This book is a lot like The Blacksmith Queen (the first book in this series). I liked the first book a bit more than this one, but The Princess Knight was still a great read. I love the characters in this series.

Just a warning, the romance is pretty low-key in this book. ( )

ANNWYL IS HERE.

:Ahem: yeah this review is spoiler marked for those three words. Because anyone who read the Dragonkin series, about the dragons on the other side of the mountains mentioned oh so often in this series, you know what that means.

Firstly folks - Beatrix transcends evil in a way that I think would be hard for real life people to do. There's monsters throughout history that the majority of the public agree are evil in every secular way a person can be evil.

And then there's Beatrix, who puts them all to shame.

Much like Keeley's book this is less a romance and more of a fantasy with emotions turning up occasionally. If I'm being strictly honest, that describes all of Aiken/Laurenston's books whether fantasy or paranormal. They don't follow the traditional romance novel trappings.

Oh Gemma talks about her feelings and Quinn certainly expresses his. The word love is tossed out and there's sex. Discussion of future plans together and how Gemma's life fits with Quinn's.

That's like 5% of the book. The rest involves squabbling religious sects who NEED to get along, sibling fighting, battles, necromancy and some interesting discussions about the nature of faith in a world where the gods will talk their followers as they like.

Maybe.

Or talk to a cheerful heretic queen who os a blacksmith and just happy to know her blacksmithing is probably going to save the world.

This felt a bit like a middle book, in that another piece had to be cleared off the table (Cyrus), except there's the twin oft-mentioned and the ending of this book would lead one to wonder how Beatrix would even survive long enough for Gemma to pound her into a bloody pulp.

I hope Ainsley is up for a book, though we haven't met any other single centaurs (Laila uh being seduced by one of Gemma's battle cohorts) and I can't stress this enough, the end of the book opens up a lot of possibilities.

Oh but about out to Ferdinand, a cheerful, boisterous truce vicar. At first he was kind of just there, but him and his fellow vicars are hilarious and truly they belong with Keeley for so many reasons. ( )

Continuing from Book 1 (yes, this is honestly not a stand alone book), the book kicks into high gear with all the characters we knew and a HOST of others. Seriously, one of my minor quibbles is that there are so many awesome characters introduced that it would have been impossible to explore them all, and after a while I almost had to make a spreadsheet to keep track. The second minor quibble was that some of the dialogue sometimes went just a bit over the realm of funny and seemed childish. Again these were minor quibbles.

Now to the good stuff, I adore this world. It's seriously bonkers and that's the charm. I liked exploring Gemma more in this book and also Quinn, but in a way it almost doesn't feel like they were the main characters and I didn't lose any of the experience. Because everyone else was so great. I loved seeing more Keeley, and Caid and now Ainsley (feel she will complete the trilogy). I also liked seeing the animals and meeting the new ones (light shudder).

One thing I loved in Book 1 and continues here is that strong family dynamic and also a bit of found family. The romance here is a little stronger than Book 1 but still a little meh. This book is also like the first in that it's a travel adventure book with non-stop action and pretty descriptive battle scenes.

In conclusion, love romantic fantasy? Love crazy strong women and the people that love them? Bloodthirsty monks and nuns? Truce priests that also know how to wield weapons? Centaurs? Dwarves? Wolves from literal hell? "Special" horses? Have I got the book for you :)

A special thank you to Netgalley for the ARC. I really appreciate it.
( )

Good series, good book, A bit too interconnected to be stand alone, and a quick clean recap of the first for a prolog would have been helpful as I'd forgotten names-and-roles since the first book.

This sister drama wrapped up in a paranormal romance novel is a violent delight. The political conflict is rich and complicated. However, this book has a ton of characters that bog it down when it could use some breath.
Gemma does not want to be called a princess. She is a war monk, and that is all. But she has become the right hand woman of her sister, the blacksmith queen, Queen Keely. Keely and Gemma have not always gotten along, but their other sister, Beatrix, has become an evil queen that must be stopped. With the help of their centaur companions, the sisters will fight to stop rogue Prince Cyrus, who has gone on a religious extermination spree.
I did not know what I was getting myself into when I won this book. I ordered the preceding novel the second I found out it was a sequel. I also did not know that it was a paranormal romance series.
The main love interests are centaurs.
To be honest, I thought that would be a problem but it wasn’t. I eventually got used to it. However, Quinn, Gemma’s love interest, is so much more interesting when he is not talking about Gemma. They have a bit of a good banter going on (and he is much more interesting than his brother from the first book). But spoiler, they have insta-love once they get intimate. It ruined all the tension built up for me. The whole relationship they had was “you hate me but we help each other for Keely” turned into “we are in love” in a second. The romance here also felt more like a subplot than a main plot. And the main plot was much more interesting.
The main plot is the sisters trying to fight multiple competing rulers and figuring out who is trying to oust religious sects. It is full of intrigue, mystery, and conflict. The characters have a lot to figure out to help bring Keely to power.
The real strengths of this novel are the female characters. Keely and Gemma are great, but there is also their cousin Keran, who is the worst in the best way, their sister Ainsley, who is ignored but a force to be reckoned with, and even Laila, the only truly interesting centaur. The dynamics between the women, and even with the antagonist, Beatrix, create the compelling plot of the story. I am more concerned about how Gemma is going to deal with the destruction of her monastery and how Keely will deal with her role as queen, than who will end up with who. Keely and Gemma have to lead two separate groups and complete two goals, and the groups are full of characters. I started to get confused with the different religious people in Gemma’s group, but I knew that they represented all the religions that Cyrus was trying to eliminate.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a fun escape and a good romp. I would recommend it less to romance fans and more to female led fantasy fans, as it really leans into the fantastical and political. I hope that G. A. Aiken writes a third book (hopefully starring Ainsley) because I need to see the Smythe sisters take down Beatrix! ( )