[Book Review] The Blissful End by Lizzy Gayle & Rook Coffee In Bloom

Title: The Blissful End
Series: The Djinn Book 3
Author: Lizzy Gayle
Publication date: April 26th 2022
Page Count: 255 pages
Age Rating: Adult (explicit sexual scenes, fade to black past sexual assault, violence, blood, language)
How I got my hot little hands on it: Received a review copy
Publisher’s page: The Blissful End

After a thousand years of suffering, a happily ever after can be hard to accept.

The Order of the Djinn is growing, and Mira throws herself into the work of freeing others of her kind from their dismal fate. It’s easier than facing her painful history.

When a magician’s black market is discovered to be selling Djinn Blood, Mira’s ready to unleash hell on the culprit. But what she finds is far more complicated.

The sexy magician with skills even she can’t mimic seems to have a heart of gold and a stubborn streak to match. He not only claims that all the blood has been freely given, but he insists that his purpose is the same as hers. Most disconcerting of all is his uncanny ability to see her in a way no one ever has…even herself.

When those she loves, and the world itself, hang in the balance, will Mira finally trust her heart despite her haunted past?

My Review

The Blissful End is the final book in the Djinn series and tells Mira’s story, a Djinn finally free after being enslaved for a thousand years. She makes it her mission to ensure all Djinn are free and safe and to determine if that means leaving the human world altogether or finding some way to co-exist safely with magicians and humans. It seems pretty cut and dry to her until she meets a sexy magician who makes her rethink her black and white/us vs them mindset.

To be honest, I was not a big fan of Mira in the first two books. She was so angry and quick to judge and lay blame. And when the going got tough, she was the first to disappear. But Mira always came back to help when needed. And she obviously loved her Djinn siblings. In The Blissful End, we get to know Mira deeper and see beneath her prickly exterior. She’s tough in the way of people who have gone through unimaginable trauma and learned to armor over their vulnerable parts. She’s actually kind of a badass.

She also loves fast and fiercely as only someone who knows how swiftly the people you love can be ripped away can. From Rhada, the beautiful if fickle Djinn who was Mira’s first love, to a handsome fellow slave she managed to find solace in, the love affairs Mira has allowed herself to open up to have ended in tragedy.

When she meets Rook, the sexy magician who shakes up her worldview, she is instantly smitten, despite herself. Outside of how they can’t keep their hands off each other (seriously, this book is like twice the spice level of the previous books), the fact that she gives him the chance to change her mind about how untrustworthy all magicians are, considering how she and her kind have suffered at their hands, shows she still has a soft inner self and how much she wants to believe in the good of people.

I wasn’t sure which way the ending was going to go – closing the gate between the human and Djinn worlds, Rook’s vision of a world where Djinn and magicians can live together in peace, or something unexpected – up until the very last chapters and had to physically stop myself from flipping forward to see how everything was going to pan out. I won’t spoil it, but the whole series really is about the power of love and how it’s stronger than any magic out there.

Overall, I really enjoyed this series and thought this was a good, satisfying ending. Lizzy Gayle tells a page-turning story with interesting characters and I was happy to see everyone get their happy (blissful) ending. I’ll definitely keep an eye open for future books from this author.

Rook Coffee In Bloom is a bright, fresh, sweet blend like the first bloom of spring and rebirth and pairs perfectly with The Blissful End and the story of a new day dawning for Mira, Rook, Djinn, magicians, and all of humanity.