Review--Brave by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Ivy Morgan hasn't been feeling like herself lately. Not like anyone can blame her. After all, being held captive by a psychotic fae prince hell-bent on permanently opening the gates to the Otherworld is bound to leave some mental scars.

It’s more than that, though. Something dark and insidious is spreading throughout Ivy, more powerful than she could ever imagine... and it’s coming between her and the man she’s fallen deeply in love with, elite Order member Ren Owens.

Ren would do anything to keep Ivy safe. Anything. But when he makes a life altering choice for her, the fallout of his act has far reaching consequences that threaten to tear their lives apart.

If Ivy is going to have any hope of surviving this, she must put aside the hurt and betrayal she feels, and work with not only those she loves, but with an enemy she would rather kill than ever trust. War is coming, and it soon becomes clear that what Ivy and Ren thought they knew about the Order, themselves, and even their enemies, has been nothing but a cluster of dangerous, deadly lies.

Ivy knows she must be more than just brave to save those she loves--and, ultimately, to save herself.

Because behind every evil fae Prince, there’s a Queen….

Another Jennifer L. Armentrout series is completed! The Wicked trilogy was one I took a fast liking to because of the fast-paced plot and amazing characters! I’ve never met a JLA character I didn’t love! Well, except for the bad guys, but I love to hate them if that counts! Lol! Brave brings an end to Ivy’s story and it was one I fully enjoyed and feel saddened that it’s over already, but that can be said with any series finale I think!

Ivy is having a rough go of things lately. She is safe at Hotel Good Fae with Ren, Tink, and an assortment of other fae who are actually good and don’t suck the life out of humans, yet Ivy seems to be suffering from PTSD in a way. She endured a lot of torture from the Prince, from Drake and it’s hard to shake that kind of experience off and away. She struggles with reconnecting with the ones she loves and trying to find some normalcy to her chaotic life. She was forced to feed off a human and that is only one of the things that has left her so shaken because she feels the cravings still.

Ivy’s personal struggles are only one of the obstacles she will have to overcome in this heart-racing finale. The even greater struggle will be finding a way to send Drake back to the Otherworld and closing the door between worlds permanently. Should be easy, right? Nothing is ever easy and when word gets out that Drake might be onto finding another Halfling, well, the time table to saving the world gets bumped up some.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat! As I said before, Ivy has to endure some personal struggles, some great changes are headed her way and that itself will be another set of obstacles to overcome. And “judgment day” is looming ever closer. But no one will be prepared for the game changing effects that occur about midway through. This totally shakes up the story and will set off a course for new events!

Jennifer holds back no punches whatsoever in this one. There were some seriously jaw-dropping moments in this one that had me gasping out loud! Like shouting expletives over the sheer shocking-ness of it all! You might just want to unhinge your jaws prior to reading this one to save you some time! Lol!

Naturally, there was still the same toe curling, spine-tingling romance to be had between Ivy and Ren. I’ve pretty much loved these two from the beginning! They aren’t a perfect couple and that’s what makes me love them even more because they have problems and they work through them. It might take them awhile to realize that they need to work through said problems in a healthy manner, but to err is human after all…even if Ivy is only half human!

As always Tink had me laughing in stitches. I sooo cannot wait to see how this will look in film. As I believe it’s to be a web series of some kind? Never watched one of those so not sure of what they are officially called and all that! Needless to say I will need to be looking into how to watch that in the near future!

The only thing that kind of nags at me is how the ending is a bit too open-ended for a series finale. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying it totally ruins the book. It doesn’t. Not even close. But I guess as a reader, I like a little more concrete of an ending. I like to know where everyone is going and how they will be spending their time now that the danger/battle/fight is over. Here we don’t really get that. Though I can almost see why what with the conversation Ivy and Ren have in that final moment. Though it doesn’t really address what the other characters will be doing either, which I kind of would have liked to know! It’s only a mild irritation I have, truly nothing as I’m already figuring out how it will all turn out…in my head at least!

Brave was an incredibly wonderful finale to the Wicked trilogy! It embodies everything I love about Jennifer L. Armentrout books and paranormal titles! When you read this one you will walk away with the knowledge that you can never look at Troll dolls in the same way again! Bravo, Jennifer!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars