Published: November 30, 2021
Publisher: Bloom Books
Series: Adrian x Isolde
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 368 (Paperback)
My Rating: 4.0/5.0
Synopsis:
Their Union Is His Revenge.
Isolde de Lara considers her wedding day her death day. To end a years-long war, she is to marry vampire king, Adrian Aleksandr Vasiliev, and kill him. ⠀
But her assassination attempt is thwarted and Adrian threatens that if Isolde tries kill him again, he will raise her as the undead. Faced with the possibility of becoming the thing she hates most, Isolde seeks other ways to defy him and survive the brutal vampire court. ⠀
Except it isn’t the court she fears most—it’s Adrain. Despite their undeniable chemistry, she wonders why the king——fierce, savage, merciless—chose her as consort. ⠀
The answer will shatter her world.
This book completely satisfied my oddly specific need for moody vampires living under a blood red sky and strange occurrences of occult magics. Also, it contains people who should be enemies but are in fact lovers, which is quite an excellent change of pace because it dispenses with the will-they-won’t-they and gets straight into the fun after a very brief stint of uncertainty.
This is a world where the human kingdoms are living in fear of the vampire king Adrian Vasiliev and his vampire armies. In their kingdom the sun is dulled and everything is tinted red, perfect for creatures of the night. When Adrian comes to her kingdom to bargain with her father, he sees her and asks for her hand in marriage as part of a peace deal. She agrees, because there is nothing more important to her than protecting her kingdom but she’s also strangely drawn to the king that humans fear above all else.
This is a fairly run of the mill “brooding bad guy is actually kind, loving, and not what he seems” and honestly, I’m okay with that. I love that theme and it always makes my heart happy when it’s well-written. Isolde is a likable main character and is fairly sensible, unlike the female leads in many other fantasy romances who are just idiots. She’s not always smart and doesn’t always make the right choice, but I liked her. The worldbuilding is pretty well done too and wasn’t neglected in favor of adding ~spice~. There’s some interesting history with witches, the former king of Revekka (vampire kingdom), and how Adrian became the first vampire.
Overall, I really enjoyed this and I’ve been keeping an eye out for the sequel which looks to be releasing in December 2022. That’s a painfully long way off! If you’re looking for a fantasy romance with a decent amount of spice, good worldbuilding, and plenty of magic and action this might be the book for you!
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