This is one heck of a ride. The story is chucked full of action, mystery. drama, and suspense. It pulls you in and keeps you glued to the pages. It is a story that is so engaging and heart felt at the same time. Rowan goes through so much throughout this story. You can feel her pain, sorrow, happiness, anger and love as the story progresses. She grows so much throughout the story and it has you continuously root for her and her group of characters. It is addicting! Yes, it does end in a cliffhanger but my goodness it is so worth reading. I absolutely can not wait for the next book. This will have laughing and crying at once. We learn so much about Aiden and his family. We learn love and forgiveness in this story. I just can't say enough how good of a read this is. ( )

Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!

In The Awakening, Aspen discovered she had powers that had been kept hidden from her, the Asterian Order had marked her as the first Pentamancer in 3000 years, and both Aspen and Aiden were on the run, she to rediscover her past and he to rescue his sister.

The Enlightening began with Aspen heading to California alone. She ended up traveling with a biker gang (that wasn't actually a gang) and uncovered a few secrets, such as the old boyfriend who had wanted to marry her and the godfather who had betrayed her. After hearing that Aiden had been hospitalized (a result of nearly drowning in the previous book), Aspen immediately left California to rejoin him. It's non-stop action from that point on. Jail breaks, attempted jail breaks, kidnapping, murder, and power beyond her wildest imagination, Aspen is central to something. If only she could figure out what it was and who the good guys actually were.

I loved Aspen and Aiden in this new chapter of the story. I loved that even after finding she had a boyfriend of three years, Aspen didn't look back. I loved that Aiden trusted her. And at the same time, they both realized that as strong as their feelings were for each other, they couldn't rush into things and had to continue learning to trust each other. Content warning: There was a scene where they almost had sex. There were also moments that Aspen didn't trust Aiden and took matters into her own hands, whether she should have or not. Aiden struggled to not "over" protect her and trust that she really could take care of herself. I loved when he explained that he wanted to protect her not because he thought that she couldn't handle it, but "because no one should feel alone in the world." So perfect!

It was also wonderful to watch Aspen's friends trust her and stick with her, despite her constant disclaimers about how they shouldn't feel obligated to put themselves at risk for her sake. In a world where we expect betrayal on every side, it was a beautiful picture of loyalty.

The pacing was perfect, world-building was phenomenal, and the characters developed just as characters should. There was also the right amount of unexpected twists that felt exactly in line with the world of the elementalists. And on a side note of personal significance to me, Rachel was spot on with her cultural characterization of Ori, an Israeli electromancer. I'm excited to read the final book in the trilogy and see how (or if) everything finally resolves. ( )