RITUALS by Kelley Armstrong

Choose a side - before it's too late. The gripping finale to the highly acclaimed Cainsville series. 

Olivia Jones must make a choice. 

Caught between two rival supernatural forces, Liv was granted a brief period in which to make her decision. Now that time has run out. 

Whichever side she chooses, someone she loves will pay. Her lover, Ricky. Gabriel Walsh, the man she knows she cannot, must not love. Her parents, already trapped in prison. 

And now there is a new, terrifying power rising - one that doesn't distinguish between good and evil intentions. It feeds on chaos and destroys without mercy. Unless Liv acts fast, no one will survive. 

After putting it off for WAY too long, this week I decided it was time to get stuck into the last Cainsville book. It was time to finally find out how this series ends.

Liv Jones was born with a different name: Eden Larsen. Although she was raised by wealthy parents and enjoyed a privileged life, her biological parents are both in jail for murder. They're cold-blooded killers involved in ritualistic murders. Except, there was so much more to the story.

Just like there's so much more going on in Liv's life. She recently broke up with her boyfriend, Ricky and is now toeing the line of becoming more than friends with her standoffish yet loyal boss, Gabriel.

If only she didn't have to deal with choosing one side in an ancient supernatural fight. If only the people in Cainsville would answer all of her questions. If only there wasn't a new dark force threatening to tear everything apart...

Wow. This book is definitely awesome.

All through this series, I've loved Liv's voice and struggles. Enjoyed how she slowly accepted the truth about her bloodline's legacy, and who her biological parents were. Liked how she got so close to both Ricky and Gabriel, regardless of the tragedy their endless cycle usually ended in. And the final addition to this series didn't disappoint. It strengthened everything that's been building, intensified the sense of doom bubbling beneath.

Like the four previous books, there was a mystery at the heart of the story. This one happened to be the return of Gabriel's mother. Since Seanna Walsh died years ago, this certainly throws a new problem into the mix, introduces a new lot of questions, and leads to the darkness manipulating and pulling the strings all along.

There are a bunch of twists and turns, heaps of revelations, interesting additions to the fae mythology, expansions to the world, and Liv's love life takes another sexy, unexpected turn that I thought was very cool.

The majority of the book is told through Liv's POV, but the addition of others adds to the overall story. Not to mention that the other POVs help take the worldbuilding even deeper. They also make the jigsaw puzzle come together smoothly, leading to an unexpected--but amazing--conclusion.

Rituals is an intriguing, fast-paced urban fantasy dripping with mythology, and quite a bit of horror. It hooked me instantly, and kept me glued to every page. I got so lost in what was going on that I lost track of time. If it wasn't for the need to sleep, I wouldn't have put the book down. I loved every minute of this genre-busting book, got lost in the ongoing mystery, connected to new and old characters, and didn't want the roller-coaster ride to end.

Liv went through a lot of confusion, self-discovery, physical and emotional pain during this series, but she grew and changed. And most importantly, accepted her place in a world with so many secrets.

This was a great way to end a fantastic series. 

Rituals, July 2018, ISBN 9780751561296, Sphere