SYNOPSIS

Poppy has been declared the Maiden, meaning her face has to be veiled, she can only talk to a select few, and she has to remain chaste. She has many rules to follow while waiting for her Ascension. The life she is supposed to lead doesn’t feel authentic to her and she has a history of rebelling in minor ways, such as learning how to fight with one of the Royal Guards, Vitker.

Every once in a while, she’ll raise the stakes and on this night, she goes to the Red Pearl, a brothel and casino. She spots Vitker and ends up hiding in one of the rooms, where an attractive new guard is waiting. He doesn’t recognize her in the mask, but she recognizes him and is breathless.

What could happen?

RECAP AND REVIEW

This is the first book in a paranormal fantasy series. There are mentions of vampires and werewolves though the terminology is different. There’s at least six books.

I have mixed feelings about this one. The writing style wasn’t for me but I was interested to see what would happen and where the story would go, though it does follow a basic romantasy storyline.

The world building in this leans on misogyny and purity culture, like some romantasies do. Poppy is supposed to remain “untouched” because she was chosen by the gods.

I didn’t feel one way or another about Poppy, though her gift, that only a select few knew about, was cool. We read a lot of her inner monologue, since it’s told in her first perspective, and in some of it I was like, please, you’re supposed to be smart!!! But love and lust is blinding so I get it.

Hawke is not a good person!!! He’s intriguing, but the way he talked to her sometimes was off putting to me. At the same time, I think he genuinely does care about her and has an internal war with himself.

They definitely had attraction and sexual chemistry at the very least. Their banter was amusing.

I would say the last part of this book is way more interesting than the beginning, which is a lot of world building. To be honest some of the terms, processes, and creatures was confusing for me to follow. The pacing seemed off, but after a certain point, I needed to know how it would unfold.

I’m sure on some level, you’ll be able to guess what happens, because the author leaves clues throughout the book. I feel like some of it isn’t explored and now I know it’s because there are like five other books available right now.

What is interesting to me is the way they speak about religion and how it’s been used as a tool for control. Makes you think.

OVERALL

Overall, I give this a three out of five stars. I could see why people would rate this higher or lower. For me, I liked it enough to keep going with the series but I have questions.