The Shattered Moonstone (Brightstar Manor Series #1) by Patience D. Schoene; Spotlight Stolen By Witty Sarcastic Tone and Gabby Gargoyles

 The Shattered Moonstone (Brightstar Manor Series #1) by Patience D. Schoene; Spotlight Stolen By Witty Sarcastic Tone and Gabby Gargoyles

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

This review can also be found on Reedsy Discovery.

Spoilers: Patience D. Schoene’s The Shattered Moonstone, the first book in The Brightstar Manor Series, has all of the positive traits of an excellent Dark Contemporary Fantasy. However, two things elevate this book from good to extremely great. They are the sharp witty sarcastic tone that comments on and subverts the dark energy of the plot and setting and two brilliant supporting characters that steal the spotlight from their bemused protagonist.

Tamsin Greer, a private investigator has inherited Brightstar Manor in the town of Port Townsend from her deceased Uncle Sullivan. As she settles into her new home and befriends the twin caretakers, Jolvaan and Margarith, a pair of bubbly gargoyles, Tamsin discovers old secrets, hidden magic, and sinister fantastic creatures who have a few scores to settle with the Manor and its current inhabit.

This book has an ominous atmosphere and a neophyte protagonist who needs to be shown the ropes of this odd place. It operates on old fairy tale codes which exist solely in the magical world.

There are sinister creatures, such as demons and vampires, that live within and surround the house. They all have their own histories, standards, and guidelines on how to address them, ask for and grant favors, and sometimes fight against. It's enough to confuse a person and yet it's how this society operates and keeps the darkness from consuming everything.

The dark ominous tone of the setting is contrasted with a sharp sardonic wit that the narration carries throughout. The tonal division keeps the meta commentary fresh and prevents the book from getting lost in its own Gothic horror. 

Sometimes characters call events ahead of when they occur. Tamsin herself knows that she is caught up in a paranormal mystery and reacts like a person who was taught her whole life that monsters weren't real. Now she not only believes in them but has to accept that they live around her like the strangest HOA ever.

The chapters also add to the overall humor with titles such as “Gargoyles Don't Gossip (They Observe),” “Tin Foil, But Make it Fashion,” “Eight Hundred Years of Side-Eye,” and “Don't Take That Tone With Me, I'm Granite.” They are like episode titles for a sitcom from Hell.

The titles alert the reader that while there are genuine shocks and eerie plot points, the book keeps them at an emotional distance. The meta tone injects fear with a playful understanding that subverts and makes light of the plot’s events.

Another breath of fresh air is the appearance of gargoyles, Jolvaan and Margarith. I like to think that gargoyles have become prominent creatures in Fantasy Fiction because many authors, like myself, grew up with and were heavily influenced and inspired by the Disney animated series, Gargoyles.  

To see these characters who were once on the outside fringe of magical creatures gain prominence and establish themselves as defenders and protectors of households, demonic intimidating figures in appearance, and loyal and devoted caretakers is a credit to a pop culture item that still holds up well in terms of animation, storytelling, and characterization. The animated series still continues to resonate even 30+ years later in subsequent works like this one.

In this case Jolvaan and Margarith are a witty addition to this cast and steal just about every moment they are in, drawing attention away from the somewhat generic protagonist, Tamsin and are certainly far more interesting than the bland potential love interest, Naya. The gargoyle gals are a strange combination of dedicated defenders of the homestead and everybody's favorite wine aunts.

They act as plucky comic relief and providers of ancient wisdom. In one chapter, they are cleaning the house singing their own version of Salt N’ Pepa’s “Push It.” (“Clean it real good!”) In another, they offer exposition information on Tamsin’s uncle and his bargains with certain demon houses. In another, they are threatening a demonic intruder with all of their strength if they ever come anywhere near their girl, Tamsin again. 

They may be funny but remember they have sharp talons, fangs, and demonic appearances for a reason. They are also dangerous to an enemy and are not to be trifled with if crossed. They will just make themselves look fabulous and have a witty retort while doing it.

As characters Jolvaan and Margarith embody what a book like The Shattered Moonstone is. A Dark Fantasy Novel with a sharp edge that merges with the ominous energy and becomes its own commentary. 

No Room to Live by Kyle Fields; Brilliant Subversion On Alien Invasion Tropes

No Room to Live by Kyle Fields; Brilliant Subversion On Alien Invasion Tropes

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Kyle Fields’ No Room to Live isn't just aware of and acknowledges the tropes in Alien invasion Science Fiction. Instead it plays with them, confronts them, critiques them, and subverts them providing a different approach to the subgenre.

Central Pacific pilot Kup Winston survives a collision with a UFO and encounters an enigmatic alien called The Warden. Unfortunately his Good Samaritan gesture creates more problems as The Warden reveals an upcoming invasion project targeted towards Earth. 

The complex narrative moves to various locations and involves various characters, humans and aliens. Hawaii, Texas, Australia, Vanuatu, and Iceland become important strategic locations for the aliens and we see how these changes affect the characters that live there. 

Besides Kup whose original encounter becomes a catalyst for the incidents that follow, it includes Jerry Morgenstern, a Texan attorney, Leilani Damonati, a Hawaiian senator, Hildur Einarsdottir, an Icelandic guide, and Kahealani, Kup’s pregnant wife among others

 Each character goes through various emotions connected to this invasion. From confusion, to hostile suspicion, to curiosity, to empathy, to fury, to resilience in survival, to diplomatic reasoning, to adjusting to the new normal. They reflect the various choices that people would make when faced with this odd situation. 

Some would fire at the newcomers with their guns blazing. Others would at least try to communicate to find out the intent or negotiate terms. Some would welcome aliens with open arms. Others find a new minority to kick around.

 The human characters are complex and within this specific situation have to question their own positions, loyalties, values, and thoughts towards crossing boundaries and breaking laws. No matter what the alien's real intentions are, it's clear that the human race on Earth will never be the same again and many of those old structures will alter if not completely break.

The humans are not the only complex characters in the book. The aliens also are very layered. Kup’s time with The Warden reveals this. There is suspicion along with a survival instinct that Kup is near a creature that might do him harm. Then The Warden tends and cares for him revealing a softer side and we see what might become an alien-human friendship novel. 

Then something changes and we learn something different about The Warden and the aliens’ plans. Kup’s hurt is more evident because of The Warden's betrayal. Within a few chapters our perceptions of the characters change accordingly.

There are also other complications involving the aliens and their society which provide wry commentary on our own. Many of the human characters form genuine friendships with the aliens. Notably Hildur’s relationship with one of the newcomers provides a sincere contrast to the one established between Kup and The Warden. 

It's a way to demonstrate that the aliens are no more a monolith than the humans they encounter. Similar to their Earth counterparts, the aliens have different complex emotions, motives, behaviors, and thoughts about this new world and the people who dwell within it.

There are also deeper themes in the book. Aliens from outer space as a metaphor for immigration is not a new concept. It's been used in works like Alien Nation and episodes like Twilight Zone and Outer Limits among others. 

This book however runs full force with the concept exploring the different legal, political, social, moral, and ethical concerns that would appear in a situation especially if the aliens were found unsuitable in their previous worlds.

It's this stigma of aliens being outsiders in both their home worlds and here that garners the most attention in the book. The human characters learn that the aliens’ former world had very strict social structures and legal requirements over how people were supposed to look, what position they were supposed to hold, and how they were supposed to behave within them. These are impossibly high standards for anyone to hold, so the aliens’ arrival makes even more sense.

This revelation provides a bitter edge that humans may judge the aliens’ home world for these arbitrary regulations but are they any different than the ones here? In fact that makes the aliens’ arrival even more questionable that they might eventually go through the exact same situation here. 

Once again they might find themselves outside a society that refuses to accept them forever searching for a place to belong, a world that they can call home.

 

Empire's Cost Forged in Paper (The 500 Year Journey Book 2) by William H. Brothers; The Maritime Master in An Age of Peril by Michael Thomas Price

 Empire's Cost Forged in Paper (The 500 Year Journey Book 2) by William H. Brothers

William H. Brothers’ Empire's Cost: Forged in Paper is part of an exhaustive comprehensive look at 500 years of Dutch History and the impact that the country had on Europe, North America, and the entire world.

This book focuses on three generations of the Schutt Family from the 16th-15th century, a family that starts out as smiths and metal workers but become involved in business enterprises that create a network of several countries and businesses.

This book is rich in fascinating detail of the history but never loses the human impact and the personal touches that make this a story worth telling. For example we see Jansen and his father Wilhelm forge weapons. We see the process, intense labor hammering them over the anvil, and managing the fire with the bellows. We also see the stress involved in filling a large order. 

However, here is where this book goes beyond a dry recital of historical facts. We see what those weapons can do. Jansen travels to the battlefield and sees the weapons that he forged in action against soldiers on either side. He also sees what happens when a slight flaw in creation can cause great harm when it is unchecked. It definitely teaches Jansen a thing or two about hardship, violence, and to never accept slipshod work.

The approach to business is both historical and contemporary. The historical aspects can be found in the focus on Dutch products such as paper, china dinnerware, iron products, cheese, wine, and in one of the more provocative chapters tulips.

 The book goes into the legendary tulip mania and how quickly this little flower became a central figure in Dutch economy, a status symbol for the wealthy, and then just as quickly lost public interest (but still created a gorgeous landscape throughout the Netherlands). Various characters such as Jensen's son Hawk, are caught up in the windfall and the subsequent crash.

Despite the products such as paper, tulips, and other goods being transported by ship and cart, readers recognize many of the issues that are still surprisingly prevalent in modern business. Characters have to diversify their brand to keep up with the times. Some sacrifice efficiency and excellence for easy money and speedy production. 

There is added pressure to please guild officials, wealthy customers, and the general public. Some question a world that is becoming too fast, too greedy, and too connected to keep up with. No matter what time period, these issues recur throughout history and modern day. 

The Maritime Master in An Age of Peril: Based on the Life of Captain Matthew Price 1777-1821 by Michael Thomas Price 

Michael Thomas Price’s The Maritime Master in An Age of Peril is a fascinating, gripping, and revealing account of his ancestor, Captain Matthew Price who was a sailor.

The book tells of Price's early years serving under his father who was also a captain, then moves into his adulthood, his captaincy, his voyages, his crew, and various adventures traveling from one sea to the next. Even though he marries and fathers five children, it's clear that the sea is his real first home.

The book is a fascinating look at sea voyages from the 18th-19th centuries and the people who braved the waters putting their own lives, crew’s lives, cargo, and ships at risk to deliver them. It's a rough life, a thrilling one to be sure but the book makes the reader aware of the hardships.

Price travels from his native New England to Britain, Russia, France, the East Indies, China, Guadalupe, Jamaica, Bali, Turkey, and India. He experiences various countries and cultures and is changed by his encounters with them. His travels give him a larger perspective and understanding towards other people.

This is particularly noticeable in Price’s changing views towards slavery. He first becomes aware of the deplorable institution while serving under his father. He questions the practice and to his credit doesn't transport them when he becomes captain. However, he passively accepts and justifies it. 

Those justifications disappear when he encounters people from other races. He bonds with black sailors and recognizes that many people that he left behind in the United States would only see their skin color and not their loyalty, hard work, intelligence, and soul. Price's eyes are opened by his experiences voyaging around the world.

The book makes readers aware of the excitement and adventure but also the hardships in sea travel. There are moments when the voyages are monotonous and the crew are at one another's throats.

Characters develop friendships with crew members that are sometimes closer than family. Price is close to Randy who goes to sea as a child just like him. Randy ascends to first mate and his loss completely devastates Price.

One of the most harrowing and emotional chapters occurs when Price is the sole survivor of a shipwreck. His ship is torn to shreds by the foul weather and people who served under him through many voyages are suddenly lost to the ocean’s waves.

 He is left alone, ragged, thirsty, lost, and clinging to life. He barely survived the experience and only chances to survive by the kindness of strangers. This section opens up the risk and danger that such a life contains. One where you see much, experience much, but also lose much in the process.

August's Reading List

 August Reading List 

The North Doesn't Speak by Clifton Wilcox*

The Duchess With a Secret (The Montevor Royals Saga) by Alix Nichols*

The Shattered Moonstone (Brightstar Manor Series #1) by Patience D. Schoene

Empire's Cost Forged in Paper by William H. Brothers

Maritime Master in an Age in Peril: Based on the Life of Sea Captain Matthew Price 1777-1821 by Michael Thomas Price

No Room to Live by Kyle Fields 

Barside Manner by Brian Baleno 

Then Finished (Gutted, Dissolved, and Then Finished Book 3) by Anna Madorsky 

Angel Letters of Esther by C.L. Rosario 

Ex and The City by Sally Clements

The Sound of a Fallen Leaf by Shari Linn

Eyes Behind Belligerence by K.P. Kollenborn

How to Lose a Life You Love: A Memoir of Conditioning, Collapse, and Sovereignty by Mike Karame.

The Truth Chamber by Duncan Ritchie 

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Well that's it. Thanks and as always, Happy Reading.

The Girl Who Never Left by Alison Stuart; More Character and Less Mystery

 

The Girl Who Never Left by Alison Stuart; More Character and Less Mystery 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Despite the marketing towards The Girl Who Never Left by Alison Stuart focuses on a mystery, the mystery is probably the least important aspect of it. Instead it is the character development of a woman exploring a new life after the death of her husband.

Helen Morrow’s husband Charlie is killed in The Great War/WWI. Instead of returning to her native Australia, she moves into her late husband's family estate, Holdston. Helen befriends her mother in law, Evelyn and Paul, Charlie's cousin who suffers from his own war ghosts. Helen finds an old diary written by an ancestor of Paul and Charlie's depicting an unhappy marriage and some dark secrets. Helen and Paul investigate the diary's revelations as they fall in love and deal with their own traumas.

By far the most fascinating aspects of the book are Helen and Paul’s post-war struggles. It's hard to live in the present when the past is so brutal and violent.

Helen is forced to live her life in a new place surrounded by strangers. She is far from Australia and constantly feels like she is being judged. She feels out of place in her late husband's wealthy home. The formidable Lady Evelyn, Charlie's mother, hovers between domineering matriarch and welcoming grandmotherly type. Helen isn't sure whether she is welcome or not.

She makes some good friends though. Servants Sarah and Sam Pollard provide steady sources of comfort and understanding for the bereaved widow. She befriends Tony, a titled childhood friend of Charlies’, who develops an attraction to her. Her daughter, Alice thrives in Holdston.

What makes Helen’s journey profound is that of a WWI era widow starting her life over again. Even though she is in the grip of grief, depression, and mental anguish, she keeps it suppressed for Alice's sake. Being an impoverished single woman in the early 20th century, Helen can only depend on the charity of her in-laws to survive. It is a desperate situation and the reader is made to feel and understand it.

Besides Helen’s story, we also get a parallel subplot featuring Paul, Charlie's cousin and Helen's soon to be love interest. If Helen has the stress of living among strangers, Paul has to face the pain of coming home. He has to return to a life that remains the same while he came face to face with trauma, violence, and death. He would rather study archaeology in places like Mesopotamia than go home and face a family that loves him but can't understand what he is going through.

He has PTSD flashbacks of his time on the Front particularly with Charlie. He weighs his guilt, memories, shame, and anxieties of what he did and didn't do and the aftermath of those actions. Paul can't adjust to life back at home with so much baggage surrounding him.

The mystery that surrounds the book concerns an unhappy marriage, domestic violence, and the division between living one's truth and doing one's duty. It thematically shares much with the rest of the book but really it is not as important as Helen and Paul’s plots. The book could just as easily have gone without it.

Instead of focusing on a mystery, the book's true strength lies in the personal journeys of two people who have to start their lives over after being faced with death and the senseless violence of war.

The Music Box and The Missing Bride (A Salt and Cedar Antiques Mystery) by Evelyn Hartwell; Charming Gentle Cozy Mystery About Buried Secrets and Caring For Antiques

 

The Music Box and The Missing Bride (A Salt and Cedar Antiques Mystery) by Evelyn Hartwell; Charming Gentle Cozy Mystery About Buried Secrets and Caring For Antiques

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: It makes sense that in the gentle character driven world of Cozy Mysteries, antiques dealers make good amateur detectives. Both detectives and antiques dealers observe objects to find out histories of the people who encounter them. That's the premise behind The Music Box and The Missing Bride, the first volume in The Salt and Cedar Antiques Mystery series by Evelyn Hartwell. It is a charming and gentle cozy mystery that features this premise.

Mara Ellison and Tessa Bloom, proprietors of The Salt and Cedar Antiques store, know how to study, preserve, and sell antiques. At an estate sale, they reach various objects to be examined and displayed. One of them is more interesting than the others. It's a music box with a secret compartment that holds a ring. This attracts the curiosity of the two women and the music box becomes the catalyst for an investigation in the life of a woman who was stuck in a prestigious but miserable marriage and her frantic desire to escape from it.

There are some flaws in the book’s execution but it has an understanding of appraising and caring for antiques and the stories of the people who once held them.

The highlights are not the mystery but the inside look at the antique trade. This book is filled with various moments of antiques being purchased at yard and estate sales, people donating family members’ old treasures, appraising if the items are worth being sold, examining the items, checking for wear and deficiencies, seeing if it needs repair, seeing if it can be repaired without ruining it, learning the story connected to the item, selling it for the right price and moving onto another item.

It is a close up view of what for many readers is often simply a few hours of window shopping and browsing through old photographs, toys, porcelain dolls, miniatures, tchotchkes, and other items. You may wonder who owned them and what the story was behind it. Well this book provides just such a possible story.

The music box gives off that air of mystery with its secret compartment and the wedding ring hidden inside. Why would it be hidden? Who owned it? Who was meant to receive the box? Was there a hidden message connected to the box? Who was the sender and recipient, and what did the message say? Why would someone hide their wedding ring instead of wearing it? If they got cold feet and ran off, where are they now? 

The antiques portion of the book practically overshadows the rest.The main detective duo, Mara and Tessa are incredibly likeable and curious but practically interchangeable. They don't have many distinct characteristics that set them apart from each other and not much of a personal life beyond identifying, investigating, and selling antiques. 

Their only real difference is Mara is more experienced in antique selling and repair than the younger Tessa. Most of their dialogue consists of Mara showing Tessa the ropes in the antiques trade to give her and the reader important insights in how to collect, gather, and care for antiques.

The central mystery is interesting in unraveling the story behind the music box and the ring. We get a story of a woman caught between duty and love and is forced to hide her true self and actual love of her life from a disapproving judgemental public. The box and ring symbolize all that is beautiful and hidden in the name of respectability and conformity.

Since the mystery is entirely set in the past and mostly involves Mara and Tessa investigating in the present, there really isn't much in the way of suspense. The duo are never really in danger and there are no modern people threatening them from revealing the truth. In fact most people provide tips and clues and are just as fascinated as Mara and Tessa are to find out the story.

The lack of suspense makes the book kind of dull but it also gives the narrative a gentle softer approach than most mysteries, even cozy ones. It's not something to be read to keep you on the edge of your seat. Instead it lets you stay where you are in the center of the seat while reading a calming soothing antique collector’s guide and cold case mystery.

 

 

The Last Wildspeaker by Ivy Rowan, The Weight of Sunshine by Robin Maguire, The North Doesn't Speak by Clifton Wilcox, and A Duchess With a Secret by Alix Nichols

The Last Wildspeaker by Ivy Rowan 

The Last Wildspeaker is a beguiling YA Fantasy novella with a meaningful subtext about preserving and respecting nature and the environment.

In the village of Brindlewood, Mara Fern can understand animals. While that used to be considered a gift, now it's considered unlucky and could be grounds for accusations of witchcraft. Mara is told to ignore animals’ conversations and to live as normally as possible. This normal front is tested when nature has decided that it will not be ignored. Various animals hint that damaging changes are coming. It comes in the form of the Briarthing, a vine-like plant creature that crowds the forest and nearby village and holds forest spirit Elderhorn in its stems. Mara has to use the powers that she suppressed and retreat into the woods outside her village with companions, Sable, a fox, Hoot, an owl, Corbie, a raven, and Turnip, a goat to find out the root (pun not intended) of this problem.

Any book that explores nature is bound to have a strong grip on setting and this book is no exception. It carries a deep respect for nature through the character interactions and the important prominence of plants and animals to the narrative. When Mara hears the conversations of animals, she realizes that they have human arguments, frailties, and vulnerabilities making them a part of the society around them.

Much of the humor derives from these animal conversations. A squirrel insists on territorial rights for his acorns. Turnip the goat brags about how delicious that he finds the mayor’s declarations are (since he’s a goat that’s not metaphorical). A cat critiques his human’s fashion sense. Chickens argue incessantly. A dog just wants biscuits. 

These conversations could come from humans surrounding her and that’s the point. Animals just want someone to listen to them and take their concerns into consideration. Just because they serve as workers, food, predators, prey, or companions to humans doesn’t mean that they don’t have opinions on how humans run things. 

Mara’s time with her animal companions is the highlight of the book as each character is fleshed out. Turnip is a lazy obstinate goat whose sarcastic barbs and “whatever” attitude provide much of the humor. Corbie the raven insists that he’s a prince and is a complete narcissist who has particular views about his plumage, nest, titles, and self-importance. 

Hoot the owl is, like many owl characters in fiction, very wise but his knowledge is tempered with memory lapses that sometimes result in important information being delayed while he tries to remember it. Sable the fox is a charismatic and courageous team leader but is trying to live up to the very large luminous shadow held by his god-like adopted father, Elderhorn who needs to be rescued. 

At the center is Mara who is now thrown into a situation in which the abilities that she once suppressed are now the keys to saving her village. She is overwhelmed by nature’s chatter but realizes her importance as the current bridge between the village and the forest to find out what is affecting both locations and what must be done,

Not just the animals but plants are affected as well. The Briarthing creeps into the village  and crowds those around them leaving a terrifying and sorrowful presence. Mara investigates the presence and learns exactly what caused this disturbance. She learns that human arrogance and error created their own monsters and now are choking under the consequences. 

It’s not hard to recognize this story as a metaphor for climate change and human-caused destruction towards nature followed by natural disasters as though they were from a planet fighting back.Sometimes the theme is a bit on the nose. 

But it is also easy to see that Mara is supposed to represent us, those who are charged with hearing, listening to, and cooperating with nature to find the solutions that will rescue and benefit all of us. 

 

The Weight of Sunshine by Robin Maguire 

The Weight of Sunshine by Roban Maquire is a deeply poignant and affecting Contemporary Fiction novel about a love story. Oh not a romantic one between lovers. Instead the love story focuses on a long lasting mostly platonic friendship between a man and a woman.

Jackson “Jax” Hart and Nina Welbourne-Rhodes, both from privileged backgrounds, meet in college and maintain a long friendship. Despite debating whether straight men and women can ever be friends and giving into their impulses a few times, the friendship remains constant. Through marriages, job changes, relocations, children, and other massive life changes, Jax and Nina remain constant steadfast presences in one another’s lives.

This is the type of novel that is filled with interesting characters with Nina and Jax as the most developed and fully realized. They have similar backgrounds of wealth and privilege. The type of upbringing where they were born at the finish line and their family names carry a lot of weight. It’s a background that is rich in material goods and economic advantages, but not so in personal experience or individual agency.

 Nina in particular struggles with this as she purposely goes to a different college than intended, chooses an unplanned career trajectory, and lives like other students. It’s somewhat performative as she still retains contact with her family as a family emergency shows and if she gets tired of living a frugal life, she can always go home. But, the fact that she even makes this decision shows a resilient independent need to make her way in the world her own way. 

Jax also shows resilience during his marriage to Penny, a bright but troubled woman. He endures his personal misery while also helping his brother and his friends like Nina with their problems. He is a steady rock for other characters even as his own personal life crumbles. 

In fact it is Nina’s independence and Jax’s endurance that attracts them to each other and keeps their friendship alive. During their reunions, they have insightful conversations about love, life, and death. Their witty dry humor bounces off each other as they are faced with youthful philosophy and adult practicality. 

The book loses its luster during the half-way point when what started out as a platonic friendship becomes predictably romantic. There are some decent moments after this. They continue to support each other. They shine as a duo just as much as individuals, but the set up of a platonic friendship is lost. In trying to prove the point whether a heterosexual man and woman could be platonic friends, it deconstructs it by saying that they can’t because sex, love, and family always inevitably get in the way.

The North Doesn't Speak by Clifton Wilcox 

Coming soon both here and on Reader Views.

A Duchess With a Secret (The Montevor Royals Saga) by Alix Nichols 

This is a summary. The entire review is on LitPick. 

A Duchess With a Secret is a halfway decent contemporary romance with an old fashioned historical feel. However, it runs far too long, gets too repetitive, and doesn't accomplish much in the way of deep characters, vibrant setting, or an interesting plot.

Eva Castellane’s daughter, Millie is set to become the Duchess of the fictional country of Rohinn. Eva is prepared to help the 14 year old claim her birthright and advise her to make the transition to leadership run smoothly. Unfortunately, Alex, Eva’s late husband's half brother also has a claim to the title and is prepared to challenge Eva and Millie for it. Eva and Alex’s rivalry turns into a romance just as Eva's history compromises Millie’s ascension before it even starts.

The central conflict between lovers-to-be Alex and Eva is a composite of historical power struggles for leadership and Regency Era enemies to lovers tension. It is verbose, witty, and has its share of dramatic moments. 

Much of the trauma is revealed as Eva discusses her troubled marriage which was quite different from what the public saw. She also reveals a private medical struggle that affects her family and the genetic complications that it can cause for future generations. 

There are moments both individually and as a couple in which Alex and Eva reveal more developed sides. They work stronger together than apart. When they get along, they have great ideas and could decently lead Rohinn as a duo. 

The book plays into the “Enemies-to-Lovers” trope but resolves it early before the characters recognize it. Once realized there isn't anywhere else for the book to go. The plot goes around in circles with the same arguments and conflicts. Once they see the resolution, they get back in the game and show those leadership skills that will guide Millie and Rohinn effectively.