Rating: 4.5/5 stars (unfortunately goodreads doesn't allow half stars to be given)
Overall, the book was extremely well written. The author wrote this book in such a way that you are captivated and transported into the story and reading it felt like I was inside the story watching everything unfold right i front of me. (spoilers ahead).
I immediately fell in love with the main characters Anarys and Ash as they were so easily relatable. Anarys dealing with her own inner demons of pain, loss, feeling stuck in such a place working for someone who has proven to only care about themselves, she was just overall easy to relate to and love. Ash being a genuine man, standing up for what was right, being protective of those he loves, caring for those he loves, and putting everyone before himself, he is the true knight in shining armor that every little girl dreams of falling in love with.
The beginning of the book was a little hard to get into as I felt thrown immediately into the story with no background information (almost feeling like if you turn on a movie for the first time and you start watching about 20min in and then you decide to rewind and watch from the beginning) thats how the first three chapters felt, but then we were given some background information with flashbacks of X amount of years ago in learning what happened to Anarys and how she ended up where she was at the beginning of the story. Once that information was given, everything that was happening in the book began to make sense and click in such a way that the book became unmovable from my hands, I simply couldn't put it down.
I also truly loved the character development. Anarys being an obediant person, much to her dismay, following orders she didn't believe in and living under the roof of and working for someone she hated and didn't believe in and then being able to see her grow into the fierce warrior and protector that she is, and seeing her step into her strength and power was truly incredible. and we can't forget the PLOT TWIST EITHER...like uhmm WHAT?!? my mind, is simply blown. I absolutely cannot wait to see how Anarys and Ash's story continues in the next book!