this picks up not long after the first book, and is centered around Mal the middle fae Kendrick brother and his neighbor Bryce, the unknowingly-a-druid ecoactivist professor. Mal doesn’t like or trust druids as a whole, since there is always a catch with their spells… and Bryce cares a lot about his wetland project and ends up apprenticed to David’s aunt Cassy. and bound to Mal with a 10 foot barbed energy tether (yeah it’s weird) so Mal has to teach him all about supernaturals.
Enter a weird plague in the swamp that reaches into faery, and the mysterious Steve who implies he can break Mal’s useless cursed hand if he helps with three tasks. So Mal has to drag Bryce along on the adventure.
there are more than a few consent questions brought up in this relationship, which was concerning, but they Eventually work themselves out. it causes them both pain to find out their relationship was not what it first appeared, and it got a little old to hear the same thing thrown at each other even when they had gotten past it, but they prove that relationships sometimes look different inside them than out.
the consent questions and power dynamic arguments (where they dont argue fair… like the dynamic is fine. one partner submitting to the other? hawt. but the anger and “magic made us” fighting was meh after a point) are what tipped this from 5 stars to 4 for me.
nonetheless it was a fun and enjoyable read, and I love this series.