Ratings2
Average rating3.5
Death gave her the throne, now death is how she’ll keep it. She may be called the Blood Queen, but Layla will do anything for her kingdom's peace. As queen of a kingdom plagued by murders, Layla struggles to live up to the expectations her parents had of her. Whispers of rebellion and dissent grow daily, and a murderer stalks the townspeople. In agreeing to marry a foreign prince, she hopes to find a way to bring stability back to the land. But, she fears the marriage, unlike her parents, will be devoid of love. On the eve of her betrothal's arrival, Layla sneaks away and enjoys one last passionate night with a stranger. But doing so threatens everything her parents laid out for her. As more lies come to the surface, Layla will do whatever it takes to keep her kingdom safe—even murder.
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This is the first instalment of a new adult romantasy series that follows Layla, an orphan young queen that has been doing everything to protect her people. She's the FMC and is a badass character going through some betrayals in the story. Then we have Rune, our MMC, who is strong, loyal, and morally grey character, so what's not to love about him? I really liked the “touch her and die” trope and some of the darker themes that the book explores while adding a touch of mystery to it. However, the world-building was lacking something. Overall, it was a fast-paced fantasy book that left me wanting the next part of the story since it ends on quite the cliffhanger. But the story was well written, and Layla is a great character full of sass. The romance was nice and with a little more world building it would have been better. Thank you, NetGalley & the publisher, for approving me to read this arc and write this review.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)
Somewhere between 2.5 - 3 stars. I think the biggest thing I struggled with is I didn't really like the two main characters. (Keir and Betsy were great though.) They were kind of toxic together. Most of their interactions were one of the Fs and there wasn't much character development. Sometimes Rune felt like two totally different people?
Felt like there were a lot of random parts and it just kind of jumped around plot wise. Also Layla really couldn't figure out who the bad guy was??? I understand a good cliffhanger but this one just felt abrupt.