Onyx Storm Anniversary: Release-Day Chaos, FOMO & Our Full Review

January 2026 Book Read Recommendation: “Onyx Storm” by Rebecca.  Relive the excitement over last year's release of “Onyx Storm” by Rebecca Yarros! Host R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) and Book Bestie guest, author CM  Lepore reminisce about the midnight release parties, the coveted Target edition and review whether the book lived up to the hype. The discussion culminates with their final thoughts and ratings, along with insights into CM's own writing journey and her book "Lucid".

“Lucid” by CM Lepore is available on Amazon, Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. 

Join the conversation by sharing your “Onyx Storm” book release memories in the comments or through text mail. 

Key Takeaways:

• Release‑day nostalgia: Midnight parties, Target‑edition chaos, and the fandom’s collective FOMO
• Collector’s edition drama: Sprayed edges, stock‑image accusations, and the resale frenzy
• Character deep dives: Tairn’s comfort, Andarna’s chaos, Xaden’s emotional evolution, Violet’s savior arc
• MVPs & glow‑ups: Why Ridoc stole the show and how Dain & Cat redeemed themselves
• Villain rankings: Daddy Aetos vs. Theophanie — who’s the bigger threat?
• Plot pacing & worldbuilding: Island‑hopping, Irid lore, and whether the travel arc paid off
• Cliffhanger theories: Who is the mysterious “brother”?
• Predictions for the next book: Venin lore, Violet’s family secrets, and what Yarros might be setting up

February 2026 Book Recommendations: "Quicksilver", "KingFisher's POV" and "Brimstone" all by Callie Hart. 

Follow us on IG: @mustluvromantasy

Transcript

Welcome to Must Luv Romantasy, the podcast where magic, mayhem, and hot takes collide. I'm your host Rosemary Jean-Louis, but call me RJ. I'm a lifelong sci-fi and fantasy lover turned romantasy superfan. I love the genre so much, I started two real-life book clubs. Join in to get recommendations and reviews of the romantasy books worth obsessing over.

I also include binge-worthy TV shows and movies and the occasional author chat. So grab your swords or your coffee and let's fall in love one epic story at a time.

Rosemary Jean-Louis (00:48)
Hi Book Besties! Welcome to the very first episode of the Must Luv Romantasy podcast. I'm your host RJ, and if you're anything like me, you're feeling a bit nostalgic today. A year ago, "Onyx Storm" by Rebecca Yarros hit the shelves and it was a big deal in the Romantasy world. So for our inaugural episode,

I highly recommend you either reread the book or dive in for the first time. Then join me in reminiscing and book reviewing. So, where were you when "Onyx Storm" was released on January 21st, 2025? I thought I'd be cozy at home since I'm an audiobook and audio drama fan.

I had pre-ordered my copy on Audible and felt ready until I started seeing midnight release parties popping up everywhere. In the Romantic Book Chats I follow,

folks were even planning to take the day off to just immerse themselves in the book. I couldn't resist the FOMO, so I grabbed a ticket to a midnight release party at the Eagle Eye Independent book shop near me and invited a friend from the chat to come with. It was my first release party, and we had an absolute blast. There was a trivia contest, which I lost, Violet cosplayers decked out in leathers and silver hair,

and even mini dragons perched on their shoulders. I walked away with the deluxe limited edition of "Onyx Storm", black spray painted edges adorned with black and gold dragons,

feeling like a total champ. Then I found out about the Target Edition. FOMO hit again. I even tried to order it online at 2 a.m., but the Target site kept crashing. So, Book Besties, was all the frenzy worth it? Did I manage to snag a Target Edition? Did you? Well, keep listening to find out as a special guest author joins me for a mini review

and rating. See if you agree with us or not.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (03:15)
reminiscing about the release of "Onyx Storm" by Rebecca Yarros in January 2025. And to do that, I phoned a friend, author C.M. Lepore, who wrote the book Lucid. How you doin' Book Bestie?

C M Lepore (03:30)
Hey, I'm good. How are you, R.J.?

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (03:33)
I'm doing great you know all the memories coming back of what it was like when "Onyx Storm" came out this time last year. We're going to talk a little bit about that and then get into our review segment of the book but I do want to say to listeners if you have not read the book yet stuff's about to get spoiled so please finish the book.

then come back after you've finished and join in the fun and join in the comments so all right let's get to it where were you? C.M. when "Onyx Storm" came out last year and I think it was the weekend of Martin Luther "King Jr's birthday in fact.

C M Lepore (04:06)
Thank

I was in line at Target in the 17 degree weather and I was waiting for the doors to open without about like 30 other girls just ready to break the doors down and get that limited edition Target exclusive.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (04:27)
Wow, so did you succeed?

C M Lepore (04:30)
I did succeed. Yes, I got, I think it's the claw and bone edition. I got that. And then I also got the regular edition as well. So I'm, I'm stocked.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (04:39)
You are stocked. You are very

well stocked. So were you very well pleased with this limited Target edition that after a while people started to throw a little bit of shade on that they were like, these drawings aren't original. What do you, what's your take?

C M Lepore (04:53)
Yeah,

I went, you know, I that part of it, I was a little disappointed because a lot of people were like, well, these kind of just look like stock images that they've just kind of upgraded and added some things to. But those sprayed edges, I'm a sucker for sprayed edges. So I was like, these are beautiful. I need to have this on my shelf.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (05:11)
It's sprayed edges give that book a bit of class that just your standard book just does not have so "congratulations!" you were one of the lucky ones I said earlier in the first segment that my experience was essentially, I kind of woke up and realized there was a Target edition the day that the Target edition was coming out

C M Lepore (05:19)
Yes. ⁓

Yeah.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (05:35)
like a fool and then I'm scrambling to go to Target and it's gone and I'm even calling my brother who lives in a smaller town than I do and just swearing if if you go to your Target it will be there. It was not.

C M Lepore (05:35)
Yeah.

Yeah,

We were clawing down the doors to get in there. It was pretty ruthless.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (05:54)
Yes, and how people were just selling it on eBay afterwards, as well. That was just some really cutthroat stuff right there.

C M Lepore (06:06)
Yeah, there were some girls in line after we had gotten inside when they had run out of them and they were looking and there were literally those additions being put on Mercari and eBay like immediately like right after the doors had opened. It was wild.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (06:20)
Exactly, And that was wrong. I mean, come on, man. That's Selling it for scalpers just like tickets, you know Okay, so we got the book. We got two editions Really nice looking beautiful one that you could you could you know do nice Instagram Show-and-tell unboxing stuff and just a regular one that you could read and thumb through and and you know drop coffee on by accident if that happens.

C M Lepore (06:23)
Yeah, the scalpers. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (06:46)
Alright, so overall, did you think it lived up to the hype of being the third book in the Empyrean series?

C M Lepore (06:53)
I really did. This was my favorite book so far that she's written in the Empyrean series. I thought she did a wonderful job of weaving that web together of all these characters and just did a beautiful, beautiful job of putting in all these Easter eggs.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (07:06)
I've always been a big fan ride or die of Tairn Violet's dragon he was in rare form I felt in the book with all his crankiness and then of course An Darna I think came in second with her being

C M Lepore (07:16)
Yes.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (07:24)
the teenager and really really being rebellious with anything that they told her to do and you're just, and you're like, boy. ⁓

C M Lepore (07:32)
Yeah,

yes, and I feel like Tairn is such a comforting character. Like like, I know what I'm doing. I've got your back. This is the way I'll be there to save you. And Andarna is just chaos.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (07:44)
Exactly very well put she

just kept she's like yeah, I hey I I've got you I will eat him for you I You know basically her solution to most things either eat somebody or you know a breathe down fire on them and take them out. So I do agree with you that this was one of my favorite books. I reread "Fourth Wing" and I'm kind of torn between

which one was the favorite for me. I think "Iron Flame" was, you know, was okay. But you know, I think that's kind of the consensus with a lot of people, but one of the biggest complaints though, was that our shadow daddy Xaden was kind of whiny and possessive. I didn't feel like

C M Lepore (08:15)
Yeah, I agree.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (08:30)
that I just felt was kind of like a progression of his character that now he and Violet are together and he would constantly say it because he's Venin his emotions are heightened so when she went out on that mission to save I think it was Maren's family

C M Lepore (08:41)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (08:48)
he was like, why does it always have to be you? But but anyway, and and and Tairn my god, I got hurt and all that stuff. And Garrick shows up to help out but essentially after that happened, he was like freaking out like he's like, I will scorch the earth to find you and all this other stuff. And then I'm reading the comments online. They like what is wrong with him? He's so whiny and possessive. So

C M Lepore (09:09)
You

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (09:12)
I didn't think that though I just felt it was a progression of their relationship and of course the side effect of the Venin sound like you agree so let's expand on that.

C M Lepore (09:13)
I didn't either.

yeah.

Yeah, I completely agree. I think we need more possessive shadow daddies in our lives. I need men to yearn in 2026. So Xaden is just paving the way for that. You know, he's got a lot to be worried about right now. So of course, you know, being scared about his future as a Venin and how he's going to try and prevent that from ruining everything, but also while trying to keep Violet safe when Violet isn't trying to keep Violet safe. That's just...

That probably doesn't help the situation at hand, but I loved it. I liked watching him just be like, you know what? This is what I am. You take me or leave me. I'm worried about you. And I'm going to, like you said, scorch the earth to save everything as much as I can.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (10:04)
Exactly and again his character is that tortured shadow daddy type person so if you're surprised that he's possessive I'm like do you need the dictionary of traits for shadow daddies because this is all you know part of the package here. Violet even with her sometimes getting annoyed at him about it

C M Lepore (10:18)
you

you

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (10:30)
Even she accepted him. I think I was a little bit more annoyed with Violet this go-round with her trying to be the savior even more so than before like like initially Yeah, she was kind of the reluctant savior throughout the book of the the two series. This time she was definitely more

more so doing I'm going to save you Xaden and find the cure. Sometimes it was just annoying with her constantly saying that and of course constantly interjecting herself and Maren's family is in danger. I must be the savior to go in there and help get your family out. There were a couple of other situations where that happened.

I guess that's a good segue to get into some of the plot points about was there anything that was confusing because that was other talk online that people were like, okay, wait, Lewellen Lewellen is a person and a place like what what what's going on? ⁓ Who are all these

C M Lepore (11:27)
Yeah, yeah, that was a little confusing when they would mention I feel like, huh?

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (11:33)
royal people, who, what, you know, and that's the other, think, complaint for me was the whole traveling around these different islands plot to find the Irids with me sitting there going, does this really add to the plot or move it along or is it just you're kind of filling up space?

C M Lepore (11:34)
together.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (11:52)
What did you think?

C M Lepore (11:53)
I feel like if it was adding to the overall story arc, like of all five books, like if she had possibly split up all of these, like if they had split "Onyx Storm into two, and she's traveling to all these places, but she's also gaining more information from these people, or maybe having them as allies for the overall war, then I could probably understand it. And maybe we will understand it whenever the next book comes out, but

it kind of, did seem a little bit filler just because it was moving so fast. Like we're here and then we're there and then Andarna's got an animal in her mouth and all these things.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (12:28)
Hahaha!

You're absolutely right and one of the other things was that did it really add to the plot or add to her finding the solution and that that was also annoying too and then when they finally did get the solution which was okay we find the Irids and this is gonna help us all- the Irids ended up being jerks. Honestly, I kind of like them though because they were like look this is who we are.

C M Lepore (12:49)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (12:55)
We are of peace and and you turned our child into a weapon. What's wrong with you? What kind of people and they were like, nah, none of you can do you have to make a decision. You come with us and be of peace or you go back with those crazy people who are killing each other and and taking a child into battle! What?

C M Lepore (12:57)
right.

Right.

Like, Andarna

it can make her own decisions. Thank you very much.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (13:19)
What did you think of the Irids? Let's just go down that path.

C M Lepore (13:21)
I did.

Yeah, I have a feeling I'm going to really enjoy them because there was the one that was kind of like more understanding on to Violet's situation because like Violet doesn't know she didn't you know, she didn't raise Andarna to be this weapon. She's just doing what she learned and she's trying to navigate this life that she never expected to live and Andarna is unfortunately kind of on the other side of that where she's a dragon. She's born into this and she's just trying to navigate

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (13:30)
Mm-hmm.

C M Lepore (13:50)
what the norm is in her situation now versus what she should be doing. But she'll find her own way.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (13:57)
Right and it also was a weird thing for them to do that. Okay, we're of peace but we're just gonna leave you with our child to hope she will influence you to also be of peace. Well, she doesn't know anything. She's just a hatchling, you know? So of course she's going to adopt the ways of the Empyrean and then adopt the ways of course of the humans who are together in this fight

C M Lepore (14:13)
Yeah. Yeah.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (14:23)
That was a strange take on their part to have that mentality, but their actions weren't cohesive with their mentality. Were there any MVP characters that you would like?

C M Lepore (14:33)
Right.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (14:40)
whew!, so glad they are in this storyline and everyone again if you look at the chatter everybody was really singing the praises of Ridoc as kind of that's where you're going. So go for it.

C M Lepore (14:50)
That's the, that's where I was going. Yep. I was like, Ridoc Yep.

I love him so much. think, I think she's done a really good job at, he's been like, he's been the comedic relief this entire time. You know, in this book, we got to really see him be like, Hey, wait a minute. I'm part of this too. I'm serious. I want in on this and I want to help and I want to be there for you and I want to support you. And we all need to work together as a team to come up with a solution when

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (15:08)
Yeah. Yes.

C M Lepore (15:19)
in this all the way up until now it's kind of like he hasn't been taken seriously because of this like comedy aspect of him and that's why at the end of the book spoiler alert they say that now there's this new brother and everyone's like "is it Ridoc, is it Ridoc"? because he's been there the entire time. He knew about Xaden so the growth of this book with Ridoc has been absolutely ⁓ Chef's Kiss!

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (15:43)
I really enjoyed him in this book as well When he sobered up to the serious situations with you know, he found out about Xaden's secret is like "hey I will look I will take him out if we need to I will do it. I'm sorry Vi". That really showed you his character growth.

But not only that, think he had it all along. A lot of times with these comedic characters, they're being funny because there might be something underneath them. They may have more depth than we realize. In this book, as you well said, that's what we saw, that he's got more depth than what we realize, but it just made him more fun because he was featured more. And he was, you know, he's like...

C M Lepore (16:30)
Yeah.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (16:31)
let's name it. We're Quest Squad. And they're like, you're naming it, naming the darn thing now. And that's not a good branding. that was, pretty funny. Here's a character that just doesn't get a lot of ⁓ love, but I really loved him this book because of the family dynamic. I love Brennan. I really think Brennan is cool.

people are just always throwing shade on some Brennan. I mean look He he's in the rock and a hard place, but he did choose the right side in my opinion and yeah, okay, Maybe he faked his death or he just he just kind of laid low or something like that But still he was trying to stay on the right side of history and that that's

C M Lepore (16:59)
They are.

I

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (17:19)
Sometimes you have to make the wrong choices to stay on the right side of history. So I felt bad that they threw shade on him. The other person who, a large extent, well two people, I felt kind of redeemed themselves, maybe not so much the MVPs of the book, but they redeemed themselves was Dain Aetos, definitely redeemed himself this time.

C M Lepore (17:23)
Yeah.

⁓ yes.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (17:44)
I felt that Cat was less distasteful ⁓ than before. and that I actually started to like her more.

C M Lepore (17:48)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I think she's

starting to see the overall goal and realize that these people aren't bad. They're just trying to make things better and they're for the good cause and she needs to join them. I'm glad for that.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (17:57)
Mm-hmm.

she was less of a one note you know "I had Xaden before and he's gonna come back around to me" you know that that after a while that kind of got old in "Iron Flame" so this time around with her becoming less attached to her previous relationship with Xaden and more to your point focused

C M Lepore (18:15)
I

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (18:28)
on the main goal and what needed to be done and then also developing the relationship with a spoiler alert Trager who is no longer with us was was kind of nice but that was a plot point that was kind of annoying to me that it was like it was so unnecessary. There were necessary people that we were happy they were taken out.

C M Lepore (18:38)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (18:50)
So

was it Aura Bein Haven or I'm getting her name or the fire wielder who was, who was trying to stir up trouble in the cafeteria and Violet had to take her out and yet she was put on the Quest Squad. Then she was burnt. and first it was, snap.

C M Lepore (18:54)
Yes, yeah, the squad leader. Yes. Yeah.

You

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (19:11)
And thank goodness. Good riddance.

C M Lepore (19:12)
Yes, it was relief. That was a shut

the book and say, "Thank you, Lord. I needed that!"

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (19:17)
Yes!

Take her out. ⁓ On that ⁓ train of thought, were there other people that you were so happy that they didn't make it or they should have not made it this time around, but they're still around.

C M Lepore (19:21)
Yeah.

Yeah.

I understand that she's trying to use Trager as like a character growth for Cat, but if that was going to be the case, I wish that we had seen more of him, because then maybe his death would have been more effective, instead of it just being like, well, here's another thing that's going to make Cat angry or loathing of Violet. It's just that one sucked. That one hurt.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (19:45)
Okay.

Yes.

Yeah.

One of the things that tends to come up in

romantasy at times in the genre itself is sometimes these manufactured conflicts come up. One of the manufactured conflict in my opinion this time around was goodness now Xaden is a teacher and now he and Vi can't be together or whatever you're just like Come on there there come on they were sneaking around before you think they're going to stop.

C M Lepore (20:10)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (20:31)
That's just so manufactured.

C M Lepore (20:32)
Yeah, especially with we all

know that Sgaeyl and Taryn are mates like we know they have to be together stop separating them just let them be. ⁓

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (20:36)
Yes.

Right, right.

In terms of as you're reading it at times with an author's lens, what did you think of the plot and the storyline overall?

C M Lepore (20:48)
Mm.

Rebecca Yarros, she is, she is a genius. Well, I do agree with you on that sometimes there's things like, did we really need to do this? But everything she does is for a reason. Like down to her description of the curtains in a certain room, there's always a reason for it. Like if it's a certain color, if it moves a certain way, you can generally go to another part of the book and see that same description elsewhere that is kind of trying to almost

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (21:09)
You

C M Lepore (21:22)
predict what the future holds. Like the different, like the red of the Venin eyes, that shows up a lot in different various -Violet's hair. She's got that silver at the end of her hair. I think, I think her name is pronounced Theo pha nie like she has that too. And then when she went to that one of the islands and they all had that as well, like all of these things that she is just interlocking together all for a purpose. And I think

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (21:28)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

C M Lepore (21:47)
it's really going to pay off in the next few in the next couple books. I think she said she's doing either five or six books in the series. So I think it just, it's all build up to everything. It's just, it's got me nervous. Yeah.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (21:53)
I believe so. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah,

I'm really rooting for her and hoping that Rebecca Yarros will pay off all these things and pay off all these loose ends, questions that we all have, obviously, with the ending with the cliffhanger being, who's the brother? Initially, I think I listened, so I like to do the audio book, and I mentioned that off the top.

that like to do the audiobooks, but I also read and I also like to do Graphic Audio, the dramatized version, which is Chef's Kiss. They always have the best cast ⁓ for it. It's wonderful. But at times, sometimes, you know, when you're listening and you're like washing dishes, you might miss a thing. And so at the end, you know, I'm listening in my car and I'm like, my goodness, this is how it ended. they're saying the brother - so immediately in my head,

C M Lepore (22:29)
Mm-hmm. Yes, they do.

you

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (22:51)
I'm going well, the brother obviously must be Jack Barlowe or something because he's already Venin but then other people are like no and I think the brothers this person is it's got to be you're saying it's Ridoc I think somebody said it might be Bodhi because you know Xaden referred to Bodhi as his brother and then we're all trying to go back and look at the scene where

everybody's in the room with Violet and her memory has been wiped and she's trying to understand what's happening what whatever. And and people's names are in the room Any hot take on on either the ending or other plot points. I think it was also ⁓ was it Pan Chek who was also in that room with who also and she

C M Lepore (23:19)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (23:35)
And Okay, guys, you can't you can't see this because this is an audio podcast, but let it be let it be known that CM rolled her eyes when we said Pan chek. Like, clearly no love for Pan Chek ,then?

C M Lepore (23:44)
Yes. I hate him. No, none

at all whatsoever. Every time I see that name, it just makes me enraged. I can't stand him. During that scene, I misunderstood, and I thought she said that Panchek was the brother. So I'm like, ⁓ I knew it. I knew this was coming. So I was glad that that was not the case.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (23:57)
Ha!

Yeah.

there were a couple of villains Well, I mean there there were a couple main villains and then there were you know, I called them the minor villains that they encountered in the isle

and then we'll just put Xaden's mom in a chair somewhere where it's like what the heck was what is wrong with you kind of person. But Theophanie as a villain and also of course Daddy Aetos who apparently he doesn't have a first name. He's just Daddy Aetos -between those two as a villain, how would you rate them?

C M Lepore (24:34)
Yeah.

Yeah, I honestly think Theophanie, she has her own purpose and her own secrets that she's working towards. I feel like she is so self-serving that she's only looking towards the future of the Venin. Daddy Aetos, he's just the worst. He knows the truth about everything. He has all the secrets that we don't know and he's still making the wrong decision and at the sake of his son too. So I feel like in my opinion, I feel like Aetos is the worst.

He's the worst villain in my eyes. Every time he's around, I'm like, my gosh, somehow Violet is about to suffer.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (25:11)
When his name would come up, I'd just sit there going, the folks who run the military, make the worst decisions in terms of who should run the school because you pick that guy. He's just the worst. And then previously, of course, in Iron Flame", was it Varrish?

C M Lepore (25:24)
Hahaha!

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (25:33)
I believe his name, like he was he was kind of in there running a certain part in not the entire school, but he was running. I'm forgetting ⁓ that, you know, he was doing the torture chamber, but he was running a particular class. But it was again, it was just like you brought that guy in, you know, he they specifically had a missive about him. One of those dispatches that come before each of the chapters where they talked about

C M Lepore (25:33)
Yeah. Yeah.

his torture chamber.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (26:00)
This is the guy who ran like a torture program and and you know was was ⁓ I think he was taken down. be because of that and then you reinstate him to come into school to do To do some special teaching on how to you're right how how to endure torture You think that's the good the guy who should do that?

C M Lepore (26:04)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, they're

like, yeah, this is him. No other choices in my opinion.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (26:23)
No other choice

that that's yeah, he will be the best teacher ever So, my goodness, so we we could talk about this all day, but I'd love to get any other hot takes you'd like to mention about the book that people should pay attention to as you read it made the first time and also reread it that "Hey, don't miss out on this."

C M Lepore (26:47)
Yeah, I think anytime that they're talking about Venin in general, even if like in the first book when Violet's talking about that book that her father had given her about it and it's portrayed as like this children's story book. But I think I could probably use a reread of that section specifically too, because I'm sure there's more information in there that fans have not even realized is such a bigger plot point. So I would say anything, anytime they mention her father, something's going on with that.

And I think we're going to have a lot of that revealed in the next book for sure.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (27:15)
Mm.

Yeah that and I think they really were alluding to the grandmother too about because of the conflict with ⁓ Violet's mom and the father and them wanting to dedicate Violet to Dunne

C M Lepore (27:24)
Yeah.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (27:35)
So I think more of that, it'll be interesting to meet the grandmother and see how formidable she is, especially because who knew the grandma was still alive? I mean, it was just like, what? Yeah, seriously. Yeah, is cousin Pete gonna come in?

C M Lepore (27:35)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, right, yeah. Long lost family coming out of the woodworks in this one, for sure.

Yeah.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (27:59)
I mean,

so, okay, what is our final rating for this book? How many stars?

C M Lepore (28:06)
Five out of five, 10 out of 10, 100 out of 100. This was a perfect book for me. I thought it was so beautiful. Even though it ended on a cliffhanger, still felt like it wrapped it up in a neat little bow. And I'm just so excited for the next one.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (28:19)
I agree I'm just I'm taking a couple of points off for some of the manufactured conflict and for for me not being fully satisfied over when Xaden met his mom and her excuses for leaving him to be just swooped up by the rebellion and then drafted into the war college

So I give it a 4.8 but otherwise I thought it was a solid book, enjoyable read. was worth being on the lines and you know searching the hinterlands of Target to try to get a special edition of the book. Just absolutely enjoyable. We highly recommend it that especially

C M Lepore (28:56)
You

Yes.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (29:04)
if you haven't read it before and you stumbled upon this podcast and you were like I'm just going to listen anyway you know spoiler who cares to read it and then we also recommend read it again to tap into the nostalgia of this this time last year being ⁓ when it was released.

⁓ Before we go and before we let you go as I mentioned you are an author you are the author of the book "Lucid" which is described as a dark mafia romance so tell us more about that.

C M Lepore (29:38)
Yeah, so this is my debut novel. I would say it's a dark mafia romance because there are some darker themes along in the book, but it is a very light dark mafia romance. So I'd say kind of akin to "Lights Out" where my characters have, it follows the FMC. Her name is Allie. She works in a bank and she's kind of in this rut in her life. Her relationship's not going so well with her boyfriend at the moment. He's kind of become this

mooch off of her finances because he's trying to pursue his dreams of being like a social media star. So one day while she's at work, tall, dark and handsome man walks in and immediately is like, you and me, we're going out to dinner. I need to I need to know you. And she's like, No, I don't know you. I have a boyfriend. No, thank you. And then she starts running into this man out in the world. And she's like, Man, this is kind of weird. So as she kind of gets to know him, she's realizing that he has a lot of ⁓

dark secrets that he's not admitting to. And it kind of follows their journey of Ali navigating, who is this man? Why am I feeling this way towards him while also trying to decide if she even wants to stay with her current boyfriend? So it's a lot of fun. There's four parts in the book. Each one ends on a little mini cliffhanger, but it picks up right in the next chapter. So it's a really fun read and it's available on Amazon, paperback, ebook and on Kindle Unlimited right now.

R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) (31:04)
I will put a link to all of that in the show notes. So CM, it was such a pleasure having you and won't you come back?

C M Lepore (31:13)
Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. This has been so much fun.

Rosemary Jean-Louis (31:25)
What a blast it's been reliving the "Onyx Storm" release with you! If you were caught up in the excitement, I'd love to hear your favorite memories. Drop them in the comments. And of course, tell me if the book lived up to all the hype for you. Wondering what's next for Violet, Zayden and the gang?

We won't know for a while because Rebecca Yarros is taking a break to write a contemporary romance before diving into the next installment. The earliest we might see Book 4 is 2027. I know, what a bummer. Don't worry, we've got plenty of other reads to dive into.

My next book recommendations are a trio, "Quicksilver", the novella "King Fisher's Point of View", and the sequel "Brimstone", all by Callie Hart. Brace yourself for an epic adventure with plenty of spice. Until next month, happy reading!

Rosemary Jean-Louis (32:26)
Thanks for listening to Must Luv Romantasy If you enjoyed today's show, be sure to follow the podcast and then share it with your fellow Romantasy fans. Until next time, keep your swords sharp, your coffee strong, and your heart ready for the next epic love story.