Review: Deepest and Darkest (Wraithwood Academy #4) by Teresa Hann

                                                              

Print Length: 162 pages

Publisher: Teresa Hann (January 27, 2022)

From Goodreads.com: I chose to save a man I thought was past salvation.

That doesn’t mean I can stand him.
Heaven help us all on this forsaken road trip through Hell.

I thought I knew what I was doing when I dragged Arcturus Nightfeld’s darkest secrets out into the light.

I was wrong.

Now we’re on the run—me, my best friend, and my worst enemy. Our one hope of survival lies in my father’s secret research lab, deep within the Hells.

The problem is getting there.

Enemies hunt us. Demons surround us.

But our biggest danger on this insane quest just might be each other.

Love isn’t the same thing as forgiveness. Hate isn’t the same thing as lack of understanding.

The only way out of the Hells is overcoming our past…

  

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Sadly, I did not enjoy this one as much as I have enjoyed the prior novels. To begin with, despite the fact that they were in the hells and on the run, I never really felt any sense of true urgency to the story. Despite being told all of the horrific beasts and creatures that lived in the hells, we only ever saw them from afar, and even when the demons first showed up, they seemed more curious than anything else. 

Then there was the giant elephant in the room aka Arcturus. Throughout the majority of this book he was the same ungrateful jerk that he has been. I would have thought that maybe the fact that Cassandra had literally sacrificed everything to save his life would have counted for something, but apparently I was wrong.  The pair of them are constantly at each other's throats, and while I understand why, it became very tiring after awhile. And don't get me started on the very weird scene between Arcturus, Cass and Darshan that felt very out of place, but also the later scene that took place between Arcturus and Cass. It was absolutely sickening the way they seemingly let him off without an apology. Yes, there was a tiny bit of character growth for Arcturus and we did get to see a more vulnerable side to him at times, but none of that forgave all of the things he said and did to Cass especially since the first book. Even knowing it was likely that he would be added to her harem at some point, I still wish she would have made him properly grovel (or at least prove himself more than he did). 

Seeing Acubens step into the light for once was very fulfilling however, and I hope we get to see more of him in this new role without his brother trying to undermine him. I can't wait to start the fifth and final book to see how all of this comes to an end.