{Review} Conclave by Penelope Douglas

Title: Conclave (Devil's Night #3.5)
Author: Penelope Douglas
Release Date: November 23, 2019
Genre: New Adult, Romantic Suspense, Dark Romance, Novella

DAMON

Will is gone. He hasn’t been seen in months, and the texts coming from his phone are almost certainly forged. Something’s wrong. We need to act now.

Michael is ready to tear down The Cove, Rika’s hiding something, Evans Crist is a threat, and Winter’s father is still out there.

Everyone is off in a million directions, and we’re vulnerable.It’s time to do this.

It’s time to claim our place.

RIKA

A few years ago, I never thought I’d be here. On board Pithom. Miles out at sea. At a table with Michael Crist, Kai Mori, and Damon Torrance—men I now consider family.

We’ve locked ourselves on this yacht for however long it takes to address our agenda, and we won’t leave until everything is on the table.

Even things I don’t want to talk about. Things Michael doesn’t know.

We will find Will. We will solidify our plans, and we will remove any threats.

If we survive Conclave.

*Conclave is a 27,000 word novella that is available for FREE on the author's website and on her Wattpad. You do not have to pay for it. But for those of you who would love this as part of your ebook and/or paperback libraries, it has been made available in both formats. Please be aware it takes place between Kill Switch (Devil’s Night #3) and Nightfall (Devil’s Night #4) and is only suitable for readers 18+. Please read Corrupt, Hideaway, and Kill Switch prior to reading this novella.

CW/TW: reference to near-drowning incident/memory; discussions of murder; discussion of possible infertility

What We Liked

♥ The crew is back! Well, most of them anyway; still missing one Devil. But we did get two characters from Punk 57 who goes by the names of Misha and Ryen to fill the void Will left us.

♥ {~spoiler alert ahead~} The bonus scene of the birth of Ivarson.

♥ That hot AF scene deep in the underbelly of the boat. Yeah, you know which one. ;-)

♥ Touched a bit on possibility of not being able to get pregnant. The word "infertility" wasn't mentioned per se, but there were instances that inclined a character possibly not able to get pregnant, and that's not something that happens in very many books but does a lot in real life. Feels more real and, for some, relateable.

♥ This novella was a nice little tease to fill the void and lead up to Nightfall, which we are even more impatient for. We're anticipating to see what the events in this novella will lead to in Nightfall.

What We Didn't

• Let's start with the fact that we didn't know Penelope Douglas was writing and releasing this novella in the first place until it was released! (Though, apparently it was already on her website, which somehow we missed?)
• A key character was noticeably missing like an elephant in the room. Okay, we know, Nightfall is Will's story but I mean, it just felt kind of incomplete without him here.
• Waiting for Nightfall after this little tease of a novella made it even harder.
• We're going to get personal here. I haven't talked about this publicly but reading Conclave after coming out of a verbally and emotionally abusive relationship was difficult to get through. A lot of things from this (and the whole series, really) mimicked how the ex treated me so it was hard to read this novella the same way as reading the previous books in the series before I experienced that toxic relationship. But not everything in this novella mirrored it because Michael genuinely apologized to Rika after that and redeemed himself after solidifying his love and dedication to her.

The Ladies

Rika // This novella was very personal for her and her struggles, as well as showed more sides of her whiched also showed how much she has grown since we first met her in Corrupt. We see her power, authority, vulnerability, struggles, doubts, sexuality all in ~90 pages.

Winter // Girl is brave, for one, dealing being with Damon, and for two, having his spawns. We love that she holds her own with him yet somehow compliments him in a way no one can; they just fit together.

Alex // We got to know a little more about Alex and a part of her past, and we wonder what the purpose that little peak she let us see of her was for and what her role will be in Nightfall.

Ryen // If you've read Punk 57, you've met Ryen and Misha (who is Will's cousin). It was good to see her again even if it was very little, but we're excited to see what she'll bring to the table in Nightfall.

Christiane // Rika's mom. We still don't know what her purpose was being in this novella other than to piss off Damon (lol) and to be honest, we can't recall much about her from the previous books.

Banks // Damn, almost forgot she was in this one too, albeit barely, which is unfortunate. Hopefully she (and Kai too) will be in Nightfall more.

Chen // She might've been a crew member aboard the boat but she was a star of her own show, if you know what we mean. Girl can get it and then some, and she did. ;-)

The Guys

Damon // Damon never ceases to surprise us. Or make our panties melt right off. While he's due for a couple of congratulations, we can tell that he's worried and hurting over Will's mysterious absence. He and Will were tight, and Will not being there especially during one of his most important life event he wants to share with his ride or die buddy affected him.

Michael // Sheesh. This guy. He somehow has a large presence and authority of leader of this group even though he was away a lot throughout the series. Anyway, we're not sure if that hot AF scene with Rika and Lev makes up for what he did to Kai and said to Rika (before he apologized to them both). We'd like to think he's grown throughout the series and it shows when he owns up to his actions and doesn't mean any ill-intent, so we're confident he redeemed himself for that.

Misha // Misha is Will's cousin who we met in his book Punk 57. He joins our band of misfits for this very important yet vague meeting concerning Will. We gather that he and Ryen might be heavily present/involved in Nightfall, and if they are, we can't wait to see what their roles will be and if they'll be sticking around the group in the end.

Kai // Poor Kai. Not only was he not in this much or have his own POV, he was literally thrown through (yes, through) a table after consoling Rika. By Michael, no less. All in misunderstanding, of course.

Lev + David // I don't know where these guys came from aside from being crew members on the ship like Chen, but hot damn, They and Chen had fun. Who said work can't be play too? ;-)

Will // Where for art thou, Will? While he wasn't been present in this novella, he was the center of it, which we reckon that we'll soon find out more in Nightfall.

Lust Factor

4.5 flames