Give. Me. Book. Three!

 Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo 

It's been a while since I read book 1 so I had to go back and look at that review to remind myself of things. I was more prepared to the time changes because of that. This book is all about how Alex and Dawes are working to save Darlington. There is some rewind to her characters from her former life, some things with the societies and her job, and even some class work (since she is at Yale to go to classes). But, the majority is about Darlington. They try a spell and it goes wrong. Michael Aslem, one of the board members shows up and saves them with a cover up. But, the spell backfired and Darlington is trapped in a salt circle at Black Elm. Except it's him and not him; it's the gentleman demon. He has horns. And the only person he will talk to or interact with is Alex. They get a new head and not only is he a misogynist, but he is a stickler for the rules as well. Meanwhile, there have been two murders and Turner calls Alex to look at them because something is off. She agrees but can't figure out what. Darlington gives her clues, about the murder and how to find the Gauntlet, in the form of riddles because demons love puzzles. Alex gets called by the head drug dealer from back home (she killed his cousin). He finds video of her waking with the bat and forces her to be his enforcer or he will kill her mom. She does one job easily. The next one turns out to be a vampire. We were all surprised. She leaves Darlington's car there because she is freaked out. Understandably. Dawes finally finds enough info about creating the Gauntlet; they need 4 murderers. Lo and behold, Turner is willing to help. And they force Tripp (he was in book 1, kind of stupid, mostly harmless) to help as well. They descend. Things aren't going great; they all relive each others murders; they make it to Darlington and then get attacked. He fights off the wolves and tells Alex he will wait for her and they get pulled back to the real world. Turns out Aslem interrupted the ritual. Then he kicks Alex and Dawes out of Lethe, bans them from the houses, and storms off. Everyone goes home. Oh, Alex told Mercy and now she's helping. they go to class and Alex sees Hellie. Except it's a demon wearing her face. Turns out the 4 murders all got a demon that looks like the person they killed. She goes back to Black Elm and ends up locked in the basement with two dead bodies. It's Darlington's parents. She uses their strength to break out. Aslem is there. It's problems. Darlington finally breaks out of the salt circle and we realize that Aslem is not really himself. He has been consumed by a demon. Darlington's demon lord. Darlington fights him off then he and Alex go back to the circle and she jumps into hell and takes Darlington's soul into her own to get him out of hell. Then they have to open the Gauntlet again to return the demons. They can't find Tripp so Darlington goes in his place. They return 3 of the 4 demons; can't return Tripps' without him. But, someone has to stay. They argue and while that is happening the drug dealer shows up and Alex pulls his soul into hell and puts the cuff on him. Then she gets everyone out of hell. The go back to Il Bastion because she wasn't really kicked out of Lethe since Aslem was a demon. Darlington can turn into the demon at will. He has cuffs on that connect him to Alex. He will serve her until the end of days. They still haven't kissed and I was literally yelling at the book for them to just be together. They are both so desperately in love with each other it is not even funny. On the escape from hell Aslem bites Alex and uses her blood to prop open the door to hell so he can get out and cause mayhem. The book ends with her and Darlington charging off to find him. This book is very open ended and there is no follow up in sight. I NEED book 3. There are so many questions left unanswered. And Alex and Darlington are linked together but still aren't together. I need them to be together. I need book 3!!!