This starts out so good and then goes flat. Both characters turn into marshmallows. Lines were repeated and too often used sentiments were all over the place. So much could have been done to build this world and the characters in it but the author sole focus was on the two of them and their love making that was frankly repetitive.

Full review on Goodreads

what you 'll like:
plot to spice ratio! there are books that are all plot and a sprinkle of spice to enchance the romance and then there are books were youre just there for The spice. this book did a 50/50. for me it made the spice that much more enjoyable.
the romance! we love a hero who has created a reputation for being a monster but hes truly not abut is also a "no one hurts my wife and lives." i also appreciated the dynamic between the couple. i know we ALL get annoyed when the characters just fail to TALK to each other and all the drama could have been avoided if they just communicated. well these two do both. They have there spats, walk away from each other because they miss understood the other but they come back to each other and talk it out!
loving sister relationships!
strong feisty fighter middle child
side characters that i cant wait to learn more about in future books (right?? right??!!!)



this is a light fantasy, I look forward to seeing the fantasy world expand as the series continues, I am so interested in learning more about the side characters; our generals, king, the damn queen smh. I cant wait to see what Eleanor learns and how her friendship with Ben expands. this was such a fun read. a great start to a series that you can tell has no where to go but up (and get better with each book)
sometimes i really hate reading book one before they are published... now i have to wait for book two which i am convinced i am going to LOVE! some of my favorite characters will be the center

This book was okay. I wish there was a bit more to the story line. I’m not a super fan of instant romance and you definitely have that here. I wish it took a little longer for feelings to be developed and be a bit more believable. I’m interested to see what happens in the next book and see if the development of the world goes a bit deeper.

"There is no need for him to continue these gestures of respect, yet he does."

I received an ARC from net galley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this. The synopsis reminded me of Elizabeth Vaughn's "Warprize," which if a fantasy romance favorite of mine. Honestly, just go read that instead.

This book suffered from disrespect to the reader. It was full of telling, not showing and there were huge info dump and "let me spend two paragraphs explaining my emotions" moments.

I wanted to love this book. The premise is fantastic; a conqueror forcing a princess to marry him, a noble cause, an enemies-to-lovers story with great smut. I was so excited. The first few chapters started out strong- good character development, a story that sucked me in immediately. However, that's where my joy ended.

I needed more throughout this entire book. More development, more explanation, more plot. Every thing was rushed and barely thought through. Issues were introduced, worked through, and resolved within half a chapter; there was no depth. Half the time the sex was gratuitous and had no reason behind it.

Usually, enemies-to-lovers is a slow burn with fantastic banter. Not this one. This was almost immediately "I love you" instead of highlighting genuine human emotions. Everything felt extremely manufactured and inexplicably uncharacteristic of a real-life human being with complex emotions. The characters went from interesting to annoying almost immediately, which made me not want to read further. The only reasons I did not not DNF was because (1) this is a standalone and (2) this review. SO many subplots within this book weren't touched on, which made everything confusing and felt like fan fiction. Character action reasoning was stretched, many times untenable, and ultimately impossible to believe.

Essentially, I hated it. It read like a first draft, maybe even a fan fiction first draft. To be fair, the smut was fantastically written, but that was the only redeeming quality of this book. What made it even worse was that there were over 40 typos, grammatical errors, or other proofreading issues throughout the book, which is an average of one every 12 pages. One or two errors in a self-published or indie published book is excusable; 40+ turns into inexcusable and extremely distracting.

Don't read this. This needs to go back to the editor and the proof-reader ASAP.

Can I read this again right after I finished it? It isn’t a perfect book because it did drag in some parts but the enemies to lovers romance was great and the world was amazing. I want to get lost in it again. I want more!

This book had me hooked from the beginning although the father I was not a fan of. NO SPOILERS but yeah. Charlotte and Evans romance starts off as the all time favorite trope of enemies to lovers but doesn't disappoint. I truly loved watching them grow even though at times I was like Evan no sir. The world building is so fantastic and you can definitely tell these authors put in the time and work for this. I definitely recommend this book if you like your fantasy with romance. It will not disappoint.

The book was a pretty basic dark fantasy. It was also pretty long and I felt like it was dragged out at parts. I enjoyed the romance and thought it was really interesting.