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Adore.
Pleasure.
Provide.

A thousand years of climate change, genetic testing, and war destroyed civilisation as it was.

From the remains came the age of The Trade and The Crown. In return for resources, security, and a meaningful purpose, citizens accepted a life of service to the new world.

The land became The Cradle, and humankind was henceforth known as the Cradled Common.

Young Aster is no different. If selected, she'll be the King's Silk Girl. A common human bred to adore and pleasure him, and to provide The Cradle with healthy babies for the Trade.

That is her meaningful purpose.

But the King is more monster than man. The heir of the genetically enhanced breed, he was designed to survive and rule this new world.

King Rome has a heart as black as his giant pet eagle's wings, and a singular obsession—to reign.

That stands until one day Aster puts her tiny human hand in his...

But "love is not a virtue in The Cradle", because nothing could be more dangerous to the regime than having its merciless King fall in love with a common girl Born For Silk.

448 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 12, 2024

4367 people are currently reading
10689 people want to read

About the author

Nicci Harris

22 books2,522 followers
I write about women who make unattainable men fall hard and forever.

♥ Stalk me please:

https://linktr.ee/author.nicciharris



"She (Nicci) shines in crafting novels that toe the line between dark and dangerous, and sweet and sexy, which culminates into a deliciously sinful story of passion, truth, and acceptance." - Jessica @jessicareadsit

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5 stars
3,144 (34%)
4 stars
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3 stars
2,091 (22%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,006 reviews
Profile Image for Rain.
2,575 reviews21 followers
February 10, 2025
“Six doors,” I breathe softly, scanning the space. “Five Silk Girls and the exit.”

This will be a tough book to review. *4.5 rounded up*

It’s a mix of Mad Max, Handmaid’s Tale, and Dune, but with excellent sex scenes! I do not recommend this book you have delicate sensibilities, or issues with male/female power imbalances.

What I enjoyed:
Dystopian world
This hero puts the A in alpha male
MC’s are possessive, jealous, and fight for each other
Major size differences
Age gap
Smokin hot
Breeding kink
No ow once in relationship
Odio, the great eagle
The hero’s relationship with his sister
HFN/HEA

Everyone in this futuristic, yet archaic world, has a function. They are born and bred to serve out their purpose in life.

“I’m so proud of all my girls,” the Silk Wardeness says, circling us slowly. “You have studied hard and shown true dedication. This mark will seal your Trade. Meaningful Purpose”—she smiles— “is in your future.”

There are strict rules everyone must follow, including the king and his sister, the queen. However, rules are made to be broken, and once King Rome sets his eyes on his silk girl, Aster, everything changes.

“Forever, little creature.”
“Forever, my king.”


What needed some work:
I have so many questions about this world. I’m hoping the author expands on this world, customs, and creatures in the next book.

The characters need a bit more depth.

The plot was almost too much for this story, you have to read very carefully to pick up all of the details.

What happened to her broken-winged friend from the silk house?

*Side note. The hero has sex with the house girls (not on-page and not described), after he meets the FMC but before they are in a relationship. Once they are together, there are no ow for him.

TW: Cannibalism, genital mutilation/castration, gore/violence, bullying, power imbalance, religion, animal deaths, hunting.

I was reading generic love story one evening when my friend Isabella messaged me and said, “You have to read this book.” She was so right.
Profile Image for Isabella. R.
1,007 reviews2,175 followers
October 14, 2024
4.5 Don't Underestimate My Obsession For You Stars ⭐

‘Strong things survive because they are strong. Fragile things survive despite it.’

Silk Girls are selected through a lineage of breeders. Groomed to Adore. Pleasure. Provide. A service for the Cradle, essentially the Royal Kingdom to procreate and provide heirs. A 'Meaningful Purpose'. These girls are not raised to feel or fall in love. Yet from the beginning Aster never fully adheres to tradition. She is too curious by nature.

Rome of the Strait is King. His mission is to fight and maintain order. However the pressure is on for him to continue his lineage. He might resist, but Rome is out of excuses. And now with Aster as part of the Silk Girl collection, his motivations are no longer clear as he is completely distracted and enamored.

“Eat well. Sleep early. I will come to you, little creature.” She pants against me, and I inhale the sweet breath, taking it as my own. “Then I’ll make you mine in the way you desperately desire.”

Initially he intends to keep her under his protection and for his pleasure. Except Aster is insistent of her 'Meaningful Purpose'. Maybe Rome can have his cake and eat her cream too. 😏 Because once he claims Aster all he can think about is a repeat. Except Silk Girls are not for forever once they've served their purpose.

There was something about Born For Silk that captured the imagination and my libido. Imagine a new world after humanity fucked the first one that requires concubines to mate with altered humans in very regimented conditions. It was quite kinky really. Size Difference / Age Gap anyone?! I swear this book was like crack.

A breeding harem, a bloodthirsty King who is smitten and obsessed, and a naive girl with a backbone who is destined to rule by his side. I did love this but it is a long epic read. The kind of story you need time to be invested in. This is not my usual read but I was sold from the very beginning!

BR with Rain. It's been too long between reads. But Rome was our ideal Cinnamon Roll Beast. 🥵🥵
14 reviews1 follower
September 15, 2024
I feel like I’m being gaslit by these reviews. Did we read the same book? I am so disappointed. I loved this author’s mafia series - it was so well written, had characters with depth that you cared about and the plots made sense.

This book was a huge disappointment on a lot of levels. The world building made no sense- it was really hard to picture any of places they were supposed to be in, mostly because every description was dragged down by bizarre word salads that didn’t mean a whole lot.

The characters were lacking in so much depth. None of their motivations came through - it was hard to believe either felt anything of substance. The dialogue was atrocious grammatically- example:

““Fuck,” he hisses, the pads of his fingers stroking the damp spot, circling it. “You are so mine.””

Is he twelve? He’s always telling everyone to leave so he can eat…which is…I don’t even know. It doesn’t make sense.

Aster has zero personality - but apparently is super curious and has read a lot and does a lot of thinking…but her personality is so flat and nonexistent.

Rome is every badly written “dark romance MMC trope” rolled in to one, but he thinks aloud all the cringey things we’re supposed to infer about him not having a soul etc..

All in all, a huge disappointment.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for cajareads.
335 reviews
dnf
September 19, 2024
The way I was so excited to read this because it checks the majority tropes & genres that I love but then I found out the mmc f*cked tons of OW because he was scared of his feelings for her SIGHHHH hard pass 😒

Profile Image for Sh.
89 reviews10 followers
September 19, 2024
Manwhore H who slept with everything he saw because he was a lil baby girl who was scared of his feelings for the h
Profile Image for Samantha (bookgramsaga reviews).
908 reviews1,194 followers
October 8, 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

''Don't underestimate my obsession with you''

Safety warnings:
- H 37 / h 19
- No cheating
- OW drama
- No OM drama
- Attempted r*pe
- Assault
- Cannibilasm
- Violence/d*ath
- Breeding
- Mention of loss of loved ones
- HEA

SPOILERS BELOW ⬇️

SPOILERS BELOW ⬇️

SPOILERS BELOW ⬇️

SPOILERS BELOW ⬇️

Read the glossary and familiarize yourself with the words and the world before diving in! It took a moment or two for me to understand what they were talking about sometimes since it was all new lore and wording that I had never read in books before!

This is a lot more dystopian than fantasy for me though fantasy exists to a certain degree.

This will not be a detailed review as I don't think I could give one that would even make sense without people reading the book first.

I'm sure people only care about one thing and that's the OW drama so here it is:

OW Drama:
Rome our MMC has sex with many women after meeting the FMC. This is all due to him wanting to get over the emotions she brought out of him after their first meeting. In this world the King or Sire, can do anything and everyone. He isn't human and so his way of living is different which is why I forgave this moment. Also, because they never were together or had anything romantic besides that first encounter where they just have a few words.
It is NOT described to us but he just mentions it in one sentence. After that though he never touches or wants another as he realizes Aster is all he wants and can see.

Also, you are led to believe he may have others in mind that are Silk Girls but nothing ever has happened with them nor was he ever interested.

Aster is a Silk Girl, made for breeding and carrying babes. She becomes more though, once Rome can admit to himself what she means to him, she becomes his and their children will be with them rather than the tradition for them to be raised elsewhere and for her to keep getting pregnant for the sake of their world.

He showed her in many ways and even said how he truly feels for her, it took a while for the "I love you'' to be said BUT you knew. His confessions in the dark to her were all about his true feelings and how far he would go to protect her forever.

He reminded me a lot of Knox from Amelia Hutchins series ''Legacy of the Nine Realms''! That anger, denial and eventual admission.

We meet a lot of side characters that all play their part in this story and a few who will have their own book!
Profile Image for Jenn (The Book Refuge).
2,666 reviews4,488 followers
September 10, 2024
This was honestly epic.

I'm really struggling to accurately explain this book. I am so impressed by what Nicci Harris did with this story. I had no idea how it was going to play out. I was so anxious for Aster and Rome to be together and the world seems so turned against them.

The dystopian world here is very well thought out and I know there is so much we still need to learn but I felt the depth and width of the universe. I still have questions about how we got to the place of needing Silk Girls and how the genetically modified beings became a part of the world. But that didn't necessarily feel like a whole to the story, I am just eager to know more. I think the author showed restraint in not trying to show us every single thing in one book. As not all aspects of the world are important to these characters and it's first person POV, so we don't need to see it all to tell their story.

I really cared about Aster so much and I wanted her to have what her heart desires but when love starts to enter the equation, what she wants starts to change. The question to her is if Rome can possibly feel the same for her. When she is just a lowly Silk Girl. I do think there MUST be some aspect of Fated Mates to this world and I hope we explore that more in future books.

I do also feel like we left them pretty abruptly, though I'm glad it wasn't a cliffhanger and we have seen an HEA for Rome and Aster. It just felt very rushed once everyone accepts a certain fact. We HAVE to see how those changes will play out and I hope that is what future couples in the series will discover. Change in a dystopian world comes slowly and it can't be as easy as Rome just demanding it's so.

The steam in this book... woah... it was hot hot hot! I know none of us are shocked that Nicci Harris can bring the steam but I was blushing like crazy many times. Haha! The size difference is no joke and if you are a fan of that, just check out the size guide on the author's Instagram.

And shout out to Odio, he is my favorite and I'll love him forever.

5 stars
4 on the spice scale

CW: cannibalism, forced sterilization, gore, violence, power imbalance, harm to animals
Profile Image for Jac K.
2,514 reviews485 followers
May 5, 2025
It took me a bit to get the swing of this world. The book starts with a glossary, but those aren’t super helpful for me when I don’t have context to apply the terms to, so I felt lost for a while. In a nutshell, this is a futuristic world where some humans were genetically changed (like Rome) into more/other, some are sort of mixed (maybe), and some are strictly human. I took it that somewhere we (current humans) destroyed the world, and they’re trying to carry on by being super regimented by simplistically assigning all people to a specific calling/job/ Meaningful Purpose. (except the humans that live "free" outside the Cradle either doing their own thing or being cannibals)

Aster’s “vocation” is to bear children, and she’s assigned to the royal house. Without going into all the details, there are a few girls and a few important dudes, blindfolds, and they’re not supposed to know who is carrying which babes because all the babies move along to the nurseries and the caretaker vocation people.

So that’s the world set up, of course this is a romance, so Aster and Rome catch feelings and stuff happens.

“But monogamy is self-serving. I do not own you, and it would be⁠—”

“You own me.”


📗/❌ The world building was thorough, but IMHO was unnecessarily complicated at times. I shouldn’t need to refer to a glossary to read a dystopian romance.
📗 I liked that there were also “good” supportive non-bitchy females in addition to the jelly cruel ones needed to stir up the drama and conflict. A girl should have her squad to offset the haters.
📗 Once Rome accepts that Aster is going to be his, he’s OBSESSED. Like touch her and die obsessed, but was also sort of adorable when he got all jealous towards the end. 🌻
📗 Odio the Eagle was awesome especially when he decided the h was his too.

“I was built to protect and serve the land, but I swear to you that no part of it is more important than the piece beneath your feet.”

What kept this from being a 4⭐read for me was the lack of momentum during large-ish chunks of the book.

❌ There wasn’t much relationship development. There was sex and obsession, but they didn’t spend much page time together with dialogue or getting to know each other (depth) which was a shame because I thought their banter was great with what little we got around the 75% mark.
❌ There were long stretches with nothing really happening. There was a teeny bit of jelly-girl drama at the start of the book then an action sequence at the end, but not a whole lot in between. I kept waiting for some sort of conflict or bad guy to spring up, but it never happened.
❌ There were several loose ends, and I thought this was a standalone and it felt unsettled. Like

Bottom Line- I liked it, but didn’t find myself riveted. The first 25% or so felt very info dumpy, and there really wasn’t a main conflict. Rome liked her, then loved her, then really loved her. He never pushed her away; they never encountered any obstacles. There weren’t any villains. Aster was a likable and strong h, but she never faced any real adversity. Then it just ended telling us they had a HEA but leaving us almost in exactly the same situation we started in. (which made the promised HEA flimsy feeling) Maybe we’ll get more if we ever get a book from his sister, but I wanted a firmer/farther out resolution for the couple and world/society.

It reminded me a smidge of Sunshine & Ink with more world building and a better plotted storyline.

Safety-
Profile Image for حبيبه ⭐️.
97 reviews7 followers
September 18, 2024
ugh, wanted to like this but it's not safe, he slept with some women after meeting her because "he was scared of his feelings"
yk what's that behaviour called? pussy
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Melluvsbooks.
1,570 reviews
May 23, 2025
Friends, I was skeptical on this one, as I had written off this author a couple years ago after being annoyed with her endings more than once. However, I do like her writing style, and really that’s half the battle, Amiright?? And when she put out a book that was a different genre from her norm, I downloaded it and it sat on my Kindle for nearly year. My reasoning was that maybe I’d appreciate her more in a different genre, but I was never in the right brain space for world building or being open minded for a previously banned author. But this week, I was just in the right mood. 🤷🏼‍♀️ So I gave it a try, and I gotta say I was pleasantly surprised. Even the ending was good, which I had been nervous about. The other books I’ve tried by this author I enjoyed as well, til the end. This one ends with a solid HEA and no gut-punch souring it. 🙌🏻

I found the dystopian/fantasy-ish world she created very interesting. I loved that I got their full romance in one book. This is something that typically keeps me away from fantasy. I do not have the attention span for long series about the same couple or super complicated world building and excessive side characters. So this fit my reading preferences very well. It was very focused on the couple without a bunch of extra.

I loved the super jealous/possessive hero. I liked the sweet naive heroine. I loved that the hero was reluctant and the heroine was already pushing against her submissive conditioning before she “met” the hero. I loved the OW drama and the angst. I loved that the hero wanted to right every wrong and that the heroine reigned in his more brutal instincts with her sweetness. I even got a little emotional a couple times. The spice was good and just “kinky” enough without veering into hokey and overdone. I even liked the authors more subtle/natural BDSM-ish take on a safe word/signal. (I’ve long-ago grown out of formal BDSM in romance and prefer a more natural dynamic that doesn’t require explicit rules and tools and clubs, etc - but hangs onto a more subtle organic couple-specific dynamic)

All in all, this was a great read. It was read over a week where I was very busy and had to start and stop several times. And I STILL enjoyed it, and didn’t feel it lost momentum even with all the distractions.

My main complaints were that I wished for a little more depth to their relationship and I wished we lingered a little longer in their angst. I kinda would have liked for them to actually spend some time in the arrangement the hero initially decided for them before he was guilt ridden over how it was hurting the h… but we did get enough for me the feel the angst for a minute. This is rare for me, lately, as authors seem to have veered away from relationship angst, because safety readers have bullied authors into only producing overly sanitized low-risk books - with little actual relationship tension and relationship stakes. Which has made reading new romance very BORING for me. I’m here for the drama between the MCs and their struggle for the HEA, not a bunch of outside drama - unless it’s to set up damsel in distress moments. 😬🙃. This author took a risk and went there, even if she didn’t linger, and I appreciate that.

Bottom line? 4-stars and I’ll be continuing on in the series 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🥰
December 11, 2025
Noooo, this isn't happening. This isn't me disliking this bookkkk

── .➥ Dystopian, post-apocalyptic world
── .➥ Age gap
── .➥ Size difference

── .➥ Mild pnr elements
── .➥ Impregnation scenario
── .➥ Pregnancy in the story
── .➥ Majestically feral pet acting as protector (Didn't love the name, though. 'Odio' means 'hate' in Spanish. Why would you name him that? It had nothing to do with the pet's personality or role in the story)

I'm seriously stumped.


࿔*:・ Why I didn't like it



━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Profile Image for Intel Chicky Reads Romance (Kara Merideth).
2,246 reviews1,529 followers
September 10, 2024
Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trope: dystopian
Angst: 😱😱
Smexy: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

ALL the stars!! This was Nicci Harris's first foray into Dystopia, and I am totally here for it. The world-building is fantastic - detailed without overwhelming the reader with too many intricacies. The writing was very gripping and had some great twists, and I could not put the book down until I finished five hours later. A waif-like quirky girl paired with a giant, cyborg-like, grumpy man? The Handmaid's Tale meets Beauty and the Beast? Sign. Me. Up. Aster and Rome had off-the-charts chemistry, and their smexy times were super hot. I genuinely feel that any of Nicci's mafia fans will find the themes they love, just in a different setting:

✅ Big size difference
✅ Breeding kink
✅ Power imbalance
✅ Age gap
✅ A giant pet eagle (OK, that's not a regular theme, but he totally steals the show, lol)

Born for Silk will rock your world whether you are a first-time dystopian reader or a massive fan of the subgenre. I'm super excited for more in this world, but this one is definitely going in my faves of 2024 pile!
Profile Image for Melanie A..
1,242 reviews560 followers
September 1, 2025
***A 2025 TOP PICK***

5 STARS!
"This concept of love is somewhat new to me. Do not make me despise it before I have a chance to adapt to its incessant rule."
What a great surprise this was. 😍 It's not often I come across something so fresh and unique.

I absolutely recommend if you like dark, dystopian, warlord-esque reads with great chemistry.
Profile Image for Carla .
1,656 reviews532 followers
September 24, 2024
3,5.
This book shows a different universe. It’s a story about acceptance and knowledge with strong characters.
It’s worth reading.
Profile Image for DIVINITY🌙.
246 reviews511 followers
September 19, 2024
3.95🌟

I DNF the first time I read but glad I picked it up again because I did enjoy this dark dystopian romance novel. It’s over 400 pages but it’s super readable.

Please check your triggers before reading 🖤
Profile Image for Christy.
899 reviews38 followers
September 15, 2024
Rome was actually such a squishy little cinnamon bun and I loved him 😭
Profile Image for Tiffany Bumgardner.
Author 2 books3 followers
September 15, 2024
DNF 27%

I just could not get into this. Idk if it was the writing or tedious world building or the incubator woman thing or all the above.

But honestly hated all the characters and premise and why push when there’s better books out there.
Profile Image for atomickitten.
995 reviews161 followers
July 25, 2025
1 star at the most

I absolutely hated everything in this book.




I think the writing was the biggest problem here: clunkly, with unneccessarily complicated word building, very poor foreshadowing, too much focus on unimportant details like descriptions of places, not enough focus on the main characters or their development.

Normally, when i read a book, there's a movie playing in my head, i can visualise everything.

When reading this one it was like jumping from one very unclear image in my head into another, some things made zero sense to me tbh.

But again, this is bad writing.



Another thing i had a problem with were the Silk Girls.

They were nothing else but a group of young women who were brainwashed and groomed from birth and their sole purpose in life was to be an incubator for one of the lords.

And what's even better, their kids were taken away from them right after birth, and they were obligated to birth 2 sons and a girl for the dude who finally decided to pop their cherry (they had no say in who the dude will be).

And, what’s even better, they don't even know who the fuck buddy is since they have to wear a veil on their eyes when the dude comes into the room.

So, in other words they groom the girls into incubators and treat them as such.

And these girls are so proud of that, they feel special!

So if that doesn't sound like a fucking cult, i dunno what does.



There's also the hero, The King, who has to fuck a bunch of girls because he doesn't know how to deal with his emotions because he likes a girl.

Like, come the fuck on, really???'

Is that the best you got?



There's also the heroine, a girl who of course IS NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS.

Except that she is. We all see that.

She is just another brainwashed idiot fighting for the King's attention.

But she is too stupid to follow the rules and apparently that makes her so fucking special.

And frankly?

This is the only thing that made her stand out because the girl had the personality of a napkin and her inner monologues lulled me to sleep.

Twice.



I could go on and on but I choose not to.

There are many other books waaaay better than this crap.

And this is a perfect reason why i should never listen to booktok, because if these people think this is worth the hype, they are all insane.

So if u wanna read this, a word of advice: DON'T.

Find something else, something that doesn't include an annoying brainwashed heroine with no personality, an emotionally immature hero, bad writing, cannibalism and other shitty things.

Sorry, not sorry.

Profile Image for Annika.
280 reviews48 followers
July 21, 2025
3 creative and yet still cookie cutter ⭐️

I enjoyed the first half of this book a little more than the last. As creative and unique this universe was, it got a little boring for me and found myself skimming to get to the end. There are quite a few loose ends for me, and I just had too many questions. Especially about breeding and who could and couldn’t have children and why and what happened to them. It got tiresome.

The synopsis is the book. There were really good elements in this and the writing was intriguing and inviting. However I did find the romance a little lacking and too cookie cutter for the possessive mmc. I like tropes as a guidelines, however I think a lot of authors are following them too much, because they think that’s what their readers want. It gets tedious and too predictable, in an already predictable genre.

This could have been super interesting had the author taken more chances and worked with a little less world building or a more distinct pattern on how the world actually worked. I didn’t get the whole enhancement thing either. Honestly it can totally be a me problem.


So yes I skimmed a lot, so if you heard good things give it a shot. It just wasn’t dramatic enough for me., no conflict, no villain. The beginning was fine, and the warning for cannibalism was meant to be taken seriously. I honestly didn’t think I would react to that, but one of the first chapters had me pretty sick to my stomach and clutching my pearls.

Should you read it? For me it goes on my literary Ambien shelf. However a lot love this book. Do some research I think is my recommendation.
Profile Image for Vee.
715 reviews204 followers
September 17, 2024
4,5 stars

Tropes : dystopian, enhanced human, huge H x tiny h, age gap (18 years), J/P H, touch her and 💀, H fell first, obsessed H, royalty romance, alpha H, grumpy x sunshine
Ending : HEA (they had a baby boy)
Triggers : violence, gore, mention of r*pe, 💀, kidnapping, cannibalism, torture, mention of forced sterilization
Spice : 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ /5
Angst : 🔥 🔥 🔥 /5
OM/OW drama : OM/OW (slight OW where the h thought the H slept with OW[her bully]/ OM was one of the lords that touched h’s lips)
Celibate while separated : no (he slept with a bunch of women after he met h)
Intimacy details : virgin h, rough sex, huge dick, no condoms, breeding kink, cum jammer, oral, anal
Standalone / Series : part of an interconnected series

Hero : Rome of the Strait/ The King/ Sire (38)
Heroine : Aster (19)

I would give it 5 stars if only Rome didn’t sleep with other women after he met Aster. Typical heroes, he got scared of his feelings towards Aster so he tried to purge her out of his system by fucking other women. Yuck.

Other than that this was a great book. There was a glossary in the beginning to explain the majority of foreign words in the book. This books set hundreds of years in the future where the world was fucked up and there were humans that were enhanced to suit the world at that time. They were bigger, stronger, and had modifications on their body so they could survive. Oh and they were blessed with youthful look. They looked years younger than their age. Not only the humans the animals were modified as well.

But there were the basic human too called the common. They were weaker (basically normal human) then there were the cannibals called endigo. I liked the world build up.

Rome was interested in Aster the first time they met but refused to acknowledge it. Aster was a silk girl, a girl that was trained to be a breeder for the lords. She was intrigued with the king as well.

One day things happened to her and one of her bullies where they got rescued by the king and his entourage. They were chosen to be the breeder for the lords (only 5 women were chosen).

At first Rome refused to choose her for himself but soon he felt possessive of her and wanted her for himself. But he refused to fuck her because he was scared of hurting her. Long story short he chose her and they finally had sex.

Their dynamic was great, she calmed him and he was protective of her. She felt like she couldn’t dream of being with him forever because silk girls would left and be sired mother to care for the children.

He got mad when she said this couldn’t be forever and there was slight separation. Soon after that she was pregnant. I liked how a Rome was the first one to confess his love to her.

I don’t want to spoil too much so I’m just gonna say Rome’s possessiveness was dayumm.

The ending was great, they had a baby boy and Rome was such a cutie lol.

Really enjoyed this one a lot. Might read the next book when it was published.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
20 reviews
September 13, 2024
I expected something more?

My honest review. It wasn't great, it wasn't bad, it was just like every other dystopian book. I skimmed through a lot of it because it was really unnecessary words. The characters were undesirable and lacked development. I get what the author was trying to convey but it was missing more heart.
Profile Image for Grace Smith.
27 reviews7 followers
September 13, 2024
It was so good!! I feel like i can’t physically wait for the next book
Profile Image for Shadow Reader (semi-Hiatus) .
50 reviews67 followers
March 5, 2025
*No spoilers*

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️.5

Tropes:

🌷 Touch her and 💀
💀OTT possessive MMC
🌷 Virgin FMC
💀 size difference (iykyk)
🌷 Dystopian themes
💀 HEA
🌷 Some dark themes (check TWs)
💀 Spice
🌷 First person POV
💀 Dual POV
🌷 Breeding
💀 Pregnancy


My review!

Ohhh, Rome!! (Swoon) I absolutely LOVE the MMC in this. He’s such a hard arse, but the moment it comes to his “little creature”, he turns to mush … well, murderously possessive mush. He adores her and would literally do anything for her while gleefully ending anyone who so much as looks at her the wrong way (swoons again).

Aster, on the other hand, was a little too 🤔… meek for me! If she’d had a bit more fire, this would have easily been a five star read for me.

That said, I really enjoyed the author’s writing style. The descriptive language was used well, and while there were a few grammatical errors, i could easily look past these as the PLOT was so good! I found myself flying through the pages and was absolutely gutted when it ended.

I really hope the author revisits Rome and Aster’s story. I’d read that in a heartbeat!

I honestly loved this book. My personal opinion is that I wouldn’t call this Dark, but it does however touch on some dark themes, so definitely check the TWs.
Profile Image for Joud.
224 reviews19 followers
October 19, 2025
The world-building was unique, and I kind of liked that part, it felt like DUNE, but the main storyline and the couple were a mess with their meaningful purpose? I really didn’t like it. I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series.
Profile Image for Ainhoa.
591 reviews17 followers
September 24, 2024
Very interesting build up of this new apocalyptic world.
I adore Aster and Rome, and of course his alphaness was very much appreciated thankyouverymuch.

The writing style was unique and I’m still debating if I liked it or made it a bit tedious sometimes, but the smut was cheff’s kiss and not even the cannibalism bits can tarnish this book 🤓
Profile Image for Serialbookstarter:Marla.
1,183 reviews82 followers
March 2, 2025
This is like a dystopian Stepford wives/handmaiden/harem mash up. Aster is taken as a baby to be a silk girl. It is her meaningful purpose to bear children for the ruling hierarchy. Silk girls must give up their children to retired silk girls to raise. They are like glorified brood mares. She is chosen as part of the Kings collection of breeders. He falls for her after she is taken by cannibals. There is a lot of imagery around a dead baby bird she found as a child which was like the smoke in LOST… never made sense. There’s a lot of political manipulation between the King and his counterpart power Cairo. The first part moved at a good pace but sort of fizzled the last 30%. The HEA was satisfying.
Profile Image for Cristina.
1,560 reviews275 followers
September 14, 2024
The forbidden aspect of their relationship was very entertaining. You didn’t know what was going to happen next.

Looking forward to the other books in the series.

Ps- the H does sleep with OW after meeting the h but not after being intimate with her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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