the arena trials. i enjoyed many of the characters and the humor was good. also, cat was way less insufferable and juvenile this time around; although, i still can’t read their sex scenes🥴 3.5 stars

Not interested in an overgrown man-child throwing a tantrum when he doesn't get his way. Explosive reactions like the way Griffin acted in chapter one are too dangerous. Might have been into this when I was 19, but as a grown woman I'm more interested in a grown man who can handle dealing with his emotions without destroying an entire room (and slamming his partner into the wall) in a fit of rage.

The big fight right at the beginning put me OFF. It has major Tamlin/domestic abuse red flags and didn't get addressed at all which was distressing. I just couldn't see Griffin the same way after that.