I had two major issues with this book.
First, the MC's behavior is entirely driven by lust at times.
There is this mysterious, dark, brooding guy she feels inexplicably attracted to but this attraction is way stronger than even the extreme life-mate setups one can find in a lot of PNR but there is no explanation, no justification for it. This guy does quite a few fucked up things to the MC but the lust repeatedly overrides all common sense. I would've been hard-pressed to come up with a believable set up to explain why the MC is so incredibly spineless in regards to this guy. I guess that's why the author didn't even try. It is supposed to be sexual tension, and it is, but it is constantly overshadowed by the things he did which mostly ruins it all for me.

My second issue is more unfortunate and was the reason for me to drop the book.
As soon as all the puzzle pieces were on the table it was incredibly obvious to me what was going on but nobody in the book could see it at all. It actually took me longer than it should have to realize. I got it 80% in and I expect many readers will figure it out even sooner. I guess that was fortunate in a way because that way I could enjoy an incredibly hot smut scene I otherwise would've missed.
All the tension of the book is built on this one mystery. Who is the bad guy. But not in a detective mystery sense. It's more a question of whom to ally with to be on the "right side".
The problem is that, for me, all the tension went out the window immediately after I figured it out.
And it's even worse because both sides a good. They are just being played against each other by a third party. So I can't even root for the MC to recognize the good side.
I personally hate it if I know more than the protagonists due to their bone-headedness.
It drives me crazy. I don't like knowing more than the MC even if it is a deliberate decision by the author to give the reader more information than the protagonists have.
And as I already said, there is nothing else beyond that one central question that holds any tension for me. Everything else is built on top of this one conflict. So it's not one flaw or a series of them that frustrated me so much I stopped reading. I just suddenly lost all interest after I figured it all out.
As I said, Unfortunate. ( )

I think urban fantasy is just not my genre. This book has rave reviews from even the pickiest UF readers, and while the premise is intriguing and the plot is fast-paced with many twists, I just wasn't super into it. I liked it, but not enough to make me want to keep reading the series. ( )

Extremely heavy foreshadowing, hopelessly clueless mc, and a lot of suspiciously convenient people and things. Interesting base concept, but the whole thing felt a little overwrought. ( )

What a fun read! Wonderful characters and a really neat "magic" system. There's quite a bit of romance-novel aspects in here, but they don't overwhelm the story. It's a really quick read and worth the time. ( )

I just could not get into this book, I really tried, but it didn't work for me ( )