A Castle of Sand

I'm three books in and I feel like I have to get my wits about me before I jump into book four.

A Castle of Sand - Bella Forrest

What Sofia has with Derek feels like a sandcastle; temporary and something that the waves of life and time will soon ruin...

Since the return of Gregor Novak, the island has turned several shades darker. His hatred toward Sofia and thirst for fresh blood lead to a brutal war igniting between father and son. 

Meanwhile, the hunters are gaining formidable strength and resources by the day; they know that the safety of The Shade hangs entirely on its ability to remain hidden from them. 

And a sinister secret lies in wait for Sofia within the bowels of an Egyptian desert... a secret that threatens to crush her sandcastle much sooner than she could have expected.

Phew. Well this one took me a little longer to get through and I hope that isn't a sign that the series is waning for me, I have four more books in Derek & Sofia's story to go. In this book we have a LOT going on, mostly Sofia becoming more vocal about the treatment of the Naturals in The Shade, and she decides that she will go live among them when she turns 18 because she can either do that or be turned, something she is against doing. (Which seems odd because she's sure her relationship with Derek can't last because of her mortality, but she doesn't want to become immortal? Right... that makes sense.)

We also meet Derek's dad, Gregor, who turns out to be a giant dirt bag. Ben struggles with being a Hunter and his story line is kind of sad in this one, I thought. We also learn that Ingrid Maslen is actually Sofia's mother which is all kinds of screwed up because she's gone nuts (literally) and Sofia's father is a Hunter. Talk about inlaws from Hell for Derek, a possibility since Derek makes it known that Sofia is to be his wife, it's just a matter of when.

Lot of danger in this one, we see Derek beat up quite a bit, Sofia makes terrible choices, some characters change a bit and that's weird, and we learn what it is about Sofia's blood that makes her so irresistible, at the very end of the book. Like last line, not kidding.

Overall even though a LOT happened in this book and it was a shorter book than book two, I felt like this one took me a long time to get through. I hope things go a little faster in book four.