Quick Synopsis – As a child, Elowen Atarah was ripped away from her dragons and imprisoned by her father, King Garrick of Imirath. Years later, Elowen is now a woman determined to free her dragons, she forges an alliance with Cayden Veles the Demon Commander and together they plan a heist to get back what Elowen has lost.

Song This Reminds Me Of – Heavy Balloon by Fiona Apple

Genre – Fantasy Romance

Publication Date – Sept. 17, 2024 (this book was previously self-published, but this current version is under Random House Delacorte)

Content Notes – There is a lot of reference to child abuse and some of if is a little graphic. There is some reference to off page child sexual abuse. There is graphic violence, blood, dismemberment, death by burning, and animal abuse.

Spicy Rating – 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Overall Rating – ⭐⭐⭐out of 5

Review – I liked this book, but I had some issues with the plot and understanding of the magic system. I felt like this book could have been better if there was like maybe 25 pages more of background information describing the magic system. There were also several instances where a chapter would end and suddenly at the start of the next chapter, the characters would be somewhere new. There weren’t enough transitional scenes.

Elowen is a very strong female main character which I appreciate, and she has appropriate responses to very severe childhood trauma. She has panic and anxiety attacks, which are written with care and the character isn’t seen as less then because of it. I hate when a fantasy character has been through years of abuse and is fine because they’re “strong”. That’s not a great message for anyone. Honestly, I loved all the characters in this book. I loved that Cayden was a mean cinnamon roll and Finnian was Elowen’s brother in all but blood. I also thought the character motivations all made sense, even the twist in the end was well plotted.

The story progression does make sense, we start with Elowen and Finnian in a kingdom they created. When her and Finnian are on a spy mission in a neighboring village, Elowen meets Cayden for the first time. She finds out that Cayden want’s the lost princess for an alliance. Of course, it turns out that he also wants to help her get her dragons back and maybe get in her pants along the way. I liked the slow burn, touch her and die romance. I wouldn’t really call this enemies to lovers though.

Other than the lack of explanation of the magic system and the pacing issues, I liked this book and I’m excited to see when the next one comes out.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine/Delacorte Press for the advanced copy, all opinions are my own.