Firstly, there’s a reincarnation trope in here, and I felt like by the middle of the book I realized what was going on. Because the whole thing made it sound like he was getting revenge against her people or something, but god this disappointed me so bad, it hurt.

And then there are more women in the book who she treats horribly, and it's "justified" because they disrespect her or want to make her jealous or "mock" her. A bit of teasing never goes amiss and would probably have grabbed another couple of stars from me, let's not lie. In other words, the premise was extremely interesting but the execution was lacking and left much to be desired. To end a years-long war, Princess Isolde of Lara is willing to do whatever it takes, even if that means marrying her enemy, the ruthless vampire king, Adrian Aleksandr Vasiliev, and kill him. Authors often struggle with this line and this simple mistake can make me go from loving a character to absolutely hating her.She never falls into the whiny cliché, she never lets herself be subdued to fit a role or a command, and she certainly makes sure everyone knows she is very much aware of her own worth as a warrior and decision maker. If you were a fan of The Bridge Kingdom but wanted it much smuttier and more magical (aka: Vampires), you will ADORE this book because it gave me VERY similar vibes. Sometimes I genuinely could not figure out if he was fingering her or fucking her, or if he came at all. So I started reading under the impression I’d be going through something YA to NA levels of smut and explicitness. It was so very rushed and had these leaps between scenes and odd conversations that were just confusing .

I just cannot describe or explain how she made me feel with the way she was always singing praises about her husband's body or constantly touching herself when he wasn't there. In one chapter she walks into the king's council room and she's immediately disgusted because they're all men. the plot in ‘the shadows between us,’ the twists in ‘city of thorns,’ and the overall vibe and world in ‘from blood and ash.

once again I find myself a minority in my opinion of this book among my friends but I would still say : don't waste your time with this folks . Many women went to Isolde to brag about the fact that they had sex with Adrian before and they knew how to please him, and it made Isolde jealous so she lashed back at them and got revenge. If you like enemies to lovers, the arranged marriage trope, insta-sexual attraction, a feisty dagger-wielding female MC, and vampires/witches/gods, then you’ll probably enjoy this book.