Goodreads Summary:
Caledon Holt is the Kingdom of Renovia’s deadliest weapon. No one alive can best him in brawn or brains, which is why he’s the Guild’s most dangerous member and the Queen’s one and only assassin. He’s also bound to the Queen by an impossible vow–to find the missing Deian Scrolls, the fount of all magical history and knowledge, stolen years ago by a nefarious sect called the Aphrasians.
Shadow has been training all her life to follow in the footsteps of her mother and aunts–to become skilled enough to join the ranks of the Guild. Though magic has been forbidden since the Aphrasian uprising, Shadow has been learning to control her powers in secret, hoping that one day she’ll become an assassin as feared and revered as Caledon Holt.
When a surprise attack brings Shadow and Cal together, they’re forced to team up as assassin and apprentice to hunt down a new sinister threat to Renovia. But as Cal and Shadow grow closer, they’ll uncover a shocking web of lies and secrets that may destroy everything they hold dear. With war on the horizon and true love at risk, they’ll stop at nothing to protect each other and their kingdom in this stunning first novel in the Queen’s Secret series.
My Review:
This book was great, but it was using a lot of stereotypical tropes. A forced partnership, jealousy that leads to romance, girl runs away to become an assassin instead of a lady of the court, etc. However, these were executed well. Nothing seemed completely forced, even though it was definitely conventional. I liked that it wasn’t too high fantasy: yes, a bunch of people had magic, but not in life or death matters until closer to the end. I’m not a huge Melissa de la Cruz fan, but I did like this book. However, the twists at the ending were less than ideal and I didn’t necessarily love those.
I would mainly recommend this book to people who like a mix of classic fantasy and romance. Honestly, this book is nothing new. Its main strength is that it’s a good combo of things that have worked in the past. I liked this book, but I can’t give it an AMAZING review because I don’t see it as a truly original book.
Overall, I would give this book…
⭐⭐⭐.25/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.
The Fiction Feature 