Review: The Paths We Lay (Path of Temptation Series Book 2) by Auryn Hadley

The Paths We Lay by Auryn Hadley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Learning What The Path Is

This is the second book, of what is shaping up to be another amazing series by Auryn Hadley. You need to read the first book to enjoy this book, if you haven’t read it yet, you really should because it’s fantastic.

This book is about the Priestess and Priests of Zeal becoming Initiates. They are now onto their secondary education where they learn about the Paths they’ve been placed upon by Zeal. As Nariana has been gifted the Path of Temptation, or all five Paths, she has to find her own Path to navigate and Zeal isn’t helping her choose how to walk it. She asked for free will, so he gave it to her as his Chosen.

One of the things I really like about this series is that it’s not just about Nariana, it’s about all of those Zeal has touched and who can see him. There are multiple points of view in this book and I enjoyed all of them. Each of the characters has importance to this story. They all see things slightly differently and support each other in different ways. The story is a web with strands connecting each person to each other, though that metaphor is far too static for the journey they must all take together.

In this book, we watch as these young people learn about sexuality and other temptations. They start to learn who they really are and what their desires are like. They have formal lessons but learn as much from each other as they do from their teachers. They also have the help of advice from their mentors and, of course, their god. They make new friends and take new lovers. They gain allies for themselves and Zeal. They use friendship and kindness as well as lust to tempt.

I love the winding path this story is taking. This author always allows space for her characters to breathe and think. This is actually quite a contemplative book about sexuality and power. There is plenty of explicitly sexy scenes that will leave you squirming, but there is also plenty of thought-provoking discussions about accepting yourself and your desires. It also makes you think about the nature of power and how easy or hard it is to grab onto and once you have it what you choose to do with it.

This contrast between scenes hot enough to make you blush and cerebral scenes that make your mind whirl is how the author keeps you slightly off-kilter, wondering what is coming next and driving you to keep turning the pages to find out. Thrown into that interesting blender of physicality and intellect is the character development, as we watch these young people grow up. We also watch their mentors, people in their late 30s and 40s mature and start to move towards new stages in their lives. The mentors know a lot about their subjects and are more than capable of guiding their students, but they still have more to learn about life and have Zeal to guide them.

I know this book will be like all other Auryn Hadley books and every time I read it I will find something new and interesting that I missed before. It’s one of the reasons I don’t mind reading each book as it comes out. I re-read all the previous books each time there is a release and get something new each time. It’s also why I don’t mind buying the books even though they are in Kindle Unlimited. I know I will read them time and time again, which for me is the mark of a 5 ⭐️ book, and I want to make sure they are always in my library.

July feels a long way off, to wait for the next book, but as Zeal might tell you, anticipation makes things sweeter.

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