Book 1: King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair

About this Book

Their Union Is His Revenge.

Isolde de Lara considers her wedding day her death day. To end a years-long war, she is to marry vampire king, Adrian Aleksandr Vasiliev, and kill him.

But her assassination attempt is thwarted and Adrian threatens that if Isolde tries to kill him again, he will raise her as the undead. Faced with the possibility of becoming the thing she hates most, Isolde seeks other ways to defy him and survive the brutal vampire court.

Except it isn’t the court she fears most — it’s Adrian. Despite their undeniable chemistry, she wonders why the king — fierce, savage, merciless — chose her as consort.

The answer will shatter her world.

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My Review:

admittedly, i stumbled on this book a bit foolishly. in one of my many netgalley sweeps, i found Queen of Myth and Monsters and added it to my queue. when i received and started that book, it took a few pages to realize that it was a sequel to this and when i found the book through kindle unlimited, i figured i'd try it out.

this book reminded me a lot of A Ruin of Roses with much less ridiculousness. the world building was certainly much more intricate and i really appreciated the way the deities were introduced and it seamlessly moved into the lore behind the blood king and the nine houses.

the relationship between adrian and isolde was much more dynamic than some of the other books i've read. the enemies to lovers and (sort of) fated mate tropes really gave it more dimension and depth than just pure fucking fuckery.

in the end, the only complaint i had was that the majority of the action was crammed into the last 10-20% of the book and, while it made me dive into the next book, it felt a bit like a cop out.