This was marketed as an enemies to lovers? Were they ever enemies?
This is the first book in a duology that is set in the same universe as The Remnant Chronicles. And no, I have not read The Remnant Chronicles as of yet. After her mother was taken away, Kazi of Brightmist grew up stealing and living on the streets by herself. However, her abilities as a thief catch the eye of the Queen of Venda and she’s recruited to join the Rahtan, the Queen’s prestigious guard. She has no doubts that she will succeed when she is assigned a mission to another country to locate a missing war criminal while pretending to look into treaty infractions.
Until she meets Jase, the Ballenger clan's new Patrei Even though his territory isn't "officially" acknowledged as a kingdom, his family maintains authority over it. He is aware, that assuming power will be challenging. Jase knows better than to trust Kazi when she and her friends enter the picture, but the more he gets to know her, the more difficult it is for him to resist falling in love with her.
Well, this was not what I was expecting. I had very high standards for this book as I heard lots of good things about it, but most of my expectations weren’t met.
The characters were pretty good and nice to read about:
Kazi is a former street thief now a member of the queen’s premier guard. She is tough and smart, very cunning and seemingly hardened from her childhood as an orphan running through the streets of Brightmist. However she is still the scared 6-year-old that watched her mother get taken and we get a lot of insight into her character and her mind throughout the book, which I really enjoyed.
Jase is the new “king” of his territory after his father’s unexpected passing. He’s dead set on the traditions of his own lands that the other kingdoms never crossed his mind. However, he’s fierce and is a dedicated protector of his kingdom and his family.
The romance fell very flat for me in this story. When taking in the length of the book, I expected a plot-heavy book with a slow-burn romance as a side plot. However, the romance carried at least half of the book. These two just couldn’t stay away from each other for long. The instant love that they felt for each other when they were stuck together also felt out of character on Kazi’s part.
While the writing style was pretty nice, the pacing was very inconsistent. The first 100 or so pages were very fast-paced (basically the pages consisting of the blossoming of their romance). Then it would drag for a while until something ✨unexpected✨ happened to speed it up again and repeat.
All in all, that cliffhanger left me needing the second book in the duology, however, I still feel I should have read The Remnant Chronicles before I read this book. It would have been nice having some historical context.