Author: Ember Holt

Series: The Princessess of Ruin

First Published: 30 January 2024

“Long as my body needed blood and air to survive, but not it needs only you. My heart lives inside you.”

I will start by saying that I wI will start by saying that I was given an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank so much Ember for sending a copy my way!

This is a sequel; I will try and keep my review as spoiler free as possible but just be wary if you haven’t read first book, Burtal Rivals. As while we follow a different couple, you’ll need to read the first book to understand the overarching plot.

A prophecy of ruin binds him to her.

She wants nothing more than to escape.

Lily has never been the delicate flower she was named after. She preferred silly pranks and dirty poetry to needlepoint and politics, which is why the queen sent her off to a “proper” royal academy. Now that her magic is developed and her manners are passable—barely—it’s time for her to return home and attract a powerful man to rule by her side. Except Lily doesn’t want a king or a kingdom. She wants freedom. And nothing feels more freeing than adventuring with her bodyguard, Alastair.

Alastair is an honor-bound knight, tied to a prophecy from his people, and he doesn’t experience desire. At least, that’s what he likes to tell himself. In truth, he wants nothing more than to sweep his ward off her feet and take her away to a dark corner of the world where he can keep her safe from that dark prophecy. There’s just one the prophecy states if Lily doesn’t become queen, the tentative peace in the kingdoms will crumble.

When their journey home from the royal academy lands Lily in the custody of cutthroat pirates, Alastair will stop at nothing to protect his princess. But the biggest danger of all may be Alastair himself, because if Lily doesn’t stop trying to make him break his vow of chastity, he may forget about honor and risk everything to have her to himself.

If you love the princess/bodyguard trope, Feral Guardian is the book for you! This was a lot of fun and picks up the marco plot right where the first book, Brutal Rivals, left off.

I adore that this fantasy world has a dark Victorian vibe rather than the medieval vibes we are used to in a fantasy romance. Alistair is an honour-bound knight, tied to a prophecy and a curse by his gods. His only job is to stay with the second princess and protect her all at cost as the fate of the kingdoms is at risk. The pair have been separated for four years, while Lily was shipped off to a finishing school to help learn about her magic and polish off her manners. She is now ready to return to Fynren and take her place as the heir. Now is the time for her to find a powerful husband to rule by her side. Not that Lily is all that interested in becoming queen. She would rather spend her life as a diplomat, where she gets to travel the world and keep her bodyguard, Alistair, at her side. As a knight, Alistair is supposed to be free from desire, but after seeing Lily, Alistair realises that is more than just duty that’s keeping him at Lily’s side. Queue the angsty romance.

Most of this story takes place on a road trip as Alistair is determined to keep Lily alive as he brings her back home to Fynren. They cannot trust anyone. A bounty is placed on Lily’s head. They cannot be sure if it was the Queen of Fynren, Lily’s mother, who ordered it. The whole road trip had a danger and whimsy that reminded me of The Princess Bride, which I adored. Once they pair get back to Fynren, they catch up with Lily’s assumed-to-be dead sister, Scarlett, and quickly uncover that a) Scarlett is alive and is one of the deadliest gang leaders in the city and b) their mother’s love of power might risk Lily and all her sisters’ lives.

I adore that Lily is the complete antithesis of what you expect a prim and proper princess to be. She adores dirty jokes and playing pranks. She is obsessed with learning languages and about different cultures. She could think of nothing worse than being a princess. I loved how fearless Lily is. Yes, she was terrified when she was first attacked, but after the initial shock, she does all she can to use her magic to protect her. While Alistair comes to her rescue, Lily has managed to plot half her escape. She is just a fun character to read and different to the damsel in distress or hard badass assassin female characters we normally get in fantasy romance.

Alistair is our stoic, broody knight who is willing to sacrifice everything for the fate of a prophecy. He is from a different kingdom that has Viking vibes, which I also love that we are seeing more in fantasy settings. Alistair’s cursed by one of their dark gods. Because of this curse, he can morph into this demonic beast. He has runes tattooed onto his body to help cage his demon side. He is sent on his journey to Fynre with tasks to protect the second princess, Lily, and keep her safe. He has dedicated most of his adult life to becoming a power knight and rising in the ranks to be assigned as Lily’s bodyguard. Nothing else matters to Alistair but Lily and the prophecy.

The road trip leads to the most perfect forced proximity setting and allows Lily and Alistair to explore their attraction and growing feelings. Alistair is pretty stubborn and determined to ignore his feelings for fear of having the prophecy and his life purpose ruined. This creates some delicious tension when they are forced to share one bed and travel on one horse. Thankfully, he caves and we get a ton of steamy scenes. I really enjoyed that both Lily and Alistair are virgin characters, as this isn’t a dynamic we see a lot in romances.

This series has an interesting magic system. In Fynre, people with magic are at the top of society. The type of magic and how much magic they have determines how much power they hold. Lily has learned how to utilise Runes, like what is commonly used in Alistair’s kingdom. I love the use of runes to cast spells. However, given her gift, she can merge different runes together and write them in the air to create magic. Magic is integral to this world. It helps the pair in their journey, from creating a camp to helping protect them from danger.

I adored the conclusion of Alistair and Lily’s romance. We get a taste of who the next book, Dark Artificer, will follow. It is giving me some dark academic vibes. The marco plot is pushing along. I am excited to how it continues through the series. If you are in the mood for a dark fantasy romance with a unique magic system, an interesting world and a steamy romance, I highly recommend picking up The Princesses of Ruin series.