They still haven't found the body of the first and only boy who broke Alessandra's heart - and they never will. Since then, all of her relationships have been purely physical. And now at eighteen years old, Alessandra is ready for more. The plan is simple:
1. Make the king fall in love with her.
2. Get him to marry her.
3. Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.
It's no small task, but Alessandra wants a kingdom and is going to do everything within her power to get it. She knows the freshly crowned Shadow King will be her toughest target yet. Shrouded in a mysterious power, no one is allowed to touch him.
But, as forces combine to try and keep Alessandra from earning the king's heart, she wonders if perhaps she's already lost her own.
I was pleasantly surprised by this!! I was really expecting an ACOTAR-type knock off honestly (nothing wrong with that!) but the tone was really different from what you expect in the fantasy-romance genre. The protagonists are pretty morally ambiguous, our female lead is refreshingly confident and maybe even selfish, there’s lots of unchecked and unearned ambition, and yet everyone is lovable. (It’s also explicitly sex-positive, which is nice!) Overall the premise of “girl seduces mysterious king for personal gain” is pretty standard, but the execution was original, and that’s what grabbed me.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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25 October, 2021:
Finished reading
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25 October, 2021:
Reviewed