I'm definitely in the minority here. There are huge abuse issues in this book that are very descriptive. The writing is always good in these books. I think Flames "issues" lasted too long.....I got frustrated reading how he lost his shit so much! I got that he had issues pretty quickly but that part drug out for quite a bit. I loved how he and Maddie talked to each other. I loved that Maddie liked to draw. I ended up skimming quite a bit a the end because I was just so ready to move on from the messed up past. I LOVED the revenge parts! ( )

Finished Reading November 11, 2020

3 stars
Last book I read in this series.
It's definitely not for me.

November 9, 2020 ZL ( )

here's the thing: i loved this book! flame and maddie were the couple i was looking forward to the most from the group, and i wasn't disappointed with their relationship in the slightest.

maddie and flame are both so broken and lost, and i knew that their relationship would be everything! i seriously just melted over the two of them.

HOWEVER. i can't just gloss over the Cain/Cult parts of this book. and Cain's chapters were just... vile, to say the least. by the time i reached Cain's last chapter, i completely skipped it. Everything Judah did and talked about made me feel so disgusting I would have stopped reading completely if it weren't for flame and maddie. and honestly, i really could have gotten away with reading only the maddie and flame chapters, and skipping cain's completely.

so, 4 stars and not 5. I really wish Tillie Cole had just left out cain's chapters completely. they didn't add anything interesting to the plot, except to push us into book 4, cain's book, and make me feel gross lol. soooo yeah. and i probably won't read cain's book either. i don't see him as a very guilty person, but i'm just not interested in reading about his redemption or whatever. ( )

I think all the Hades Hangmen books deserve 5 stars, but this one may just deserve 50 stars. The story is just amazing. Some people might think that the story may be the darkest yet, but personally, I think it's the most beautiful of all of them. Flame and Maddie really are the other half of each other's soul, and they complete each other in a way that no one else would be able to do.

Flame is a member of the Psycho Trio of the Hades Hangmen. He has never seen the world the way that other people do, and because of that, he suffered terribly as a child. Now, as an adult, he hates to be touched, he hates most people, and he has to cut himself in order to stay any kind of calm. He will happily go out and stab people 11 times. He may be and do all of those things, but there is also one other thing that he is and does. He is very protective of Maddie and stands guard outside of wherever she happens to be living.

Maddie is the youngest of the Cursed from the terrible cult. She suffered greatly during her time there, and even worse after her sister Mae left. When she and Lilah were rescued, Flame was there and he disposed of the man who had tortured her the most. She went and hugged him, which surprised everyone, since Flame can't be touched, but he also hugged her back. Even though Flame may scare everyone else, she feels safe when he's around.

Their journey is just an amazing one. Things that you and I may take for granted don't come easily to either Maddie or Flame, and it's an epic struggle for them to be able to do those things, so when they are able to do something as simple as hold hands, you can feel how much of a victory it is for them to get to that point. They had to work so hard for that.

Unlike some other books when the two broken people get together and somehow manage to completely heal the other, Maddie and Flame aren't strictly healed. They have just learned what it will take to manage their pain and their broken-ness, and that is the other person.

Really, of all the couples in the books, I think that Maddie and Flame are my favorite because they have so much more to overcome and because they work so hard to get there. ( )

This is the third book I have read in the Hades Hangman series and I think it was my favorite! Flame and Maddie are such a hot mess, but as they come together it is a beautiful disaster. Loved the previous two books and am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. ( )