start date: 12/07/2021 | end date: 12/07/2021 (roughly 4 hours reading time)

summary: damen is a warrior to his people, and the rightful heir to the throne of akielos. but when his half brother seizes power, damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave

anecdote: i picked up this book after purchasing some fanart at smash in 2019. i had no idea who the fanart was of at the time, but bought the book shortly after. i've had the book for long period of time, but have not read it until now

i knew it was going to a scandalous read, and i was right

memorable moments: on god for the life of me there were a few that stood out

• "you have a scar here"
• the regent making laurent apologise to damen
• the scene in the garden where laurent... does that... (i was very flustered, and well... i need to go and touch some grass...)
• when laurent was poisoned and he and damen had to fight the attackers. laurent slid down the wal and told damen to escape

thoughts: it read exactly the way i thought it would. the book does attempt some darker topics in terms of thematics, but i think that the vulgarity does the world building favour despite being jarring at times

i thought that it was particularly interesting that the land of vere, especially in its nobility, looks down upon hetrosexual couples and favours homosexuality as a means not to have bastard children

in essesce, the enemies to lovers trope is taken quite literally and on god it is sexy -- and is in all senses -- a slow burn which is what i favour in all aspects of consuming fiction; considering that this is only the first part of the trilogy, i am filled with nothing but anticipation in wait of reading the next instalment

would i read this book again?: absolutely

would i recommend this book?: i would, but i don't think it fits in with anyone's tastes here other than my own