Traitor: A Clean Romantasy Fairytale

by Laurie Lucking

An arranged marriage fairytale with clean swoon and daring adventure.

To save Princess Penelope from ridicule after she falls for and aids a traitorous criminal, Penelope's father offers her a new life far across the sea. She accepts even though it means marriage to a complete stranger, the Crown Prince of Delunia.

This time, Penelope commits to guard her heart from being easily swayed. But her devoted and kind fiance proves to be more alluring than she imagined. He's gentle, interesting, and a strong listening ear.

But when a poverty-stricken village gives her an opportunity to make amends for her former wrongs, Penelope determines to do anything to help. Even if it means manipulating and deceiving her new fiance, putting her reputation on the line once more. And her fiance's heart.

Can Penelope rise above the failures of her past and find love, or will she forever be branded a traitor?

311 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 11, 2025

About the author

Laurie Lucking has always loved diving into imaginary worlds through books, but didn’t start writing her own stories until she left her career as an attorney to become a stay-at-home mom. After growing up in Wisconsin, she hopped the border into Minnesota to attend St. Olaf College and the University of Minnesota Law School, and she continues to make Minnesota her home with her husband and two young sons. When she gets a break from playing super heroes and driving wind-up cars, Laurie enjoys reading, singing, connecting with other moms, and writing young adult fantasy, always with a central love story to satisfy her inner romantic.

Laurie is the Secretary of her local ACFW Chapter and a co-founder of www.LandsUncharted.com, a blog for fans of clean young adult speculative fiction. Find out more about Laurie and her writing at www.laurielucking.com.

Reviews

[funkelbunt.liest · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book, what a beautiful redemption story!

I absolutely LOVED Common, it was one of my favorite reads last year, so of course I wanted to read Traitor. But to be honest, Penelope is a far less likeable main character than Leah, so I was really curious if I could enjoy this second book of the Tales of the Mystics as much as the first.

And you already guessed it - I did!

Even despite her part in an assassination attempt in the last book I empathized with Penelope from the beginning. I actually did not only feel for her but really really liked her. It definitely surprised me, but here we are.

Penelope is ridden with guilt and shame for what she did and while she hates how people treat her now after her failed engagement she still is heartbroken for being sent away.
She does believe in the Luminate, but thinks that He could never forgive, never love someone like her. Someone who trusted the wrong people and did take part in an attack on the royal family of her fiancé.
(The only thing that didn’t completely convince me was that she wasn’t punished for her part in the plan. Even though she wasn’t the driving force and was pricked by her conscience, she still knew what was at stake and didn’t stop the man she thought loved her.)

So this made for an absolutely amazing redemption arc! And one that actually taught me a lesson too. Because in theory I know we are never too far gone for God’s love, mercy and forgiveness. But I still kept waiting for a better explanation than “she was in love with Nicholas”. I mean, she had to be misled and didn’t know about his murder plans, right? Could I root for a main character that really would have gone along with killing a whole family so her lover could have more power..?
And then it hit me - there is not a specific sin, not even murder, that will separate us from God if we are willing to repent.
So I obviously knew that already but it took me a while to understand that this applied to Penelope too.
Like I said - a beautiful redemption story. Penelope is a flawed character with a truly tainted past. But she is so sweet and caring. She is trying so hard to make up for her mistakes, she is vulnerable and surprisingly relatable. I really loved her as the main character.

Now let’s talk about Vander. What a sweet and wonderful man! He was so patient, so thoughtful, so understanding even when Penelope rejected him. He is a bit shy and awkward, but in an absolutely endearing way. And I personally am thrilled that he is “not as handsome as some”. He is not the tall broody muscular guy with the defined jawline and bulging biceps. The last part about his bicep is only a guess because Laurie Lucking doesn’t go into too much detail and I’m grateful for that. We get to know and love Vander for his character and not for his looks and so does Penelope. I loved him so much as a character and since the overly attractive guy is everywhere in romance books I appreciate him even more being a pretty regular looking guy who more than made up for any possible physical flaw by being kind and brave.

It’s an arranged marriage, a slow burn romance, an unrequited love story (at first) and I enjoyed it very very much!

I also really liked the side characters, especially Penelope’s lady’s maid and dear friend Victoria. She is such a blessing to Penelope, a real sweetheart and despite her own homesickness the one who brings a bit of sunshine in Penelope’s days, especially when they first arrived in Delunia.

The worldbuilding was really great and even though I suspected the “revelation” at the beginning of the book when a certain character is introduced, I absolutely enjoyed the mystery and how the story progressed.

There obviously is faith content and the strongest point is in my opinion Penelope’s growth in character and faith. The story doesn’t get preachy, but even though this is a fantasy world with light magic, faith is woven throughout the whole story.

Okay I’m done now even though I could talk a lot more about why I love Traitor so much. (Already got my paperback copy because this is a book I want on my shelf!)

It’s a beautiful story about second chances, about healing, forgiveness, redemption, about friendships, family and loyalty and of course about love that slowly sneaks up on you.

* Thank you to the author for letting me read an advanced copy of this book. I leave this review voluntarily and the expressed opinions are my own.

[Sharon Hughson · Rating 3 out of 5]

From traitor to heroine?

I wanted to like Penelope because she was clearly duped by a man she thought she loved. Who hasn’t fallen for the wrong person at least once in their life?

But then she made all the same mistakes in her second chance circumstance. Do we often misjudge people and trust the wrong ones? Yes, but it seemed disingenuous for her since that was what happened before, and she was so adamant she would not be fooled by love again.

Her prince was a little too perfect and understanding, and I would have liked to see the new culture developed more deeply. Because it wasn’t, it came across as though Penelope was so self-absorbed we couldn’t even learn about her new homeland.

So many surface relationships kept me at arm’s length.

[Riley Lyss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a good redemption story, especially in cases like this. Even in book 1, all Penelope's wanted is to be loved, and when she journeys to a whole new country, that extends to simply wanting to feel the love of her home again. Vander is such a kind, patient and forgiving person, Penelope definitely deserves all of this after all that she's been through.