The Neurospicy After Dark Archive

• Shadow Daddy
• Unrequited Instalove
• Age Gap
• Why Choose / Polyamory
• MMF Romance
• Dysfunctional Throuple
• Grumpy Witch × Charming Wraith × Jaded Human
• Forced Proximity
• Reluctant Allies
• Supernatural Bargain
• Touch Her and Die
• “No One Gets to Kill You but Me”
• “Lurking Is My Love Language”
• Protective Monsters
• Morally Gray Love Interests
• Found Family / Found Coven
• Hidden Magical World
• The Cat Is Not a Cat

• Death and the consumption of souls
• Murder and attempted murder
• Violence and supernatural peril
• Blood and potentially graphic imagery
• Dark magic and occult themes
• Magical enslavement and coercion
• Loss of bodily autonomy
• Manipulation and abuse of power
• Threats and stalking or lurking behavior
• Age-gap relationships
• Possessiveness and jealousy
• Morally gray characters
• References to corrupt or harmful individuals
• Explicit sexual content
• MMF and polyamorous sexual dynamics
• Series-ending uncertainty or cliffhanger potential

Please check the author’s complete content-warning list before reading, as this review is based on the provided book description and may not identify every sensitive topic.

Dáinn the Devourer has spent two centuries magically bound to a dark witch and surviving by consuming the souls she orders him to take. When his latest assignment brings him to Burr Island, he expects to devour another corrupt magical enemy. Instead, he finds Jasper Prescott…a beautiful, powerful witch whose soul is considerably more tempting and far less corrupt than Dáinn was promised…I’m sure you see where this going…

Then…shocking… insert Birdie Rhodes, a human historian with absolutely no understanding of the magical world surrounding her, stops Dáinn with a single word.

Suddenly, the wraith who cannot disobey his mistress, the witch who refuses to abandon his coven, and the jaded human who thought she was only taking a summer job become entangled in the same dangerous supernatural conflict. Dáinn offers Jasper a bargain: help kill the witch who controls him, and Jasper gets to keep his soul. But their uneasy alliance becomes increasingly complicated by desire, distrust, magical threats and their shared determination (obsession?) to keep Birdie close.

Devour Me is dark, feral, seductive, and wonderfully strange. Its greatest strength is the tension created by forcing three wildly different characters into an alliance none of them fully understands. Their connection is messy rather than immediately harmonious: attraction does not erase mistrust, conflicting loyalties, or the inconvenient fact that Dáinn initially arrives intending to consume Jasper’s soul. This is not a polished, emotionally well-adjusted triad, it is a supernatural disaster throuple assembling itself through bargains, danger, fascination, and increasingly inconvenient feelings.

Thank the baby jesus…it was exactly as advertised…and I mean that…really.

From my neurodivergent perspective, Birdie’s experience feels surprisingly relatable. She arrives on Burr Island expecting a manageable summer job, only to discover an entire hidden system of rules, histories, relationships, and dangers that everyone else seemingly understands. She must rapidly process overwhelming information while the people around her expect her to respond appropriately to circumstances she cannot yet contextualize. That feeling of entering an environment where everyone else received the invisible instruction manual is painfully familiar.

There is also something resonant in Dáinn’s struggle between what he is, what he has been forced to become, and the humanity others may or may not recognize in him. His supernatural enslavement is not a direct metaphor for neurodivergence, but his story raises familiar questions about autonomy and identity. Are we defined by our impulses, by the role others assign us, or by the version of ourselves that makes everyone else feel most comfortable? Can we reclaim the traits others have labeled dangerous, excessive, or unacceptable without erasing who we fundamentally are?

I absolutely loved the developing relationship between Birdie, Jasper and Dáinn. It speaks of the many unconventional ways people love and communicate. The emotional language between them contains bargains, obsession, reluctance, lurking (read: stalking), what I would call provocative threats and feelings that are expressed more easily through action long before anyone finds words. The entire throuple is deliciously unpolished and decidedly non-neurotypical, I absolutely adored it.

One of the best parts of the relationship between them is that their chemistry and dynamics were not identical across ever pairing. For example, Dáinn’s desire is predatory and appetite-driven, Jasper meets him with suspicion and tightly controlled attraction, and Birdie destabilizes them both through an influence no one understands. Each dynamic has its own emotional texture, it allowed the MMF relationship to feel genuine to a degree that many MMF novels fail to grasp.

Birdie is initially portrayed as the apparent ordinary “human” in a deeply extraordinary situation although from the first chapter it is made known that there are hidden depths and unknowns about her. I loved that she is not written as a mere audience surrogate waiting for two supernatural men to explain everything to her. She may be unaware that magic exists, yet her ability to stop Dáinn immediately establishes that there is more to her than anyone—including Birdie herself…understands. It gave a lovely foreshadowing hook to the very beginning that was lovely.

Her background as a historian also suits her role in the story. She is someone drawn to evidence, stories, and the buried meaning of the past, only to discover that history may be considerably more alive—and more dangerous—than she believed. Her skepticism and weariness provide a useful counterbalance to the more dramatic magical personalities surrounding her.

Birdie’s strength is not based on overpowering everyone in the room. It comes from her refusal to disappear inside Jasper and Dáinn’s conflict. She is confused and vulnerable, but she also possesses an unexpected authority that neither man can dismiss. Her mystery feels central to the trilogy rather than incidental to their romance.

To me Jasper is powerful, guarded, responsible, and deeply protective of his coven. His distrust of Dáinn is entirely reasonable considering their introduction begins with the wraith attempting to devour him. Even as attraction grows, Jasper cannot afford to ignore the danger Dáinn represents or the threats closing in around Burr Island.

I’d say his overall grumpiness is not simply an aesthetic pasted onto a handsome witch but rather it has emerged from vigilance and responsibility that he has taken on. He has people, he has secrets and they both require protection, meaning his every connection, his every alliance carries unknown consequences beyond just his own personal survival. Personally, that would make me grumpy too, to deal with that day in and day out.

I found him to be a satisfying contradiction in many ways. He is powerful enough to be dangerous on his own, ye he has to negotiate with the creation sent to kill him. That must be extremely frustrating for him, especially when you mix his attraction to Dáinn into the equation.

Dáinn is the deliciously dangerous center of the story. He is undead predator, he consumes souls, but Rath makes you feel bad for him right from the start because he has spent the last 200 years without freedom and held captive to the will of another. That combination really created a character that has so much depth, he can be frightening, flirtatious, cruel, lonely, manipulative even but also unexpectedly vulnerable. I loved that he could be all these things sometimes during the same interaction or chapter. It gave so much depth and realism to a fictional non-human character.

I loved that his charm did not erase his monstrousness but also his monstrousness did not erase his charm. None of it erased humanity that is still desperately clinging to him. He hungers for Jasper on so many levels that I think I got vertigo climbing that tower, it made separating supernatural appetite from attraction difficult for not just me, but certainly for him. I found it intriguing that Birdie affects him so differently, she left him fascinated by commanding him to stop, the one human who appears capable of reaching past his power. He wanted them both for very different reasons.

I have to say I am not usually a fan of instalove but the unrequited-instalove element worked for Dáinn because his obsession feels believable due to his defining it via his “hunger.” I mean the dude isn’t subtle about it either. I loved that his version of courtship includes lurking (read: stalking), sexy provocative violence, territorial behavior and constant assurance that no one is every allowed to kill the object of his affection. My dude Dáinn is a walking red flag, but he is at least charismatic about it.

I love MMF novels were the relationship is not a simple case of two men independently pursuing the same woman and then coming to some mutual “sharing” understanding…like blegh…how is that supposed to work in the long run?

Jasper and Dáinn have their own antagonistic attraction going the entire novel, Birdie forms a distinct connection to them both. Making the future books set up with an essential structure for making the MMF relationship realistic and genuinely polyamorous and not a stupid conventional love triangle with “sharing” mentality.

They are delightfully dysfunctional. It was the best.

The developing relationship is rooted in survival, but it quickly becomes personal for each in their own way. Desire complicates their bargain, while the larger threat forces them to decide how much trust they are willing to risk. The result is less “perfectly coordinated romantic unit” and more “three emotionally constipated creatures attempting not to murder, devour, or fall hopelessly in love with one another, of which they will fail.”

• The MMF relationship contains meaningful chemistry across all three pairings.
• Dáinn is an entertaining combination of seductive menace, humor, loneliness, and hunger.
• Jasper’s resistance is supported by legitimate responsibilities and concerns.
• Birdie has her own mystery and narrative importance beyond being the human love interest.
• The magical bargain creates immediate tension and forced proximity.
• Hunger and soul consumption provide an effective metaphor for desire.
• The atmospheric paranormal world is balanced by sharp humor.
• The characters are allowed to be possessive, complicated, and morally imperfect.
• The cat-related warning promises exactly the sort of suspicious supernatural nonsense I enjoy.

Because this is the opening book of a trilogy, some questions and relationship developments are deliberately left unresolved. I was resigned that I would be sad about this and not like it. I am not known for my patience.

The number of magical mysteries, external threats, character secrets, and romantic connections also creates a busy opening installment. At times, I wanted the story to linger longer inside quieter emotional moments before returning to the larger supernatural conflict.

This is a dark paranormal MMF romance featuring polyamory, explicit sexual content, morally gray behavior, supernatural violence, and a soul-eating love interest. The relationship is intentionally dysfunctional, especially at the beginning. Possessiveness, lurking, threats, and predatory language are part of fantasy rather than examples of healthy real-world dating behavior.

Like legit, it you don’t like these things don’t read the book and don’t pester the author about it if you find it disgusting…simple fix…don’t read it.

It is also the first book in a planned trilogy. Begin expecting an evolving romance, expanding mysteries, and unresolved dangers rather than a completely self-contained story.

Most importantly, do not expect Dáinn to become a harmless human man in a dramatic coat. His monstrous qualities are integral to both his character and the romance journey. Basically, love him for who he is, don’t change his perfection. Kay thanks.