✨Im Literary Anxious✨

𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲🕒: 4 minutes

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: Lisette Marshall ✍🏻𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 616 📖

🖍️𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣𝙡𝙤𝙖𝙙𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩!🖍️

“𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵?”
“𝙊𝙝, 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚.”

💀Grumpy x Grumpy
🗡️Forced Proximity
💀Insults as Flirting
🗡️One Horse
💀He Does Her Hair
🗡️She Holds a Knife to His Throat…Twice
💀Slooooow Burn

OK. First of all—Lisette, HOW DARE YOU!? 😩 I am an emotionally unstable pomegranate and simply not equipped for this cliffhanger. 😅😭

With that out of the way: this series has already become my new Roman Empire. No need to break down categories—everything’s a 5/5.

Characters? 5/5.

Pacing? 5/5.

Worldbuilding? 10/5.

Lisette once again delivers a world full of unique magics and rich depth. Thraga is a Runewitch escaping the life she was captive to, grieving the loss of her person. Durlain is a fireborn necromancer prince (because he’s an overachiever, obviously) on a mission to rescue his sister. They strike a deal: Thraga helps with her runes, and he brings her boy Lark back to life.

Except… plot twist: Lark turns out to be a gaslighting piece of trash. The only reason you want him resurrected is so Durlain can personally escort him back to hell. (Just me? Oh… right… awkward.)

“Because you’ve been led to believe for years that he’s the light and the fire and you’re nothing but ashes, haven’t you? Except that no one has reminded you of the other side, which is that ashes are only ever ashes because the fire made them so.”

Thraga has been conditioned to doubt herself at every turn, and her OCD makes that battle even harder. I loved how Durlain—grumpy little menace that he is—immediately noticed and started lifting her up, even when his delivery was… prickly.

“I have a low tolerance for incompetence, and an even lower tolerance for feigned incompetence. I’m not sure why you insist on treating yourself like some damsel in distress, but it’s damn inconvenient to me.”

Lisette’s portrayal of OCD and gaslighting hit home for me. Just as she did with Emelin in the Fae Isles series, she gave Thraga an internal voice that makes the reader feel every ounce of anxiety, frustration, and shame she’s working through.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Lisette book without banter sharp enough to cut glass:

‘She … she’s yours, isn’t she?’
‘She’s entirely her own, you shit.’

‘You have such a way with words, Thraga.’
‘Knives tend to be more effective.’

And then—oh, the burn. The SLOW burn. Lisette has taken it to stratospheric levels here. I’ve never been so worked up over two people holding hands. While the spice is minimal, when it hits? It hits.

“I don’t fuck obligingly, thorn of mine. You’re getting what you want, the way I want it. I suggest you learn to go along with it.”

EXCUSE ME, SIR. 💀💀💀

My only complaint? That devastating cliffhanger. Durlain drowning in guilt (consequences, sweetie), Muri showing up for less than a chapter and still giving her brother grey hairs, and Thraga possibly stepping into her villain era 👀…

So, Lisette, when’s book two? Asking for my mental stability. 😅

This scrumptious piece of romantasy arrives on Kindle October 21st—just in time for spooky season. You can pre-order now for $4.99!