Alyssa Indira is on page 520 of 527 of Onyx Storm: Wtf

"The queen of STEM romance, the creator of the quirkiest, nerdiest, most entertaining, likable, and huggable characters is back! And she's returned with my all-time favorite trope: enemies to lovers!

I can honestly say this is my favorite book of hers because it's funnier, sexier, and quirkier! Did I mention that Jack Smith is the best book boyfriend she's ever created? That sulking, intense, intelligent man knows how to make a girl happy! He's passionate, but he perfectly controls himself to put Elsie's needs first. He's caring, patient, and gentle. I loved him!

Let me introduce you to dear Elsie, who deserves ten thousand hugs. She has a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. When she couldn't get an academic position, she resorted to fake-dating to pay off her student loans. Even though she still lives in a crappy apartment with her bestie Cece, she remains hopeful that she'll find a better position in the near future. She still manages to keep her head above water as an adjunct professor, teaching five different classes, grading labs, and reading her students' very sincere emails (those emails made my week! I laughed too hard!). Meanwhile, her mother forces her to become a negotiator to solve her big brothers' extra immature problems they've gotten themselves into!

Elsie's weakness is that she doesn't know the meaning of "no"! She can never say the word! She molds herself into a different character for each person in her life, putting their needs first. That's why she never thinks about what she really wants from the universe!

Then, her path crosses with her nemesis. She finds out that Jack Smith, the brooding but charismatic brother of her best fake-dating customer Greg, is the same person who wrote an article that ruined her mentor's career! Unfortunately, he's also the man who's in charge of the physics department at MIT and one of the decision-makers who will decide if she's the right candidate for her dream job. Jack supports another candidate for the job and is shocked to find out that Elsie is not the librarian girlfriend of her brother, as he was led to believe. As an experimental theorist, he has every intention of rejecting to work with a theorist!

Elsie has no intention of giving up her dream job without a fight. She's determined to fight against the man who gets under her skin. Yes, she finds him very attractive. Yes, she wants to rip his clothes off and kiss him senseless, then punch him in the face. But she can restrain her feelings to be professional, right? Oh, you already know the answer!

Overall, Elsie and Jack were dynamite! I loved their dialogues, hilarious banters, and blazing chemistry! This is my favorite work of the author! I wish I could give it more than five stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

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"What a repetitive drag. I called it after Iron Flame-- there is just not five books worth of story here.

I'm pretty certain this is where I part ways with this series. It's a shame because I am somewhat invested in these characters after spending 1,700 pages together, but I don't want another Throne of Glass situation where I keep coming back, hoping for something better when our chemistry has already fizzled out.

Part of the problem is with me: I’m trying to make this series something it isn’t in my head. I’m trying to hold on to the non-romantic aspects of the story, which I so enjoyed in the first book. The school and its challenges, the rivalries and villains, the dragons and the politics of the world. I don’t mind a romantic subplot, but the truth is I’m not into straight-up romantasy. And this is definitely romantasy.

This book feels something like 80-90% filler that consists of us constantly being reminded how hot and sexy Xaden is every single time he appears on page. He cannot enter the room without Violet reiterating his physical description.

And almost everything that happens feels... pointless. Lots of dawdling. Lots of moving from one place to another. So many things feel unnecessary to the main story and, after more than 500 pages, we seem to have taken very few steps towards answering the questions posed by the first two books. I'm serious. It's like "oh, we need to find a cure for the venin" but let me spend the next two hundred pages throwing in some random action scenes and faux love angst.

It's annoying at this point to have the book try to prolong the romantic angst (which, if you ask me, is no longer there anyway) with Xaden suddenly becoming a professor precisely because the code of conduct forbids relationships with students� oh no, what does this mean for them?! (nothing, of course 🙄).

Certain action/battle scenes seem to exist only so that Violet can be hurt and Xaden can turn up in a cloud of horny shadow.

Also, who talks like this?

“I’m jealous of the armour that holds you when I can’t, the sheets on your bed that caress your skin every night, and the blades that feel your hands.�

“It was hotter than rage, and sharper than fear, and cut deeper than helplessness, all because I couldn’t get to you.�

This is actual speech. How does this not give people the ick?

Then we get to the end and I honestly felt a bit pissed off by the cliffhanger this time. It did not make me want to read another 500+ page book of filler to get delivered a WTF ending.

Two stars only because I like a bunch of the characters and their dialogue."