Review of Sylvia Mercedes's The Venatrix Chronicles: Complete Series Collection

This set includes all SEVEN BOOKS of the bestselling young adult epic fantasy featuring a slow-burn romance.

A huntress with no past.

A rival with a secret.

The kingdom's fate hangs in the balance.

Ayleth and her shade move as one, ever hungry for the hunt. She remembers nothing of her life before she became apprenticed to the mysterious Order of Evander, and only longs to rise in the ranks and banish untamed spirits in the name of the crown.

But there are those who believe Ayleth does not belong in the Holy Order. Including Terryn, her new partner. As handsome as he is arrogant, Terryn is to all appearances the perfect servant of the Goddess. Appearances, however, can be deceiving . . .

As legendary evil stirs in the shadows, Ayleth must fight to prove she belongs among the brave spirit-hunters. But when phantoms of her forgotten past return to haunt her, will she be able to find her place in a world that rejects her kind? Or will the growing darkness consume her and the very kingdom she strives to protect?

Welcome to the world of The Venatrix Chronicles, where deadly spirits lurk in the shadows, good and evil wage eternal war, and secrets threaten to tear a kingdom apart. If you love kick-butt heroines, slow-burn romance, breathtaking action, and stories that leave you with a book hangover for days . . . you need to discover this dark and deadly series. Prepare to turn pages late into the night!

Bonus Content: an all-new, exclusive short story, “The Wedding of Ayleth di Ferosa.”

See on Amazon 

My Review:

I'm only reviewing the short story since I already reviewed the rest of the series.

The short story is healing balm; therapy even. How anyone survived the year or however long it was between when the last book released with its less than satisfying ending and this one's release a couple months ago, but I am so very glad I did not start reading this series until right before the complete collection released so I only had to wait from one evening to the next (though my Kindle glitched when I turned the page, trying to tell me I finished the manuscript and almost gave me a heart attack).

Finally, we get to see Ayleth and Terryn reunited and all that comes with that. The banter, the chemistry, the getting on the same page about everything they haven't been able to talk about in the exactly five scenes they shared after confessions were made in the series. There was one part where I was about to smack the panic button, but then my boy Terryn- should have never doubted him- remembered that he's a rule-follower and he's got a whole new set of rules to follow now that is also kind of wild so Ayleth is good with it.

Also, just so you all know in case you didn't, after the honeymoon, they return to Gerard's palace so they can all be one big, happy family. Hollis and Kephan included. Disagree and I will fight you.

Also, I need this cover in paperback some way, somehow. I want to be able to look at Terryn's face on something else besides my computer screen or my Kindle screen, even if that wasn't how I initially thought he looked like.

Final note on the series: For anyone who knows Sylvia Mercedes's other pen name, did anyone start to get the idea, at least in the first part of the series, that maybe the world's goddess was possibly the White Lady, or whatever her name was, from her other series who has her brother, Death? Near the end of the series, Sylvia seemed to be putting more of an allegorical spin on it that I didn't quite get onboard with like with the said previous series that made it less likely it was the White Lady. But I'm still open to that option as a possibility in the multiverse of Mercedes.

Note to more sensitive readers: This book had some bad language, violence, horror elements, just plain intensity, and strong romance.