Synopsis
After proving her worth in book one as a defy spy and strategic matchmaker, Sage Fowler is now comfortably positioned in high society as the royal tutor. When she's called upon to teach his majesty's soldiers how to read and write, she jumps at the chance to serve her kingdom of Demora- and to be reunited with her fiancé, Captain Alex Quinn.
During a skirmish, Sage and Alex are separated. She watches him die before he can deliver important military intel- or so she thinks. She escapes from the enemy and makes an unlikely alliance with a mysterious soldier from a third nation. As Sage tries to rally their support against a common foe, the important political allegiance is plagued by secrets and betrayal.
Can Sage complete Alex's mission and save her kingdom once more?
After proving her worth in book one as a defy spy and strategic matchmaker, Sage Fowler is now comfortably positioned in high society as the royal tutor. When she's called upon to teach his majesty's soldiers how to read and write, she jumps at the chance to serve her kingdom of Demora- and to be reunited with her fiancé, Captain Alex Quinn.
During a skirmish, Sage and Alex are separated. She watches him die before he can deliver important military intel- or so she thinks. She escapes from the enemy and makes an unlikely alliance with a mysterious soldier from a third nation. As Sage tries to rally their support against a common foe, the important political allegiance is plagued by secrets and betrayal.
Can Sage complete Alex's mission and save her kingdom once more?
During a skirmish, Sage and Alex are separated. She watches him die before he can deliver important military intel- or so she thinks. She escapes from the enemy and makes an unlikely alliance with a mysterious soldier from a third nation. As Sage tries to rally their support against a common foe, the important political allegiance is plagued by secrets and betrayal.
Can Sage complete Alex's mission and save her kingdom once more?
Loved
- Sage. Wow, she is so sharp that I feel like I'm running to catch up with her ideas and connections. I love her spirit in cutting her hair, dressing up as a boy, and starting on a journey- all just to spite Alex. She is one of the spunkiest heroines I know, but unlike many strong heroines, she's not bratty. She is empathetic and always makes friends easily with her wit and inquisitiveness. She is one of my favorite heroines because she's so smart and brave, but realistically so.
- Sage and Alex. I'm still a huge sucker for this romance- I'm here for it 100%. I was really frustrated with Alex at the beginning of the story, but he completely redeems himself by the end ;) We don't get very much time with them together in this book, but I do love how loyal and respectful they are to each other and how their relationship develops, even though they're focused on their own roles.
- The military strategy. These books are interesting to me because they don't deal with magical creatures or a villain with some type of magical weapon- it's all intrigue and military strategy. It almost feels like historical fiction because there is no magic system or anything supernatural. The strategy and intrigue in both of these books is pretty complex, and sometimes I had to read paragraphs a few times through to understand it all. Is didn't realize until reading book two that the author, Erin Beaty, is in the navy- so this strategy and army knowledge is legit! That made it so believable and fascinating to me knowing she really knows what she's talking about.
- The writing. Erin Beaty's writing is beautiful because it's easy to read, but also quite complex. This was hard for me at the beginning of the first book, but I loved it in this book. She keeps you racing along with the characters trying to keep up with their quick connections and brains for figuring out plots and strategy.
- The cultures. In this book we are introduced to another culture, and I loved experiencing their customs, dress, and people. I also loved that although the nations are at war, they still see each other as people. I loved that Alex buries a Kimisar prisoner by hand, even though he was supporting the opposing army. Similarly, a Kimisar captain shows Sage kindness and offers her help in the middle of battle. It always disturbs me in novels or movies when the enemy is seen as inhuman, so I really appreciated how these people saw the humanity in each other despite their political differences and nationalities.
Didn't Love
- I really enjoyed this story and don't have many complaints. The one complaint I have is the lack of communication- uggghhhh. This happens in a lot of YA novels, so I should be used to it by now, but it still drives me so crazy that sometimes I have to read ahead to make sure everything ends up okay (does anyone else do that?) I am a rec therapist and in one group I do, I show the patients different movie clips and we talk about the communication errors in each clip. This book has sooo many of them it kindof drove me crazy. (Can we not be about to execute someone because we assume they might have had something to do with someone's death? Let's maybe check a few, or maybe even ANY facts before chopping off heads people). But, as I always tell myself, good communication would make for boring stories :)
Content
- Language:
- Frequent uses of "damn" and "hell" and "ass." Infrequent uses of "sh**," and bastard.
- Sexual content:
- The first book is full of steamy kissing scenes, but Alex and Sage get much less time together in this book, so we get a lot less kissing.
- There are many references to Alex thinking he doesn't want to be alone with Sage at night because he doesn't want to "do something permanent." He thinks about wanting to do more than kiss, but wanting to wait until they are married so people know he wanted to marry her and wasn't forced to.
- There are some kisses, but nothing steamy like in the first book. The kisses are pretty short due to Alex not wanting it to go far.
- Reference to two characters having taken their relationship "far" before they were officially engaged.
- Violence:
- There is quite a bit of medieval-type violence in this story, but I would say there's less violence than in the first book.
- Sage kills two men- one with her slingshot and one with her dagger. The bodies are found later and described. She is disturbed by both deaths later.
- Quite a few references to soldiers dying by getting stabbed or shot with arrows.
- One secondary character dies by an arrow- described as blood coming out of his mouth as he dies.
- One person is executed and talks about him being on the "chopping block" and the executioner swinging, but nothing described.
- Beatings and torture described when one character is a prisoner. Injuries include punches to the stomach and back with marks of steel rings and cuts and bruises all over the body.
- One character receives many burns and the burns are described in detail.
- Reference to a character being trampled after falling off his horse.
- References of men dying by fire.
- Planned and thwarted assassination- lots of blood mentioned.
- Some men drown in quick sand and die.
- Frequent uses of "damn" and "hell" and "ass." Infrequent uses of "sh**," and bastard.
- The first book is full of steamy kissing scenes, but Alex and Sage get much less time together in this book, so we get a lot less kissing.
- There are many references to Alex thinking he doesn't want to be alone with Sage at night because he doesn't want to "do something permanent." He thinks about wanting to do more than kiss, but wanting to wait until they are married so people know he wanted to marry her and wasn't forced to.
- There are some kisses, but nothing steamy like in the first book. The kisses are pretty short due to Alex not wanting it to go far.
- Reference to two characters having taken their relationship "far" before they were officially engaged.
- There is quite a bit of medieval-type violence in this story, but I would say there's less violence than in the first book.
- Sage kills two men- one with her slingshot and one with her dagger. The bodies are found later and described. She is disturbed by both deaths later.
- Quite a few references to soldiers dying by getting stabbed or shot with arrows.
- One secondary character dies by an arrow- described as blood coming out of his mouth as he dies.
- One person is executed and talks about him being on the "chopping block" and the executioner swinging, but nothing described.
- Beatings and torture described when one character is a prisoner. Injuries include punches to the stomach and back with marks of steel rings and cuts and bruises all over the body.
- One character receives many burns and the burns are described in detail.
- Reference to a character being trampled after falling off his horse.
- References of men dying by fire.
- Planned and thwarted assassination- lots of blood mentioned.
- Some men drown in quick sand and die.
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