Political intrigue, a hidden bisexual queen, betrayals, enemies to lovers romance, Scottish-based world building, religious conflict, and DRAGONS! I absolutely devoured this book over the span of a few days and my only regret is that I now have to wait even longer for the next chapter in Aemyra's story. If any of the listed tropes piques your interest, absolutely get this on your TBR list.

Having lived in the shadows for her entire life, Aemyra is finally called up by her estranged father to claim her rightful place on the throne after the king dies. This is of course complicated by the current ruling family who is determined to maintain patriarchal dominance and are backed by the True Religion, which views the magic that runs through many of the people's veins as evil and is determined to push women to serve men. Aemyra needs to learn how to be a queen all while finally being exposed to the realities of court and her father's machinations. Oh, and I forgot to mention some absolutely delightful spicy scenes between Aemyra and her eventual love interest. 

As I said, I really enjoyed this book and will be coming back for the next installment - I did find some of the beats of the story to be relatively predictable with the genre, however, I was still happy to be along for the ride. The pacing also did seem a bit off toward the end where so many events happen at once and there just didn't seem to be enough space to let the story breathe a bit as it crescendoed. I also wish we saw a bit more character development from Aemyra as she gets more entrenched into everything going on, but I hope that gets fleshed out further in the next book. 

Thank you so much to NetGalley and to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the advanced copy.