Review: King Cave by Scarlett Dawn

King Cave by Scarlett Dawn 
Release Date: January 1, 2014
Format: eARC, 432 pages 
Publisher: Escape Publishing
Series: Forever Evermore #2
Source: NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
The long-awaited sequel to the bestselling, award-winning King Hall: the revolution is here, but the most dangerous attack may come from within...

The safe, comfortable world of Lily Ruckler and her fellow Mystical Kings and Queens is rocked to the core by the attacks at King Hall. Not only does Lily have to kill the Commoners attacking her people, she also has to assume the mantle of leadership, and bring the surviving Mysticals to King Cave.

It should have been too much, but she is not alone. Ezra becomes her rock, her best friend, the one person who understands. As Pearl and Jack struggle with inconsolable loss, Ezra and Lily work to keep the Mys community safe in their new home, and plan a deadly retaliation.

Their friendship saves them both...but it also draws attention. Whispers. Judgment. It's not normal for Shifters and Vampires to be friends, and when a horrifying truth is revealed, their relationship morphs from unusual to unspeakable. Lily is good at keeping secrets that could get her killed. Is she willing to risk Ezra's life as well?

King Hall was one of my favorite books of 2013. The moment I read the last word, I was clamoring for King Cave. But then I had to, you know, wait until the book was ready and available for me to read the crap out of, and it ended up being my first read of 2014. I cannot think of a better way I could have kicked off my year in reading than with this book. It was a fan-freaking-tastic sequel!

I'm not even sure what I was expecting to happen in this book. I don't know what I expected the plot to be like, or how far the story of these characters would go. But SO MUCH happened in this book. The book picks up right where the first one left off and keeps rolling on until we reach the end. Reading this book was so seamless that by the end of the book, it was hard to believe so much had gone on. That all of that stuff had just freaking happened, and now I had to wait for GOODNESS KNOWS HOW LONG to find out what happens next.

But now I'm waiting. I finished the awesome that is King Cave and I WAIT.

These characters are some of my favorite ever. There IS a plot to this book, but I think I'd probably be cool with there being no plot and the book was just us watching Lily, Ezra, Jack, and Pearl in their every day life. Especially Ezra. ;) But before we get to him--LILY. She has some really defining moments in this book. She has grown and continues to grow so much as a character, it's kind of surreal to look back and see how she was at the beginning of King Hall. As her character changes and goes through things, I like her more and more.

All right, all right. My absolute favorite part of all these books now--EZRA. He's done quite a bit of growing and changing himself. All of it just makes me love the flying flip out of him even more. My crush remains strong, my friends. You don't even want to know how many letters I've written to him in my mind. Because I heart him and he's wonderful and ahhhhhhhhh. He was attractive as all get out in the last book, but trust me. He gets even BETTER in this one. For real. Just you wait ;)

The friendship between the four main lovely characters is still strong, but it's also more divided and takes something of a back seat as a couple of pairs forms and they all work through all the crap they're being dealt. And then romance...I am going to say ONE thing. Just one. I will not expand on it or anything. Okay? I was VEEEERRRRRYYYY happy with the romance in this book. VERY. *flails*

Also, random little fact: there is a character named Jessica in this one. I just found that kind of amusing. And freaking awesome. Even though she's not particularly...loved. Heh.

Overall, Scarlett Dawn wrote a sequel that exceeded my already high expectations. King Cave is definitely a sequel worth your time, my friends. Sweet, smexy, and outright fantastic, this book made me more happy than I could ever put into words. I am seriously left at this point wondering what to do with my life until I can be reunited with Ezra again. And, you know...and all the other characters too.