Headlines:
City dystopia
Relational power
Freedom

This story landed the reader in a futuristic city, full of power plays, control while giving the illusion of freedom. Jess was a partner to palace officials as her job and she was socialised into seeing this as a good career; and it would be if not for the potential for abuse. She was chosen by Gabriel, new to the city and unused to their culture.

This was a very relationship-focused story, delving into the dynamic of power and connection between these two. It had a lot (a lot) of spice but that was bourne out of a forming intimate connection and friendship.

I enjoyed the new world Kent created and the later reveal in the last portion of the book gave me a lot of joy. Suffice it to say, city life was not all it was cracked up to be.

There were a lot of layers beyond the intimacy that had me thinking about preconceptions of sex work, power dynamics in those relationships, dictatorships masquerading as democracies and integrity. I really enjoyed this mix of relationship with deeper themes.

I look forward to seeing where this series goes and if book one is anything to go by, it'll be good from here.

Thank you to the author for the eARC.