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Daughter of Ravens #2
The Traitor's Game
Magically bound to the man who should be her enemy.
Chloe de Montesse thought her new life would be peaceful. But now she has an inconvenient marriage no one wants to let her end, a diplomatic scandal to navigate, and old troubles swirling around her. As well as trying to determine who might want her dead. And that’s just the beginning…
Chloe de Montesse thought her new life would be peaceful. But now she has an inconvenient marriage no one wants to let her end, a diplomatic scandal to navigate, and old troubles swirling around her. As well as trying to determine who might want her dead. And that’s just the beginning…
328 pages, ebook
First published November 1, 2022
48 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
M.J. Scott
28 books594 followersM.J Scott is a RITA® Award nominated author. She is an unrepentant bookworm. Luckily she grew up in a family that fed her a properly varied diet of books and these days is surrounded by people who are understanding of her story addiction. When not wrestling one of her own stories to the ground, she can generally be found reading someone else’s. Her other distractions include yarn, cat butlering, dark chocolate and fabric. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.
For free reads and all her news and sneak peeks sign up to her newsletter at https://www.mjscott.net!
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She has also written contemporary romance as Melanie Scott and Emma Douglas.
For free reads and all her news and sneak peeks sign up to her newsletter at https://www.mjscott.net!
Follow her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authormjscott
Or Instagram: www.instagram.com/melwrites
Or Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/mel_writes
She has also written contemporary romance as Melanie Scott and Emma Douglas.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
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December 5, 2024Rating: 4 Stars
Highlights:
⭐️ The political intrigue in this series has been great, like the previous book, this one was very heavy on plots, schemes, and political maneuverings.
⭐️ The worldbuilding once again is very well done, so many fun details!
⭐️ I’m still a fan of Lucien. That first book ended on a huge cliff hangar where he was concerned, so I was glad to see him back & well in this book!
⭐️ I also still very much enjoyed Chloe a heroine,. Again, it’s so refreshing to see an older, widowed heroine taking the lead in the story.
⭐️ I love twists and turns and this one had some good ones, especially the ending!!
Highlights:
⭐️ The political intrigue in this series has been great, like the previous book, this one was very heavy on plots, schemes, and political maneuverings.
⭐️ The worldbuilding once again is very well done, so many fun details!
⭐️ I’m still a fan of Lucien. That first book ended on a huge cliff hangar where he was concerned, so I was glad to see him back & well in this book!
⭐️ I also still very much enjoyed Chloe a heroine,. Again, it’s so refreshing to see an older, widowed heroine taking the lead in the story.
⭐️ I love twists and turns and this one had some good ones, especially the ending!!
March 12, 2023
como eu vou sobreviver até outubro esperando o 3? COMOOOO????
January 9, 2023
book leaves you hanging for next in series! Geez!
If I’d known this book ended the way it did I wouldn’t have started! I don’t like they way a reader is manipulated into buying another book.
If I’d known this book ended the way it did I wouldn’t have started! I don’t like they way a reader is manipulated into buying another book.
August 19, 2024
How can the cliff-hanger be even worse? Loved the deepening crisis and managing family expectations as well as romance and the politics
February 21, 2023
Update: I walked away from this book for a while and tried to come back and read it but my disappointment is overwhelming. In the previous series, I really enjoyed young Sophia learning about her powers and navigating new experiences, and growing. So much personal growth. And here we have Chloe, who has been through things and is older and wiser. I was really looking forward to her returning home and applying her knowledge and experience to building her new life. It's just crushing that Ms Scott has made everything circle around marriage and weddings. While Sophia grew and her world grew with her experience, It seems like Chloe's world is shrinking down to her life as an accidental wife and I hate it. And when I read several times over about how wealthy Lucien is and the "you don't have to worry anymore because here's all this financial security" trope, I felt betrayed by Ms Scott. And finally, probably 65% of this book is internal dialogue. It is a mistake made by new authors but I was not expecting after reading such enjoyable previous books, to discover that at some point Ms Scott seems to have lost trust in her audience being able to put together A + B = C. So instead she's bludgeoning us with endless internal dialogue rather than trusting us to arrive to the obvious plot. She made the bad guy so obvious and in your face that I felt insulted. I hope this is a fluke and we get something much stronger and better and the next book. Previous series shows that Ms Scott is more than capable of writing an excellent story without needing to bludgeon the reader senseless with the obvious.
Too many weddings. I picked up the series after enjoying the last one, especially how the women navigated gender inequalities. Yes I know it's a romance, but I wish we didn't have to make everything about marriage. The first of the series had them attending a royal wedding as a backdrop for a diplomatic visit. That worked. But then the beginning of this story has them back into planning a second wedding and I am so disappointed.
Too many weddings. I picked up the series after enjoying the last one, especially how the women navigated gender inequalities. Yes I know it's a romance, but I wish we didn't have to make everything about marriage. The first of the series had them attending a royal wedding as a backdrop for a diplomatic visit. That worked. But then the beginning of this story has them back into planning a second wedding and I am so disappointed.
May 27, 2024
We're back to excess sexual fantasies at the expense of story line. At least, for most of it, the featured couple are married.
Lucien has survived the poison attack, in no small part because of Chloe sending him strength via their magic bond, and her commandeering of a naviron to get him to experienced healers - which the country they were in doesn't have, since their emphasis on balance prohibits deep study of any one branch of magic. Their stowaway is happily learning magic at the Acadame, and doesn't want to go back. Lucien's mother Jackie wants a society wedding even though the 2 of them have already had one...but to the "wrong' society. But the Emperor agrees, though he informs them they're traitor bait. A delegation of Anglions will be visiting and Chloe has charge of that.
The first attacked results in the death of a member of the diplomatic corps who is bonded to a sanctii. Chloe manages to get the sanctii to bond with her so they can hunt down his mage's killer, and he agrees. There are scattered clues after thst attack, but nothing definite - there is a memory wiping charm circulating which means none of the truth seekers can be certain of their skills because of the manner in which their powers work. Chloe gets the idea to ask the sanctii, who provides the likeness of the woman someone saw her talking to, a woman she has no memory of whatsoever, and she reports this breakthrough. She also discovers her sanctii can make her invisible to the guards and, on her wedding day, sneaks out for some air when she overhears the full details of a plot against the empire that night, one for which she can infallibly be blamed. With limited time, she sends her sanctii to contact Imogene's with a message of where to meet,, whom she tells to get the emperor and others to safety now before it is too late and people get hurt. Imogene agrees, though she is baffled, and Chloe, masked by her sanctii, makes it to the empty house and gathers what she needs to go on the run, hoping to find Deandra, the illusionist who casts forget spells, and find out who else was behind the attack that killed her sanctii's water mage. She has to rely on the sanctii to break the bond with Lucien as she can't bear to do it herself. Even so, she feels both her pain and his when the bind is severed.
Now she is on the run again, desperate to keep the focus on her not Lucien, since this was she is likely to bear the brunt of accusations of treason without smearing his name, just ae the plotters planned out. And it is becoming obvious to her that her former husband Charl was in on a plot that involved this new magic much sooner than anyone dared to think, and that it is still ongoing, the aim being the destruction of the emperor and the empire.
Lucien has survived the poison attack, in no small part because of Chloe sending him strength via their magic bond, and her commandeering of a naviron to get him to experienced healers - which the country they were in doesn't have, since their emphasis on balance prohibits deep study of any one branch of magic. Their stowaway is happily learning magic at the Acadame, and doesn't want to go back. Lucien's mother Jackie wants a society wedding even though the 2 of them have already had one...but to the "wrong' society. But the Emperor agrees, though he informs them they're traitor bait. A delegation of Anglions will be visiting and Chloe has charge of that.
The first attacked results in the death of a member of the diplomatic corps who is bonded to a sanctii. Chloe manages to get the sanctii to bond with her so they can hunt down his mage's killer, and he agrees. There are scattered clues after thst attack, but nothing definite - there is a memory wiping charm circulating which means none of the truth seekers can be certain of their skills because of the manner in which their powers work. Chloe gets the idea to ask the sanctii, who provides the likeness of the woman someone saw her talking to, a woman she has no memory of whatsoever, and she reports this breakthrough. She also discovers her sanctii can make her invisible to the guards and, on her wedding day, sneaks out for some air when she overhears the full details of a plot against the empire that night, one for which she can infallibly be blamed. With limited time, she sends her sanctii to contact Imogene's with a message of where to meet,, whom she tells to get the emperor and others to safety now before it is too late and people get hurt. Imogene agrees, though she is baffled, and Chloe, masked by her sanctii, makes it to the empty house and gathers what she needs to go on the run, hoping to find Deandra, the illusionist who casts forget spells, and find out who else was behind the attack that killed her sanctii's water mage. She has to rely on the sanctii to break the bond with Lucien as she can't bear to do it herself. Even so, she feels both her pain and his when the bind is severed.
Now she is on the run again, desperate to keep the focus on her not Lucien, since this was she is likely to bear the brunt of accusations of treason without smearing his name, just ae the plotters planned out. And it is becoming obvious to her that her former husband Charl was in on a plot that involved this new magic much sooner than anyone dared to think, and that it is still ongoing, the aim being the destruction of the emperor and the empire.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 5, 2024
Hooked early on!
THIS is one of those series you simply cannot put down!!! I was hooked on the forest book offered free and assorted Sophia and Cam’s story but Chloe & Lucian are killing me! All the books are filled with intrigue, court politics, impossible situations to navigate and Magic, Crows/Ravens along with a Rookery, a school for stories with magical abilities and Sanctii! I want a Crow and a Sanctii - I totally do! The books are masterfully written, well edited and transport you to different worlds! Now, I have to pop over and get the next book because I absolutely have to know what happens to the empires, Irina & Vincent, Imogene & Jean-Paul and of course Chloe & Lucien. I absolutely despise Alain…but come join me on these adventures!
THIS is one of those series you simply cannot put down!!! I was hooked on the forest book offered free and assorted Sophia and Cam’s story but Chloe & Lucian are killing me! All the books are filled with intrigue, court politics, impossible situations to navigate and Magic, Crows/Ravens along with a Rookery, a school for stories with magical abilities and Sanctii! I want a Crow and a Sanctii - I totally do! The books are masterfully written, well edited and transport you to different worlds! Now, I have to pop over and get the next book because I absolutely have to know what happens to the empires, Irina & Vincent, Imogene & Jean-Paul and of course Chloe & Lucien. I absolutely despise Alain…but come join me on these adventures!
February 19, 2023
Wonderful book and excellent series! I don't know how I did it but this got lost in my Kindle and I didn't read it as soon as it downloaded. I blame a crazy year but the upside is that I was able to enjoy this little gem of a book. I adored the first series set in the same world (The Four Arts) and the first book sucked me in. I will say that this book does end on a cliffhanger so be prepared! Excellent characters and wonderful world building. Well worth reading!
July 15, 2025
Finished the first two books in the series. Major cliff hanger in the second book, but not interested in continuing the series. I just prefer a more fiery romance/enemy to lovers with a stronger build up. It’s good, and I’m sure many people will enjoy reading this series. I’ve just been chasing the ACOTAR high over the past two years, but nothing seems to be hitting! That’s likely my fault, not this books author’s.
August 16, 2024
Enjoyable
More of the same, in a good way. Nice transition from the Fractured Court series and fascinating characters. The mystery is real and not obvious. The love story is compelling but not overwhelming. Downloaded the next already.
More of the same, in a good way. Nice transition from the Fractured Court series and fascinating characters. The mystery is real and not obvious. The love story is compelling but not overwhelming. Downloaded the next already.
November 1, 2022
Utterly fabulous. I read this in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down. I cannot wait for the next one! So good!!
April 25, 2023
I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first, and it ends without finishing the story.
June 12, 2023
Great series. Can't wait for book 3.
August 16, 2023
I am really enjoying this series.
Can't wait until the next book.
Can't wait until the next book.
October 21, 2023
incomplete books
I enjoy the stories but dislike that you have to buy several to get the entire story. Seems a bit greedy to me.
I enjoy the stories but dislike that you have to buy several to get the entire story. Seems a bit greedy to me.
October 23, 2023
This reads like a light novel for a b-rank manwha. So kinda my jam, but goodness it needed more snu snu 😩 Not as many typos as the first book, but still prevalent. The ending gave me whiplash.
December 13, 2023
WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ENDING?! I WASN’T PREPARED FOR THAT *goes on to buy the next one* 4.5⭐️
January 19, 2024
3.75 out of 5
January 14, 2025
I love a good heartbreaking cliffhanger but I'm thankful I had immediate access to the next book!
April 10, 2024
A somewhat forced marriage for our mains to avoid a diplomatic scandal...interesting. Additionally these two's feelings are simmering right to the surface with explosive results, as well as mixed feelings and trouble on the horizon.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews