Playing Through Every Choices Book, In Order (Part 104: Crimes of Passion, Book 2)

Hey! Today we head to Drakovia and attempt to clear Trystan's name as a string of new murders dig up old secrets.

Next time, we get lost in the Fae Woods and end up in service to the ruler of the Night Court!

Link to previous reviews: https://www.reddit.com/user/stresseatingdog/comments/sj3s3m/all_choices_reviews_megapost/

Crimes Of Passion, Book 2

M/C: Raj Rose

Love Interest(s): Trystan

Favorite Characters: Trystan, Luke, Ruby, Marguerite

Least Favorite Characters: Vasili

Rating: 8/10

Review:

I always appreciate sequels in entirely new locations - it certainly adds a level of intrigue and spice.

Drakovia is interesting to explore, and the really cutthroat culture that is presented to us reminds me of Lythikos (Olivia's kingdom in The Royal Romance).

As for the plot itself, I enjoyed it to a certain degree. Trystan's siblings all make for interesting suspects, but an issue I have is the way they're all cleared so easily. Whodunnits typically don't negate suspects, leaving the actual culprit reveal, y'know, suprising. When you methodically go through each potential suspect and clear them, it becomes so obvious who the culprit is. Like, obviously Vasili is the culprit...he's the only sibling by the end of the book that hasn't been cleared of scrutiny yet. The investigation itself is interesting, but I wish the resolution wasn't so obvious, although Vasili's motive was at the very minimum intriguing.

Trystan and M/C's relationship dynamic, which I said I enjoyed a lot in Book 1, returns here in somewhat similar fashion. I was interested at the buildup in the first few chapters, which ended up leading to M/C and Trystan having their blowup and fight. However, the fight is resolved so quickly I got whiplash, in the VERY NEXT chapter, and then M/C and Trystan proceed to get frisky after just discovering a dead body. That's one common complaint I've heard about this book, and one I've noticed as well...there's far more smut/smut-adjacent scenes in this book than the previous one. Sometimes it's jarring how out of place the smut feels. The dynamic between M/C and Trystan feels almost disregarded at times, and I hate how quickly they smooth over the relationship troubles the two have. It doesn't have to be a perfect relationship. Getting to see the two of them fight and resolve naturally instead of abnormally quickly would have been great character development for them both.

The siblings are fun enough characters. I appreciate getting to one-up the twins, and Astrid's funny enough. Sebastyn (the spelling...tragedeigh?) is a decent red herring up until he's killed, which is a death I'm glad we at least get to see Trystan be emotional over. Lydia's alright, and I suppose her getting the throne is a good ending. I genuinely thought Marguerite was going to be the killer for a while, but then I realized that they'd never do an interesting twist villain like that. Luke and Ruby are fun, but they're kinda sidelined in this book, especially compared to book one.

I still really enjoyed this book, don't get me wrong. The mystery was engaging, and the new setting and characters kept me invested. I am no smut purist, and I can enjoy it when it's there. Did I enjoy this book as much as the previous one? I'd have to say no, but that's no knock against this book's quality.

Overall, a good sequel. I'm excited for Book 3 to focus on M/C and their past!

On a side note, I won't be covering Crimes of Passion: The Proposal. It's a two-chapter side story that really only sets up the next book. I'll maybe cover all the various side stories at some point, but for now, only main stories will be reviewed.