Loved by P.C & Kristin Cast

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Head of Zeus in exchange for an honest review.

I cannot believe there is a new House of Night book in 2020. When I saw this was on NetGalley, I was HYPED. I read every single one of these books back in the day in all of their glorious insanity. This series is the absolute definition of guilty pleasure and I didn't realise how much I missed being baffled by it.

So Loved is the first in a new trilogy, set one year after the first 12 books. Zoey is now turning 18 (that's right, everything happened to her before she was 18!) and things are not quite right with the universe. EITHER universe.

Oh yes that's right, there are parallel worlds in this. And zombies! And a whole bunch of other insane plot elements I wouldn't dare spoil. All of the expected characters are here and even a few unexpected ones. If you enjoyed the previous House of Night books then this is much of the same and it continues the story well. It was a very entertaining read and I couldn't put it down. Do I think these books are great examples of quality writing? Honestly no. But I'm never bored reading them and that's worth something.

Sadly it would not be fair to mention some of the explicit negatives. Pop culture references are toned down massively from the first series but there are 5 on the very first page which is a LOT in quick succession. There is also a fair amount of questionable content, both in terms of jokes and actual patterns that show up. The black girl must keep talking about how sassy and black she is (I am not black myself but this stood out as a yikes to me), calling herself 'brown sugar'. Two lesbians discuss about magically making straight girls lesbians and it's implied they took advantage of that. Damien is a gay guy who is revealed later to have depression and, presumably as a result, he cries. A lot. Like every time he shows up. Male characters crying is 100% fine but when the gay guy is the only one who cries, this has unfortunate implications attached.

All in all, this is a solid continuation of the series. Is it perfect? No, but none of them were ever perfect. Did I enjoy reading it? Absolutely. For better or for worse, these books hold a morbid fascination for me and I will definitely be carrying on with this new series.

Overall Rating:

.5