Review: A Monsoon Rising by Thea Guanzon

A Monsoon Rising by Thea Guanzon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This picks up where book 1 leaves off, so I wouldn't recommend reading this as a standalone.  You will need the backstory from the first book for this second book to make sense.  Talasyn and Alaric are still married and they are still dancing around their physical attraction to one another and what it might mean if they give in and potentially develop feelings for each other.  Their political alliance has outwardly put on a good show for both of their kingdoms, and they have tirelessly been working to stop the threat of the Moonless Dark when they aren't running their respective kingdoms.  Behind the scenes they are both scheming and plotting to overthrow the other, but those pesky feelings keep getting in the way especially as they spend more and more time together practicing their magic.

This installment is much more focused on Talasyn and Alaric's relationship and the development of the romance between them.  It is significantly more spicy than the first book, but they are more of the fade to black scenes than full on smut.  As other reviewers have mentioned the plot does take a backseat as we are more focused on the characters in this book.  I'm hoping that the third book is a bit more plot focused or at least more balanced.  There are still a lot of political movements at play and unanswered questions that need to be resolved.  I'm very much looking forward to the next book after that ending.  

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