A Court This Cruel and Lovely (Kingdom of Lies, #1)

by Stacia Stark

For years, when I fell asleep, I dreamed of a man with blazing green eyes and a cruel smile.

The day I meet him, the ruthless mercenary leaves me for dead.

Just hours after humans are born, the gods take what little power we have. In return, they protect our borders from the vicious, merciless fae.

The humans who manage to keep their power are known as the corrupt.

And they are burned.

When my forbidden power is discovered, I'm forced to flee my tiny village and the life I adore.

To survive, I make a desperate bargain with the mercenary who abandoned me at my weakest.

Our deal is simple: I'll help him and his mysterious friends sneak into the city. And he'll help me learn to wield the strange, dark power I've always kept hidden. The power that may just be the key to my survival.

But the ruthless mercenary is hiding secrets of his own. Secrets that threaten the safety of everyone I love. Secrets that could tear this kingdom-and perhaps even this world-apart.

• ASIN: B0BWX1LY33
• Publish Date: 24 March 2023 (first published 15 March 2023)
• Publish Status: Active
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 532
• Language: English

Reviews

[Ashley]

Not sure about this one. I do really like the plot, and I started out ADORING the entire book… I loved the characters, and the whole “we don't like each other but will work together” thing. But then somewhere around the 50% mark, the male lead did a complete 180. He went from “ugh she's annoying” straight to “I need to take off her clothes and have her now!!!” I literally felt like I'd missed a few chapters.

Until that point the book had done a great job of slowly building up the angst, but then it went from about 30% to 100% within one page. I felt like I wasn't ready for it, and that put me off the book a bit (hence losing a star).

I also got so sick of the MMC using the name “Wildcat” for her. 

Not sure yet if I'll continue the series. Maybe I'll start with a sample of book 2 and go from there.