MONSTER, MONARCH, MAIDEN

An innkeeper’s daughter swears allegiance to the brooding young man who saved her life.

Bria Angarsold, 17, has grown up at Three Corners Inn under Grimsvold’s twin moons. Her outgoing, talkative, and confident personality is a boon when serving travelers but doesn’t protect her when Surat Confederacy marauders attack, killing her family and hauling blond, light-skinned Bria away in a horse-drawn cart, along with the few other survivors. Titus, whose Corthan name and Dhakaran appearance (broad shoulders, amber eyes, and red-brown hair) signal his mixed heritage, kills their captors. Bria begs him to let her travel with him, becoming his shield maiden while trying to tease out his mission and history. Both fight their slow-burn attraction. The pair inhabit an intricately crafted world in which each person has a “single magical Gift,” or power, which they generally keep secret; using it extracts a toll, risking Gift-starvation. Readers may wish for a map to help them envision the world’s physical layout. In this fantasy-diverse world, the Suratians commonly have “deep brown skin and hair the color of charcoal,” while many Grimsvolders have light blond hair. First-person narrator Bria helps Titus learn to trust, and his worldliness feeds her desire to venture beyond Grimsvold. She gradually develops a broader understanding of cultures including her own. Gentler scenes, like a satisfying makeover for a grand ball, temper the violent confrontations, and the spice level holds at a simmer, not a boil.

An entrancing, magical, and well-plotted slow-burn romance.