Kalos is NOT what I expected: instead of repugnant and cruel, he’s this elegant, world-weary man with silver hair who’s basically just a sad little guy with a soft heart buried under layers of sarcasm and betrayal trauma , and I ate that up immediately. The grumpy/sunshine dynamic with Elise is chef’s kiss, and the slow burn actually burns. That said, since Kalos’s whole deal is apathy, the first half is genuinely a bit slow. Elise has to carry basically every decision and it gets exhausting. the spice takes a back seat way longer than previous books in the series. Worth it for the payoff though.