After having ARC read the first two books in the Academy of Villains series, I had to apply to the third one once it was announced and got accepted, yay! The first two books were very good; romantasy mixed with Greek mythology with a very good balance in romance and story building.

This third book is called ‘Lessons of Trickery’ and will be released on the 20^th of January next year; so that’s less than a month!

In this book the heartstring bond will form between Bellatrix Bane whom is a witch and Dorian Mistfall, a mage which is a very unlikely bond because a lot of mages are witch hunters and hate the very existence of witches. Centuries ago, Ithika (kingdom of the mages) and Drathka (kingdom of the witches) had gone to war, the King and Queen of Drathka were killed and one princess (and the heir of Drathka) was never found.

Back to the present, witches aren’t allowed within Ithika but they do live there secretly, there are also witches that attend the academy without anyone knowing. There is a society within the academy that’s called ‘The Iron Circle’ and they are actually all witches where as ‘The Raven Society’ are all witch hunters. When the heartstring takes place between Bellatrix and Dorian, Bellatrix flees in a panic knowing her ex-boyfriend and his sister are watching her and if they saw that bond taking place, her place within the witch’s circle is at risk.

Of course her ex-boyfriend snitches her out to the witches’ mothers, they are the elders ruling over the witches at their region. The consequence of not being faster than her ex Aiden in telling her elders about the bond? A curse, one that will still her heart once the sands in the hourglass are at the bottom. The only way to break this curse is to find the three things needed to do a locator spell on finding the colossal gate. Her side quest? Seducing Dorian so she can find out what he and the Raven Society knows about the gate or any other witch related information.

The three things she needs? Blood of the Hexley line, which isn’t that hard because one of her friends is from that line; But will she tell the truth and ask for some of her blood? Or will she get it some other way. Ash from the Stoneheart line, more complicated because the shrine with ashes from this line is in the mountains and heavily guarded. Lastly, Bones from the Cruxes line; but they are buried in a graveyard residing in a cursed Forrest.

Even though Dorian knows Bellatrix is a witch, he still tries to win over her heart. Hovering around her to get the barest of scraps of love but even that seems to be enough for him. Bellatrix eventually comes to the conclusion that she needs his help, it’ll make the assignment easier. She knows how to play him and he doesn’t even care. Once the adventure of getting the things needed is over, and Dorian telling her what he thinks is on the other side of the colossal gate; she hesitates. Why would the witches want to open it?

After some things happen; and those things I won’t mention, you’ll have to read the book… But it ends with a cliffhanger, the cliffhanger being; One of her friends has been taken by the witches, she knows that her live is in danger. One of the Raven Society has also been taken by the witches, which means that Bellatrix and the Raven society need to bury the hatched and work together if they want to locate their friends in time.

I’m giving this book a ⭐⭐⭐⭐,5 stars. I can’t wait for the next one and that one doesn’t necessarily have to be about another bond being formed but the progression of the story.