A sweet fantasy romance read. Moving, warm and compelling. Dragon king and a lovely princess who both just want their own kind of freedom,.
Annika loves dancing, frilly gowns and enjoying her life but she can't help but feel like something is missing. When she meets Wlad, a prince being held captive she tries to save him, ending in her own injury and her fate being changed forever. When they meet again 8 years later, will they be able to resist the pull of fate?

Cinnamon roll hero, and loving heroine.

I am extremely appreciative to read an ARC of this novel as I'm always happy to read fantasy romances. This novel had some great things going for it:
- Strong female lead
- Tortured soul (but hot) leading man
- Guy falls first (IMO - this isn't explicitly put in there)
- Fun world building

The plot kept me engaged the entire time and I enjoyed seeing the building romance between Wlad and Annika. Definitely read the trigger warnings as there is off-screen sexual assault and it comes up again and again in the book.

I think I would've liked a bit more world building but I also love that this was a standalone fantasy romance. It seems that most fantasy romance books lately are a series and I get impatient waiting for the next book to come out.

" Time will tell. He ' d let them decide who they wanted to be and guide them along the way as best as he could. That was what love meant, after all."

Rating 5/5 stars
Trigger warning: sexual assault and blood

A well written story and very interesting.
I was looking for a historical book with romance and I got this, intrigued by the title and cover.

Wlad is described as a monster but I fell in love with his character. He is caring, gentle and fair. He wants revenge for his family and justice for his people. Annika is naive and a good person. Her passion is dancing and she suffers a lot pain for it.

I really enjoyed the book. I was hooked till the end. I recommend it to everyone!!!

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dear Barbara, thank you for letting me read your book. I enjoyed it very much (5/5 stars).
The beginning was dark, and I was at a point were I thought: I don't want to read anymore how the main characters suffer. Exactly at that moment, it stops, and there is the leap in time.
The scenes were necessary, though. It helps to understand the motivation of the characters. I like the idea of telling the dracula story from a different angle.
The only point is the "steamy" paranormal romance. Here I would give 1/5 points in how steamy the book is. The sex scenes were paraphrased very flowery on her part (bud, slid inside her...). For him it's described plainly (cock). I don't see why there is a difference in the description.
The words clit, orgasm, etc. were never used and for a book were abuse is descripted and how it pulls the characters into the deep, I would have wished for a more steamy and plain description of the sex scenes. However, this is only a minor thing.

The writing, the tension, the characters in the book are very good.
All together, I really enjoyed the book and will look for more books from you to read (I didn't know you before).

Kind regards

PS: I couldn't post a review because the book isn't on goodreads (yet) and not published, so Amazon doesn't let me write a review.

Well written with a compelling storyline full of drama and action and well developed characters that were interesting and kept me engaged. I really liked it,

Princess Annika meets Wlad during a visit to Arges Castle, where Wlad, the former prince, is a slave in his own home after another king has killed his parents and taken over his kingdom. Annika stands up for the young Wlad, which leads to her and her father also becoming victims of the new king and sustaining lifelong trauma and injuries. Annika and Wlad meet again 7 years later in her kingdom, after Wlad lives with a curse he accepted in return for the strength to take back his kingdom and slaughter his enemies. The two are hardly the young and innocent individuals they each met years ago, but their attraction is still present.

This was a really interesting story to read. It is an intriguing re-imagining of Vlad the Impaler/Dracula, and while a rather overt adaptation it was not entirely predictable. In fact, I was really interested to see where it would go and what would become of these two damaged but well-intentioned souls.

This story has a tortured cinnamon roll hero (I didn't know I needed this in my life but now I do, give me more!), a strong FMC who stands up for what she believes in, and a pretty slow burn, with a paranormal twist.

While it is a slow burn, exploring the lore and world of these characters was more than satisfying and interesting, so I never felt a lack of interest in continuing the story.

I do wish that it would have felt more accurate to the time period it was set in (mid-15th century), because some of the language felt quite modern and some details were entirely lacking. I think it relied on having stated that the year was 1450 rather than describing things in such a way that you could have assumed it was around the 15th century. In addition, there were a few editorial mistakes regarding punctuation and spelling that could easily be remedied.

Trigger warnings, included in the description, include off-page sexual assault and some mild on-page violence.

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book through a reviewer site. I was after something different from my normal read - and that’s exactly what I got.
I fell in love with the male lead Vlad - he is strong and sometimes dangerous character who remains humble, not forgetting his time as a slave to his enemies.
The spice in this book is excellent - Vlad and Annika’s relationship is a slow burn but has a fantastic mix of tender versus hot!
I devoured this in just 48 hrs …

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. I just fell in love with this wonderful story and it’s wonderful characters. I just couldn’t get enough of it. I will most definitely be reading more books by this wonderful author.

This story checked all my boxes for a great and satisfying story. It is a wonderful combination of paranormal and historical romance that I just could not put down.
Hot hero you want to keep... check
Engaging plot... check
Drama... check
Strong heroine you rally behind... check