A Kingdom of Blood and Betrayal by Holly Renee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
He was my enemy, but he was also my mate.
That’s the book. That’s the whole book. Thanks for coming.
Okay fine, I’ll elaborate.
Book one ended with Adara getting yanked out of the fae palace and into the Blood Court, and book two picks up with her exactly where you’d expect: furious, confused, and magically glued to a vampyre prince she refuses to admit she wants.
꧁Where We’re At꧂
So Adara is in Evren’s kingdom now. She’s got brand new dark magic curling off her fingers that she can’t control, a mate bond she didn’t ask for, and a growing list of things Evren conveniently forgot to mention.
Like, oh I don’t know, the fact that her father is ALIVE. And that Evren is the one who hand-delivered him to the fae queen in the first place.
“He was the one who captured your father after he refused to give us you. Evren is the one who hand-delivered your father to our queen.”
And who gets to drop that bomb? Gavril. Of course it’s Gavril. That man lives to ruin a moment.
He was my mate, and I had chosen him, but he had left me in the dark.
Honestly? Valid. I’d be pissed too.
꧁The Thalia Situation꧂
My favorite addition to this book by a mile. Thalia is another Starblessed who fought her way out of Gavril’s hands and has fully mastered her power so no one can ever use it against her again. Evren basically goes “you could learn a lot from her” and hands Adara over for training.
“I’m not weak,” I practically growled the words, and that drew a smile to her lips.
“Prove it.”
YES. Give me the training montage. Give me the breathing-and-balance lecture. Give me a heroine who stops running into the trees and starts learning how to be a weapon only she can wield. This is the character growth I was begging for in book one and Holly Renee delivered.
Also Sorin and Thalia sliding coins to each other and cursing under their breath with a smile? I see you, Holly. I SEE YOU. (More on that below.)
꧁Evren, My Beloved Problem꧂
He’s still the cocky dark prince with the smoke magic and the “princess” that makes my knees weak. But this book cracks him open a little. We see the dark circles. We see him sitting on the edge of her bed with his head in his hands. We see him choose to go back to the Fae Court knowing it might get him killed, because “this is bigger than either of us.”
“Our prince may be a lot of things that you think about him, but he has lived a life of sacrifice for his people.”
The whole “selfless in a way that puts himself at harm” thing recontextualizes basically every shady decision he made in book one. Doesn’t excuse the lying. But it explains it, and I’m a sucker for a man who’s bad at asking for help.
And Gavril sending him a wedding invitation. For his wedding. To Evren’s MATE. The pettiness. The audacity. Evren crumpling that parchment was the most relatable he’s ever been.
꧁The Romance꧂
This is an enemies-to-mates-to-enemies-to-???? book and it is DELICIOUS. Adara spends the first half telling him she’s his prisoner, telling him she’ll “find someone else to crave,” telling him to get his magic off her…
“You can hate me in the light all you want, but the truth of us comes out in the dark. It always will.”
…and then the dark comes and, well. Yeah. Still spicy. Possibly spicier. “Eyes on me, princess” should come with a warning label.
What I actually loved though is that the magic is part of the romance now. Her darkness calls to his. His smoke wraps around her in front of the whole court. When he tells her she’s its master and to make it bow to her will?? That’s intimacy. That’s the good shit.
꧁My Gripes꧂
The middle sags a little. There’s a stretch of Adara being angry, Evren being sad, Adara being angry again, and I wanted them to just TALK. The miscommunication is the plot, I know, but I had to put the book down and go for a walk once.
And Adara’s realization that way too many of her decisions are fueled by hate? Great moment. I just wish it came about a hundred pages earlier.
꧁Overall꧂
As a book on its own: 5 of 5 stars. A solid, spicy middle book with a great new side cast and a heroine who finally gets to level up. Slower in the middle than I’d like, but the father reunion and that ending made up for it.
As part of the series: 4 of 5 stars. This is where Stars and Shadows stops being “ACOTAR-flavored forbidden romance” and becomes its own thing. It takes the mate bond, the dual kingdoms and the Starblessed prophecy from book one and actually builds on all of it instead of just repeating it. If book one hooked you, this is the one that makes you commit.
꧁Series Check-In꧂
For anyone keeping track, the Stars and Shadows series is four books:
- A Kingdom of Stars and Shadows – Adara meets Evren, gets betrothed to the wrong brother
- A Kingdom of Blood and Betrayal – this one. Blood Court, training, daddy’s alive
- A Kingdom of Venom and Vows – the finale of Adara and Evren’s story
- A Kingdom of Fire and Fate – Thalia and Sorin’s book, set after the war. Told ya the coin thing meant something.
Holly Renee is a USA Today bestselling author who started in contemporary romance (Boys of Clermont Bay, if you’ve been around a while) before jumping into fantasy with this series. She’s since done The Veiled Kingdom trilogy too, and the woman clearly has a type: dark princes, cursed heroines, and spice. I respect it.
Book three is already on my nightstand. Pray for me.
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