A Bargain of Smoke and Vines
Part of the The Sundered Fates · Book 1
In the Sundered Kingdoms, we who tend the Grove do not concern ourselves with what lies beyond our borders. Our purpose is to mend and to grow and as the firstborn daughter, I, Amara Tyne, am princess to our people.
But our lands and earthen powers have fallen under the hungry gaze of a would-be usurper, who demands we bend the knee in his quest to take control of this world. Our only hope for survival is an alliance with the fearsome Mordorin Fae, who rule the Sundered Kingdoms with an iron fist. To keep our freedom and protect the Grove, a bargain must be struck, but there is just one thing the Mordorin want... a bride fit for their wicked crown prince, Daedalus Phaedren.
To save my people from destruction, I must leave the lush green of my home and live out my days in the stronghold of Baev'kalath, serving as wife to a heartless killer. But there are secrets within these castle walls, and the rebel army marches ever closer. If I must fight, then I must place myself where I dread most. At Daed's side.
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A Bargain of Smoke and Vines
Why It Passed
No author paid to be here. The shelf is not sponsored. Every book is read in full before it ever reaches you, then weighed against four things we refuse to bend on. Here is how this one held up.
writing
The prose does the work without showing off. You forget you're reading and just fall in.
characters
Nobody here is only a love interest. Even the side characters have a pulse and reason to exist.
pacing
The slow burn is genuinely slow. It earns every inch of tension instead of stalling for length.
payoff
The ending lands. No cheap cliff just to sell you the next one. (Okay. Maybe a small one. You'll survive!)
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