White horse black nights by Evie Marceau

Published 2023 by Kestrel House.

A dark romantic fantasy.

Read trigger warnings.

We begin the journey with a little virgin and a huge muscled huntsman, and you might think “oh is that all it is,” but no, there is much more to this story than that.

The virgin is called Sabine Darrow, and she has been godkissed. The godkiss is a gift given by one of the sleeping fae to random people, and it varies. For Sabine it means that she can communicate with animals.

Though she seems fragile, she is very strong andhas experienced much suffering and pain.

Sabine is to marry a ruler far away, and he has ordered her to journey to him, riding naked on her horse.

Sabine has planned an escape, but she doesn’t know if this will be her way to freedom, or if she will suffer even more. And can her companion, the grumpy huntsman, find her again with his godkiss, if this is not the escape she had imagined?

The grumpy huntsman is called Wolf Bowborn, but his real name is Basten. You will warm up to him later, though he is feisty and sometimes a tad too cruel. But you know, in the “we can save him” good kind of way.. ‘It is a matter of keeping them safe.’

He is there to bring Sabine to her future husband, whilst looking out for her on the journey.

Basten has been godkissed as well, and his ability is enhanced senses. You will swoon when he can smell her sweet violet scent and hear her heart beating.

I think the author has an amazing way of explaining the surroundings, as the story goes. It’s not too little or too much, just the right amount you need to imagine it all in your mind, through her words.

The build-up is so worth the wait for spicy scenes, if that’s what you’re looking for. But rest assured, the spice will come in this book.

Basten has a lot to think about. Not only Sabine, but also the news about newfound trails of a huge animal, that will only be awoken just before the fae wake up, with whatever cruelties they have on their minds, and whatever war which will emerge from this.

From the book: His eyes devour me as he says in a dangerously low voice, like a warning, “No, little violet. I’m a Wolf.”

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The Selection By Kiera Cass

Published 2012 by HarperFire

Published 2013 by Harper Collins Publ.

The fmc is called America Singer. She lives in a nation called Illéa and comes from a poor family. Finding a way out of poverty isn’t easy, but the prince is about to choose his future wife, and America is unwillingly one of the chosen to compete for his hand in marriage.

She is taken to the castle where the other competitors, and a whole other living standard and dresscode awaits her.

But does the interest from the prince really appeal to her, or did she leave her heart, perhaps a little shattered, with the person she left behind, when she entered the competition?

You sometimes forget it is a fantasy, but it is a really good and well written love story.

From the book: Anybody could be our next queen. It’s kind of hopeful. Makes me think that I could have a happily ever after, too.

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