Heart of Night

Wings of Ink, Book 2

By: Angelina J. Steffort

Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb, Henry W. Kramer

“I will find you. And if it takes a lifetime, I will find you.”

Ayna has just escaped death, only to crash head first into a new curse. This one is made by men. Heart still bleeding, Ayna fights to keep strong. But how can she, when she is in the brutal hands of the very traitor who killed Myron? Especially when he is working with a man who has made it his mission to see her pay for her father’s crimes.

With her magic gone, Ayna is trapped and shipped off to her childhood world, where she uncovers plans at work that eclipse even Ephegos’s revenge—and an enemy who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

If only Ayna knew that her king survived, she might cling to a brittle hope. But Myron is fighting his own battles in the search for his queen. Each one leads him a little closer to death’s door.

As they both plan their escape, they must make unlikely alliances and heart-wrecking choices—because this time, neither of them can rely on their magic to save them.

The curse on the Crows is broken, but all hope is lost. Will Ayna and Myron find each other and freedom, or will they end in a cage worse than death?

Full of intrigue, secrets, and heartbreak, Heart of Night is the second book in the sizzling epic romantic fantasy series, Wings of Ink and is perfect for fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses, From Blood and Ash, and Beauty and the Beast.

©2024 Angelina J. Steffort (P)2024 Angelina J. Steffort

Not as good as the first

I felt this book was a bit repetitive. I was ready for the story to move on…
The narrator does a great job.

SO Good & FUN to listen too!!!!

I am Loving this series, I wish the 3rd book was on here though so I could continue to listen cuz it’s SO good!!!

Poor Narrator

Did not care for the narrators portrayal of the characters. She kept the same tone and attitude throughout. It was like listening to a “valley girl” accent throughout the story. It got old and annoying, actually took away from the story which could have been good except for that and the over detailing of things. I had small hopes foe the second book but I was wrong.

I felt like this book circled around and didn’t go anywhere

I wanted to like this second installment but it felt like filler. Hopefully the next book we get somewhere

Wow great book!

Awesome books to read! Thank you for these amazing books, there are very exciting and keep you guessing what will happen next

Very repetitive

I disliked that nothing really progressed it was the same situation the entire book it could have been condensed into a 2 hour story the only entertaining part was the last 40 minutes

Ohhhhhh, this Series!!!! Love It

All the emotions. All the intrigue. All the feels and anticipation for the next book.

Great narration

Outstanding

Loved everything- male voice was a definite + I’m looking forward to reading ( listening to) the final book of this series.

Tear my heart out

Heart wrenching and enraging. I devoured both books 1 and 2 within a couple days. I will wait in agony for the third.

Frustrating....

This is the second book in this series and it takes off immediately from the end of the first book. Anya wakes up from the explosion at the Crow House and realizes that she is being held captive by a certain character that was a traitor in book 1. I don't want to mention his name because if you have not read book 1, then that is a MAJOR spoiler.

At this point, Anya had watched Myron die and is in a state of profound shock. She does not know though, what has happened to the other people she cares about (Clio, and Royad, etc) While she also realizes that she HAS been gifted some pretty strong magic, she is not able to access it. Everyone but Anya is aware of certain facts concerning who actually lived and who died in the battle as well as what the new Crow tattoo on her shoulder that just appeared might mean. The traitor then takes Anya to another location and things go from bad to worse.

Anya's back story dealt with the fact that in her home country, her father was executed for being a traitor to the realm. He had been a successful merchant and Anya has always felt responsible for his death. Why? Because she answered a question- one question - posed to her by the King's Guard regarding her father when she was a child. The answer she gave sealed his fate - but it wasn't truly her fault, she just answered that she saw her father loading his wagon on a particular morning. They would have found him guilty no matter what she answered. Her entire family was then branded as traitors and that is why she took off and became a pirate on the open seas - marauding and stealing from her countries ships over the coarse of many years - and vowed never to return. They were so good as a pirate crew that they had a reputation and were known throughout the land. Let's just say that when she is taken BACK to her home country and finds herself back in the same castle - dealing with the boy she used to play with as a child who is now the King -she is stunned. Come to find out, the traitor agreed to "sell" her to the now King, knowing that this was going to be a worse punishment than death. Of course, he is a vile, vile person who has all kinds of plans in the works and has been working with the new King on many, many awful projects (i.e. developing drugs to suppress magic, drugs to speed up healing time so that they can torture their test subjects more with less time to wait for them to recover, just really, really vile things). Okay, no more plot summary because things definitely start moving fast from there.

One thing that I know about myself is that I seem to have a hard time when things in storylines are bad, and continue to be bad for the FMC's or the MMC's without an end in sight. By bad, I mean when the MC's are being physically and emotionally hurt. Tortured. That's why, I think, that I have a harder time than most with the whole new "dark" romance genre and bully genres in general. To read about people being tortured and hurt over and over again, and to realize that things are only getting worse.....that's hard for me. I know, I know.... I'm a wimp. So for me, the middle portion of the book was hard. At this point, we have 6 people either being held and tortured against their will in the dungeon or locked rooms or drugged and watched while given certain responsibilities to ensure Anya complies. The reason for the drug injections and food poisoning is that is the only way humans could keep these shifters and fairies captive, AND, it also serves as leverage for certain prisoners to keep them in line. I could not wait for this part of the storyline to be over. Seriously.

The good thing though was that we start to learn some of the "whys". Why the King wants Anya in particular as a captive - and to eventually marry him. Why a certain Fey General teamed up with Myron to try to find and rescue their people. Why a certain Flame fey is willing to help Anya, even at the potential cost of being discovered. And most importantly, what the two Crow tattoos on the two particular individuals really means.

This book definitely did much better with the character development and we had several new characters added to the mix. The traitor character was downright AWFUL and very easy to seriously dislike, I'm using that phrase instead of the word I really want to use. The King is another arrogant, vile and sociopathic character. There is one character - a Crow -who entered into an agreement with the traitor. He is placed as Anya's personal bodyguard. This binding agreement, in the Crow culture, means he can not go against the terms of the agreement or it will kill him (it is magically binding). It was frustrating as all out when he tells Anya he is on her side, but them he tortures her and cuts her up with a knife, disrupts her escape plans by catching her and bringing her back, and continually drugs her,.......because he "has" to. UGH.

So, yep, this book was better than the first book, but there are still many things that took me out of the story. I have a serious issue when characters continually do things that just make you shake your head and ask, "why?" Like escaping, then going back in for whatever reason to the place you just left, even though you KNOW they are going to be waiting.....but I digress....

This book also ends in a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, it takes us right back to the situation that I found so unbearable in the earlier part of the book with the drugging and the hurting of certain characters. :(

I think I might take a break and get out of this world for a little bit before jumping back in with book 3. Apparently, there are going to be at least 4 books in this series, so I think I'll wait until book 4 comes out so that if there is another cliffhanger ending after book 3, I will not have to wait any time for the next book to come out.