An obstinate girl who will not be married. A soldier desperate to prove himself. A kingdom on the brink of war.
With a sharp tongue and an unruly temper, Sage Fowler is not what they’d call a lady―which is perfectly fine with her. Deemed unfit for marriage, Sage is apprenticed to a matchmaker and tasked with wrangling other young ladies to be married off for political alliances. She spies on the girls―and on the soldiers escorting them.
As the girls’ military escort senses a political uprising, Sage is recruited by a handsome soldier to infiltrate the enemy ranks. The more she discovers as a spy, the less certain she becomes about whom to trust―and Sage becomes caught in a dangerous balancing act that will determine the fate of her kingdom.
So, I really enjoyed this novel. The main reason that I bought the book was because of the cover, so yes, I was the person to judge a book by its cover.
But because I bought the book for the cover I was beyond wary of whether or not I would like it, because I’ve bought a book because of the cover before and hated it. The premise was pretty interesting but nothing entirely new, as it was about two people from two different backgrounds coming to work together.
What I did like, though, was Sage’s witty personality and her background. She wasn’t born into aristocracy, so she already didn’t fit in, but there was another factor of her birth that made her stand out and be ostracized.
There are dual points of view (POV) in this novel, with one extra POV from a mysterious stranger. Each POV did well to advance the story and help the plot, but it also developed each character’s voice much more than one POV would.
There was also intentional confusion in this book, so if you notice the small details about certain characters then you’ll be sure to figure out a twist that occurs later on in the book.
The romance that is involved in the book grows organically and is not at the forefront of the book. Of course, it’s a romantic fantasy, but the plot takes more importance than the romance, which is nice to see.
All in all, this book was surprisingly a joy to read and I’m ready to read the next one!
This book is available at Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and the Macmillan website.
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