Rating: 4 out of 5.

4.5 stars

Wow. What a wild ride!! I lost a lot of sleep reading this one. This is the first book in an enemies-to-lovers romantasy series featuring fae, dragons, and magic. I love books that have trials that the main character must endure to achieve a goal. In this case, Selena is a fae trapped in the Seelie Court and controlled by dragon shifters. She’s part of a rebel alliance determined to free all trapped faes. Her only chance to gain her freedom is by entering the Atonement Trials: a deadly competition that pits fae magic users against each other. Only three people can win, and Selena intends to be one of them.

Just before Selena enters the Atonement Trials, she has an encounter with Draven Ryat, the ruthless commander of the dragon shifter army while working for the alliance. She’s able to escape him after this encounter, but as luck has it, he’s one of the dragon shifters overseeing the Trials and he’s determined to make her lose. Selena’s magic power makes her a pariah amongst fae so rather than having an alliance to help her get through the Trials, she’s going it alone.

Selena isn’t the strongest candidate and is full of insecurities. As the book progresses I loved seeing her build confidence in herself and be more creative in how she used her powers. Draven is the epitome of grumpy and the initial hate between Selena and Draven was everything. You could feel the loathing dripping off the page. Even though Selena is fairly timid, for some reason she has no problem sassing Draven and pushing his buttons. Draven’s reactions to Selena are brutal and their relationship is a very slow burn. When it ignites though, look out! Scorching!

The book is fast paced and the different stages of the Trials were brutal. I loved all of the action and different types of magic used by the fae. We don’t learn much about the dragon shifters and a great war between them and the fae is mentioned a few times, but the world building is minimal. Hopefully we’ll learn more in the next book. The ending is insane and will definitely make you scream. I’ve got to read the next book immediately to see what happens next.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Scarlett Press. All opinions are my own.