Thorns of Malice By Maggie Cole This is book 2 of the Wilted Kingdom Duet, and the timeline is 10 years after college, which was covered in book 1, Seeds of Malice. I call this book Ivy’s Revenge Tour. Without giving up too much of the plot, what Ivy experienced in Seeds of Malice ends up having a lasting effect on her life, and not in a good way. As she has moved on with her life since college, she sees Dax & his sister, Avery, on TV where a new perfume is being launched called Seducing Ivy and it’s a punch to the gut to see both again. As this series of events unrolls, Ivy finds herself back in her college town, attending a charity event where the stars of her nightmares can be found. They are shocked to see her after all these years, and Dax is intent on winning Ivy back. While Ivy is working on exacting revenge on those who hurt her in college, she doesn’t realize Dax is also working on taking them down in his own way. It works out that he is also planning revenge because once Ivy is back in town, seeing everyone from her past, she finds it’s difficult to be back and surrounded by these people – especially Dax. I enjoyed getting to read about how all of the awful characters got taken down, one by one, after what they did to Ivy. There were some plot twists I did not see coming (Cooper) and Dax spends the majority of the book proving to Ivy she is the only person he’s ever loved and he wants a second chance with her. Dax was a completely different person in this book – assuming that this is because he was so broken after Ivy left town because of what everyone did to her. He could have groveled more, in my opinion, but he did many other things to show his support and love for her. I am glad I pushed through book 1 in order to get to read the HEA for Ivy & Dax in this book. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. BookIG: @tequilamockingbirdlady