You are hilarious 
yeeeeeeehaw!!
By the time the series ends, we will all be much older. I just hope A Stans are as satisfied with 1 book of actual romance while others got like 5…does that make sense? I don’t mean for it to sound harsh…it’s late and I’ve had wine so I can’t tell…
I just hope by the time we are all in retirement home, I have no more hearing.
That be a blessing. No way I wanna be 80 old and still listening to how ‘A is an ass for rejecting the MC’ 
That remind me, maybe I outta put a Jar in here? You guys put a 1$ everytime you whinge about A? Let’s see if I get rich! 
I’m with E_Redmark for this one. It’s not rejection. They did admit that they have feelings but they don’t want to enter into a relationship. I know some viewed it as rejection but personally, I viewed it as someone who’s not ready to enter one because of their past issue. I found it sad and at the same time understandable. and I don’t want A to feel forced to be in a relationship if they’re not ready. I know it’s slow burn and not all will like slowness of the progression the reason why there’s other routes for those who prefer an RO who is more committed into a relationship or willing to enter into one.
If all ROs get into a relationship by Book 2 or Book 3, it just makes them all the same and not in-character with the RO involved. But perhaps that’s just me.
I get it…i totally respect your point of view. Just because i find it frustrating and annoying, doesnt mean everyone does. I’m glad the ro’s are so different that different personalities and preferences have an option. I enjoy A’s character, i just don’t care for his romance…but I get that there are folks that do.
I understand it gets frustrating though. 
Personally, I’m an optimist and hoping mid Book 4 that A-mancers could be in a relationship with the Detective. Perhaps too over optimistic? hahaha
Look at it this way: If by book 4 Adam is still running away, you can join my mc at counting broken Crayons?
It certainly comes off as rejection. Or, at the very least, it comes off as A saying, “You aren’t worth it” which is just as bad. If it were just a not wanting to rush things, and take time to figure things out–because they’ve been hurt so badly before and aren’t sure they can take it again–that’s one thing.
But A doesn’t ask for time. A just says it’s not going to happen. Period. Because they don’t want to be hurt. That’s rejection.
As for slow burn…
I don’t have a problem with realistic progression that fits the character, but there has to be some noticeable progression, not just the same tired shit over and over again. A’s “progression” is non-existent. You can hold hands with them at the end of b2, if you initiate it, and it’s all but forgotten in b3. At the end of b3, they want a kiss, with the agreement that it will be the end of things for good.
As readers, we know that won’t be the case. What about the MC? How do you work with someone you’re in love with who just kissed you or tried to kiss you and intends to treat you like a stranger? Someone that has repeatedly reached for you only to push you away. Yes, there are very sweet moments with A, but they’re just moments and don’t mean anything in the long run because they don’t help move things forward. It’s just rinse and repeat. Only difference between b3 and b2 is that A admitted the reason they don’t want the MC is because they don’t want to hurt again. Oh yeah, and a kiss, if you’re good with A running away and shutting you out when it’s over.
And there’s my real problem with A’s “path”–and M’s, to be honest, if we’re going back to stupid moron M. It’s not that it’s slow, it’s that any progress is immediately retconned. Even worse, the MC has zero effect on the progression of the romance and cannot help things move quicker. They can’t do anything to help A get past their fears and help M understand that they’re in love. There’s no sense of “I want to be with you but don’t know how” from them (and it really sums them both up), where they and the MC can work through it together until the LI can handle it.
Nope, that isn’t happening. Instead, the MC is flat out powerless and along for the ride, forced to accept whatever happens without a real chance to help or to even step away and get some distance until the LI figures their own shit out.
In F and N’s romances, the MC isn’t a hapless victim of those romances. They choose whether to participate fully or to hold back by refusing a relationship with them.
Anyway… I get why people love A as a character. I do, too, and the moments that we get in their path (this is not a romance yet to me, no matter how much it is sold as such) aren’t enough to balance the fact that the MC is powerless in it.
I don’t want them all to be the same. It makes sense that they would be different, as are their personalities. But what I would like is for the MC to feel like something other than a passenger–in some cases, an unwilling one–on the journey to the two slow burns getting their shit together. I honestly don’t see how there can ever be a relationship when they are both so unaffected by the MC and their feelings.
That’s pretty damned optimistic. But maybe it’ll happen. I’m still of a mind that A-mancers will get a relationship before M-mancers do. I’m not even certain we’ll get one at all with M, it’ll just be assumed the MC and M are in one.
A is my favourite and I always do that route first, doesn’t stop me from getting annoyed at how they make us and themselves run in a circle so much it’s pretty much an ouroboros by now.
Not true.
Or did you miss ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘I’m weak’…
Hello?
That’s not rejection.
God…
That’s withdrawal…rejecting someone is kinda like when you ask M to go to dinner and say 'Nope. Not going to happen. But if M said ‘Sorry, but I don’t do crowds, I’m an agoraphobe’ that’s not rejection saying 'I wish I could…but I can’t.
I don’t know…they keep me laughing long at night.
Sure we can. Bold MC totally gonna crank up the Flirt and make Ava combust on the spot!
Choose! pain of the heart or pain in your pants!
I suggest throwing something heavy like an Anvil at them that has ‘I LOVE YOU BAKKA’ at them?
Valid points.
Judging from welcoming home party, it doesn’t seem to be talking to a stranger atmosphere to me. If A wants to be stranger, they should have ignore you and don’t interact with you at all like they did when you first met them.
It’s hard to create an opinion because we don’t know how Miskha will handle this. But I do agree retconning will be very frustrating. I just hope that the Detective will be proactive without like it seems that the Detective pushing A to be in a relationship.
I believe that it’s frustrating because in real life, we are waiting for each book for two or three years in between books. For us, it’s a long wait while in the Book, they only met for 6 months or so. For someone like A who has a past issue, you can’t cure such issue in such a short time imo.
Quite disappointed with this book tbh 
I had high hopes for this one, and the demo was gripping. Bought it on the day it released and the playthrough experience has been kind of… meh 
The plot didn’t make much sense, the villain was so bland and the hot-and-cold behaviour from A is just. Getting old. Beyond old.
I know it’s not REALLY a “detective” story as much as it’s supposed to be a romance, but honestly, it’s not delivering on either fronts at this point.
The writing itself also seems to be a lot more purple prosy and not as crisp as in the first two books
And I’m really disliking how much the book tries to guilt us for not having a good relationship with Rebecca, while at the same time revealing information that makes her character and choices even less forgivable. Time and again she chooses to abandon the MC, and would this relationship even have rekindled without supernatural interference in the first place? Doubtful.
I sound like a terrible hater, but I really did enjoy books one and two, and like I said, the demo for this one set the stage for something much more compelling than the final product
Fair, though tbh if this was real life, after getting told that there will be nothing between us the first 2 or 3 times I would actively try to snuff out any feeling for them(soul bond or not), since I can’t read minds and I would put more weight on words over subtle actions, no matter how long I’ve known someone for.
On A having issues, they had them for over 900 years, even if it was a deep ptsd worthy trauma, they had 9 lifetimes more than usual to seek help and work it out somehow other than burying it and all their other feelings along with it deeper than a balrog, I personally wouldn’t have any hope of helping them on that even if I had a degree specialized in such matters.
Just in case to clarify, I’m not saying that they should have gotten over it by now or that it would’ve been an easy thing, but that I could not possibly hope to think I could help them with that if they didn’t found how to themselves by then.
True. In real life if they said no. I would respect that and be able to move on. But since this is an IF, we can’t move on to another per se (the reader can move on IRL by stop reading A’s path) that would be expected since we’re on A’s path after all. XD
I can’t really say much about these issues. From the looks of it, A does care about their team. Why does the author choose not to let N for example, help A overcome their trauma? And now come to think of it, why does N doesn’t show their overprotectiveness with other members of UB? IMO it’s more like it’s used for narrative rather than realism. Mishka admits she enjoyed various romance tropes. XD
I think they did. Must be a requirement with the agency. I doubt they let their agents suffer.
The issue with A isn’t that they have PTSD (So far I haven’t seen any sign of such). Its fear. Not fear like ‘Oh I’m scared of losing mc’ (Which they are), but their greatest fear is how it would impact them.
Kinda like PTSD…the trigger they will get is whats terrifying them.
I mean they say so themself ‘Losing you would ruin me’. And yet, in this Timeline, A doesn’t have the titles they were born with, there is no kingdom for them or anything. So, its really a fear they won’t be able to handle the loss again.
And the worst part is that they really really really want it. Its that fear that’s in the way. And you can’t force someone or say ‘Well, just go get Therapy!’. Therapy doesn’t solve trauma like this.
I’m not saying that, @resuri08 mentioned that such issues cannot be cured in such short time, all I’m saying is that I don’t think I could help unless I had immortality, and even then I wouldn’t be sure about it.
What romance do you play, if any? I would advise trying M’s route for this one, even if you aren’t a big fan of M. As far as the romances go, it was, by far, the best.
I understand your feelings about the plot. I found the villain pretty bland as well. They were so over the top that it was just hard to take them as a threat. The plot for the kidnappings/Trappers/Sin felt a bit disjointed. I think one problem was that there never felt like there was any real threat to the MC. Grounding the MC for a week felt a bit weird, too. The date/not-a-date chapter could’ve happened if the MC had been working.
As for A, I feel you. It was getting old to me in b2, but there are some pretty good moments with A in b3, if nothing else. And I do not mean the kiss!
Like I said, you should try M’s route and see what you think. There was a lot of progress there. In b4, we may be have to forget it happened, but it’s very enjoyable for this book.
I think there has always been quite a bit of purple prose in Wayhaven, but I agree this book has more of it. I tend to skim when it gets overly much.
You just pushed one of my rant buttons, but it’s late, I’m tired, and have an early meeting tomorrow, so I’ll make it a quick rant. 
I’ve never been a fan of Rebecca, but the constant lying is really getting old. It’s like the woman is a compulsive liar. The narrative does try to force the MC to feel bad for her, but it’s just made two of my MCs dig their heels in even more (one had like a 3% relationship with her at the end of b3). One of the other two of my MCs, who actually liked her, is growing distant from her due to the lies. It’s really hard to swallow.
You don’t sound like a hater, you’re voicing your opinion, which is valid. I’d definitely suggest trying a LI other than A. If not M, then maybe N? It won’t help the problems with the pacing of the plot, but the plot was just there as something to force certain moments with the ROs, I think.
You know, this triggered another thought with me. Like I said, the MC feels like a passenger on this journey with A, unable to get off the ride (so to speak), unable to affect its course or speed, and unable to really do anything in the romance other than accept it.
The thing is, the MC isn’t even given a valid reason to not walk away, and in a path where it’s 95% build-up with a lot of pushing away, there needs to be a reason the MC doesn’t just give up other than the plot dictating it. Sure, there are MCs who are happy to just keep pressing A for more, but others don’t feel right with it and would want to put the walls up with them.
A solution would be to hammer that magnetism thing more, giving the MC the choice to want to let it be with A, but unable to turn off their feelings or move on with someone else because of the infernal pull they feel toward A. Let my MC be miserable as hell, wanting what she thinks she can never have, but unable to turn her back on A completely. That would at least be something for those who feel A’s hot/cold is damaging to the MC, instead of feeling like the MC is forced to be an emotional punching bag.
This! So much this! I would eventually try to at the very least treat A neutrally since they want to put a wall between us, and maybe even try and move on with someone else even if it makes me feel like shit thanks to the soul bond, I would not stop until I saw A actually acting towards having something more.
I agree with this. For my A-mancer, I would to see her move on by doing more work and keeping herself busy. I’m never been a fan of creating a cannon fodder just to create angst or use someone to be temp partner for A-mancers. I never been comfortable about that trope. I still have hope that Mishka would make the Detective more like you said.
Edit: I’m also hoping to have this line by the Detective from Pride and Prejudice to A before we start a relationship with A. XD
Elizabeth was much too embarrassed to say a word. After a short pause, her companion (Mr. Darcy) added, **“You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.”** (Of course, a modern equivalent with that. )
So…crazy Theory time! Dun Dun Dun!
N chooses to become a Vampire to infiltrate the group that killed her brother and retaliate.
I want to read this book.
I wouldn’t shiver, I would jump. And also possibly accidentally break the character’s nose. So no, not certainly.
I’m betting on the magnetism messing up our neurons.
…takes notes