Two young women living a thousand years apart struggle to understand their place in the world and an ancient prophecy that could change the world as they know it--for worse and for better. Rielle has powers unlike anyone else in the world-- powers the likes of which haven't been seen, even in the time of the Saints. When she's discovered, she is forced to face a series of seven trials, testing her affinity for each form of elemental magic, to determine if she is the prophesied Sun Queen, destined to save them all, or the Blood Queen who will bring their doom. Long after the downfall of Queen Rielle, whose actions lead to the end of magic and the rise of the Empire, Eliana is a bounty hunter just trying to get by in a world that would just as soon see her dead. But she had an important role to play, too, and when her mother is kidnapped and she is caught up in a mission with the rebels she has long hunted, she begins to realize the world is not exactly as it seems to be.

This is exactly the kind of fantasy I want to read. High-stakes adventure and interesting magic, a smattering of creatures and a dash of romance, strong friendships and family ties, ancient prophecies and complex, morally ambiguous characters on the path of either redemption or downfall. I really liked the premise of these two parallel (and interconnected) stories playing outside by side, a thousand years apart. It did, at times, fall prey to that common issue of split-narrative books where one or the other would become less interesting, and I would be disappointed to see the POV switch. But for the most part I really enjoyed seeing both stories and perspectives, and by the end was really engaged with both. And, interestingly, my favorite POV / storyline had actually switched by about halfway through the book.

I think this has a lot of potential as a fantasy series and is a really great introduction to this world that Legrand is building. It's definitely a story of epic proportions (if the magic and fantasy and thousand-year time jump didn't clue you in) and even though we're told very early on how some of it ends, I still can't wait to see exactly how events play out to get us there-- especially because I have a suspicion that nothing is quite as straightforward as it seems. A thoroughly fun read that I stayed up too late to finish. I'd definitely recommend it for YA and fantasy fans.

WOW!!! That’s how you start a book! This story took off like a rocket and pulled me in at hyper speed.
As the ancient prophecy foretold, Furyborn tells the tale the Sun Queen and the Blood Queen; one will bring down the gates preventing sinister angels from destroying all of mankind and the other will save them all.
This saga features two main characters, over 1,000 years apart, each struggling to control their own immense power of elemental magic which could save or destroy the world. I equally relished and anguished over alternating character voices from chapter to chapter as their stories unfolded.
This book features strong woman characters in an intense and dangerous world brimming with magic, war, intrigue, dark villainy, prophecy and romance.
It was a wild ride. I enjoyed it immensely and look forward to its continuation eagerly.

WOW. Furyborn drew me immediately into a story that spans one thousand years in a world where angels do not have humanity's best interests at heart and prophesy is coming true.

Furyborn is set in the mythical world of Aritas and is told from two points of view in an alternating narrative:
--Rielle is a queen of years past in a time where magic was rare. Those that could wield used castings and could only control one element... Rielle needs nothing but her anger to wield all seven. When she is forced to make her abilities known to save someone else, she undergoes trials to prove herself.
--Eliana is a bounty hunter in Ventera 1,000 yeqars later, serving the Undying Empire to protect her family. She has a unique ability that no one but her brother knows about. Magic isn't a thing anymore, and she lives in a world where the legends of Rielle are looked upon as myth rather than history. When she gets an assignment for the Empire, things get a lot more complicated.
--(Okay three POVs if you count 8 year old Simon in the opening chapter)--Simon is a marque, the product of an angel and human. Marques have special abilities but must live in secret.

"Two Queens will rise.
One of blood. One of light.”

I really love narratives that begin with "the end;" where something happens and then it flashes back in time so you can trace the events to led to that moment. When done well this is an incredibly powerful tool, and it is executed nicely here but left me wanting for more. This is a fast-paced and action filled tale that builds its own mythos and puts a spin on the "angelic nature" of angels. I had a tough time putting it down, even though I got a bit lost in some of the action scenes! Nearly every chapter ended with a cliffhanger (ugh!), and while I found myself annoyed at times with the shifting perspectives I did not find it necessarily difficult to follow.

The worldbuilding on the surface is incredibly interesting: religious, political, magical and social components are all alluded to as the story progresses; however, I do feel that a lot of the worldbuilding was sacrificed for action-packed fight scenes (which I started skimming about halfway through). Plot developments were easy to guess but not in a way that felt annoyingly cliche and obvious, and overall I was ravenous to piece more together. Unfortunately I am a bit disappointed that two important historical things never are explained, and that gap lessened my reading experience for me. If I am being honest with myself, it's likely because I was invested in the romance between Audric and Rielle... and I wanted more answers there. 💘💘💘 It is worth noting that there are a couple of tasteful sex scenes, which I personally don't associate with YA, but consent is well depicted here and I think that is sososo important.

Because the book starts with the end (and a new beginning), as the reader you know where the story is going. You know which MC is which queen in the first pages of the book but the mystery is in the journey they take to get there. There is still so much story to tell here and I look forward to learning more about what happened with Rielle in those 2 years, as well as what happens in the future for Eliana.

Cashes in well on fantasy trends in YA, with some dashes of dystopia. Would recommend for slightly older teens.

Fans of YA fantasy should enjoy Furyborn. It's a fast paced fantasy that keeps the reader on their toes throughout. Legrand's opening scene draws the reader in right away as we witness an intense birth and escape scene that really grabs the reader's attention and keeps them engaged chapter after chapter.

While the whole thing works well, personally, I'm not sure that this is my favorite YA Fantasy - it employs all the usual elements, dual narrative, the special character who has the abilities she shouldn't have, unknown pasts, etc. The concept is pretty similar to other titles in the genre, obviously with it's own spin. I enjoyed this enough to read the sequel - and while it's well done, I'm thinking that this is the type of book that will need a cohesive series to really shine.

I hardly know where to begin to review "Furyborn". It is epic, and certainly destined to be a classic YA fantasy. It pulled me in immediately and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The story alternates between two main characters, Eliana and Rielle, living hundreds of years apart yet somehow bound together by fate. These are two strong female characters. They are independent, strong-minded, and each is blessed (or cursed) with unique gifts.

The world building is pretty fantastic, and the story zips along with never a dull moment. I couldn't decide which characters to love or hate, as they were all so fully developed with different facets to their personalities.

I can't wait to buy this for our library, to recommend it to students--and to read the next book in the series!

i received an ARC through netgalley.

it's really strange to read an entire book, one that's action-packed and fast-paced, and not care about any of the characters. legrand creates an exciting, dangerous world that doesn't always make sense but certainly holds a lot of potential, and i'm sure it'll be expanded upon in the next two installments.

furyborn follows rielle and eliana, two young women over 1,000 years apart. one is the destined queen and the other an assassin, notorious for her bodycount. both must save their people from the threat of war and of angels. and while it's clear that legrand loves these women, it was really hard for me to feel the same. they were never quite real enough for me, both resting too comfortably in the realm of "i'm the savior so i can do anything".

and listen. we need to discuss the bisexual "representation" because it doesn't exist okay. y'all can fight with me on it but one statement about having sex with a chick doesn't make you bi and eliana doesn't once talk about/refer to another woman romantically or sexually again for the rest of the novel. so if any of you, like me, came into this hoping for something more than that, you are sadly mistaken.

the mythology that legrand creates is interesting, too, though confusing. the way the book jumps timelines often makes it hard to keep things straight, especially since the magic has changed so drastically in the 1,000 years or whatever. there's magic and angels and these half-breed magic things and none of it is expanded upon enough for everything to be clear. it leaves the reader in the dark and a little muddled, but if you just accept it, it's easy to kind of... skim over.

but all in all, this book has a lot of action. there's always something happening, and it's pretty exciting. the action is engaging. there's romance, a little smut, and plenty of angst. all in all, it should create an ideal novel, but it falls flat somewhere in the character development side. the only characters that aren't completely one-dimensional are eliana, rielle, and simon? but? don't quote me on that last one.

anyway! i'd recommend this book to people, certainly, especially if you're looking for something quick and interesting; if you give the book too much thought it falls apart, so don't go in looking for something deep that makes perfect sense. just save yourself the trouble.

A in-depth fantasy novel showing strong female characters, whose lives are a 1,000 years apart, but history connects them....and their life trials. First in a trilogy, so expect a cliffhanger ending.

This book was great, and hard to put down! We have two queens one is wicked, the other one is blessed. The story goes back and forth between these two queens, past and present. Bits of information given and we have to figure out how they fit into the story. I can't wait for the next book!

I stopped reading at the 25% point. I didn’t like either of the leads, and I didn't feel that any of the themes were new or fun.

4 stars

I really enjoyed this one.

I know I can always count on Claire Legrand to write something that isn't like the ordinary YA--whether it's a twisted Nutcracker retelling or a tale of queens across thousands of years.

This is different enough from your regular YA fantasy that it makes it compelling, but similar enough that it will attract a solid fanbase. There's lots of typical elements in it--magic powers, royalty, political intrigue, and assassins--but there's also that Legrand sort of twist to it that makes it interesting to me.

This book is very much dedicated to building the world and introducing the whole topic. When I look back at it, it feels almost as if it was introducing the whole idea of the queens and the angels invading and nothing big or extraordinary happened--although things did happen.

Rielle goes through a lot proving herself as worthy and although a sort of The Thousandth Floor sort of spoiler goes on at the very beginning where Rielle's whole ending is spoiled, you don't really understand the context until the end of the novel.

On the other hand, Eliana finds herself in a tricky situation and learns about herself along the way.

So both women have their own storylines in the book, but the major thing with the fight against the angels doesn't actually happen in this book! Which is cool because it is a series and stuff needs to happen for other stuff to happen, but I did feel like it took a very solid amount of time for the actual "Angels have invaded! Ahh!" part to happen.

Still, I enjoyed how Legrand worked with the two points of views and time periods and managed to connect everything together, and I definitely think she still has a lot in store for us.

What I wasn't a fan of was the structure. At the end of each chapter, it's usually something that is a cliffhanger or similar to one--so it cuts off right when Rielle is about to, say, go into battle, and switches a thousand years later to Eliana. And then Eliana's chapter gets cut off right as an alarm bell sounds. Stuff like that.

And while I understand that this can help build the suspense and hook the reader in, that doesn't mean it has to happen in every. single. chapter. Thankfully, it didn't feel like a cop-out on Legrand's part (like in Empress of a Thousand Skies where Belleza cut off at a cliffhanger and then resumed after the action ended) as we did get to finish the scene, but I did find it annoying when I was reading and kind of aggressive? on the author's part.

I wanted it to go a little more smoothly between chapters and this just made me all around tense, which isn't exactly how I wanted to read the book.

I still really enjoyed reading, more so than a lot of other fantasies which have managed to blur together for me, and it kept me engaged throughout the whole story with good pacing and (alright, I admit the cliffhanger thing did work, although I'm not too happy about it) the plot.

There's also diversity (besides just racial) as Eliana talks about her past lovers who have been of more than just the male gender. Do keep in mind that there is one somewhat explicit (still not SJM level explicit, but more than a fade to black) sex scene so it might be better for younger readers to take caution.

But overall, I think Furyborn is a very promising start to a new YA fantasy series and I hope that it keeps up this momentum with its future books, which I am looking forward to reading!

Unfortunately this wasn't a book for me. From the first scene in the book I was lost as to what was going on. I continued on hoping to get into the book but never did. I was forcing myself to keep reading. The characters weren't really interesting and the story had quite a few plot holes. It just wasn't my type of story.

Rielle has a huge secret, that with the help of her father, she has tried to keep hidden. When Prince Audric's life is threatened, she'll do anything to save the man she loves, even reveal her secret.

A thousand years later, Eliana has her own secret. One that is to her advantage considering she works as an assassin for hire. Eliana only knows of Rielle from the stories/legends her young brother Remy collects. Mostly she dismisses them as one would dismiss fairy tales. When a job goes wrong and she is forced to switch alliances, Eliana finds herself reconsidering the validity of these tales.

This story spans a thousand years and is alternately told from Rielle's and Eliana's perspective. Other than their unusual powers, there appears to be little to link the two women. One a queen and the other a paid assassin, what could they have in common other than a love for their country.

Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me. I couldn't identify with either young woman. They remained strangers to me. I didn't feel as though I had learned any of the intimate things that a friend or confident would know. I didn't really care about either of them. I struggled to finish the final chapters even though they were exciting and contained dramatic plot developments.

spoiler: the biggest detractor of the book was the inclusion of angels. They are a type of character I don't enjoy and prefer not to read about. If the author had included some other race of being it would have increased my enjoyment.

This was a absolute page turner that had a good mythos and world and complex characters. I can't wait for the next one to come out so I can find out more about the story.

I was lucky and received an ARC of Furyborn from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I’m a little late on posting this, but here it goes.

I’ve previously read Claire Legrand’s Winterspell. I didn’t exactly love it, but I didn’t hate it either. When I first heard about Furyborn I knew I had to read it. With Furyborn Legrand was playing with all of the tropes that I love, things that have appeared over and over in my own writing. The premise was interesting and it hit me with a massive wave of nostalgia. This was the type of story that would have kept younger me up all hours of the night reading. That feeling is a high that I’ve been chasing for what feels like years. Despite my previous reading experience I went into this book with high expectations.

Before I say anything, understand that Furyborn is a massive undertaking. I have nothing but respect for Legrand for trying to tell this story. This novel has to serve as an introduction to the trilogy and set up two very different and complicated worlds. These worlds have to different enough to stand out from one another but similar enough that you can believe that they fall in the same timeline. Events that happen in the past (the Rielle timeline) have a ripple effect to the future timeline (Eliana’s timeline, set 1,020 years later).Not only that, this alternating timelines per chapter has to be able to work for the rest of the novels in the series. Legrand manages to not play all of her cards, leaving room for the past timeline to develop without spoiling the surprises in the future timeline and vice versa. It’s dizzying.

The two main characters of Furyborn are Rielle and Eliana. Rielle is the daughter of the General and has grown up in close quarters with the Crown Prince and his betrothed. She also harbours a secret: her magical gift is extraordinary. Unlike everyone else she has mastery over more than one element of magic and she doesn’t need an object to help her channel her power. She has kept her powers secret until the Prince is attacked and she instinctively blows her cover to rescue him. The Crown and the Church then force her to undergo challenges to prove her control over her abilities and loyalty to the Crown.

Rielle is ambitious and slowly comes into her own over the novel. Her repression of her powers have affected all aspects of her life. She feels the need to not only prove herself to the world, but for vengeance against those that have wronged her. Rielle’s story is tragic in this sense because the reader knows that her actions will eventually bring about the end of her world. No matter how hard she is fighting against the darker sides of her personality to be a good person she will ultimately fail. Only time will tell how much of her monstrous legend is truth versus exaggerated by hundreds of years of it being retold.

Then there is Eliana, right from the start she is introduced as a morally grey character. She’s a bounty hunter for the Empire, tracking down rebels and turning them over to the authorities. Legrand makes it clear that Eliana isn’t exactly loyal to the Empire, she only is looking out for her family, her actions do make her complicit and she lives with the guilt. I found Eliana’s character the most interesting but her narrative felt a little forced. Her story starts when she is approached by the rebel leader Wolf. He offers to help her find her missing mother if she helps him rescue a Princess. Which she does. As an inciting incident goes I don’t understand why Eliana accepts with no offer. One does not just decide to work with their greatest rival. I understand it gets the plot moving but wouldn’t it make more sense for her to go to the Empire? Which she does later and at that point it feels kind of forced.

I can’t decide which timeline and story I like more. Rielle’s is full of magic with a heavy religious presence. The multiple temples in her city representing specific Saints and the magical abilities that they wield. Then there is Eliana’s timeline centuries in the future where magic no longer exists and the world has been conquered by the Undying Empire. Eliana’s world reminded me of the vibe of the Dishonoured game series which felt like a nice change from the usual fantasy setting. I love seeing a fantasy world taken past the usual medieval world into a Renaissance-like era. Eliana’s world had a more gritty lived in feel. The majority of the people seem to have accepted their fate as a conquered nation. I’m a sucker for stories where the villain has already won and the heroes have to fight that extra mile. Yet I was still interested in Rielle’s world and wanted to know more about the way the religious orders were structured and how that affected the rule of the country and the daily lives of the people.

With Furyborn you get the best of both worlds: the standard fantasy novel with an idealized world and then an inversion of it. Knowing the future adds a level of tragedy to Rielle’s story but that also makes the reader root for Eliana’s success more.

This novel is not perfect. Besides the awkward iciniting incident for Eliana’s story, sometimes the pacing is off. Every once in a while the story would drag for ten to twenty pages while groundwork would be laid. Rielle’s trials also slow the plot right down. It felt like Legrand spent more time describing Rielle’s trial outfits than actually describing her experiences in the trials. Yet, my overall interest kept me coming back for more. I wanted to see how the story would end and that got me through the slower bits.

Furyborn left me with a lot of questions I desperately want answers for. How did the country of Celdaria lose to the Empire? How was the Empire formed? What happened during the first angel war? What does the Empire do to make the adatrox so alien? SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Furyborn was a bit of a hot mess, but in the best way possible. Legrand loves this story and it really shows. Because Legrand is passionate, it’s easy for the reader to be as well. This series shows a lot of promise and if it only delivers on half of it, it will be worth it. There’s a lot more than I want to talk to about but that involves some serious spoilers, so look forward to that after this book releases next month. if you love fantasy battles on a cosmic scale, then you have to pick this one up.


GOOD POINTS
- Two very distinct but related worlds in the two different timelines
- Interesting magical system and technological developments
- Good balance between the action, adventure and romance
- Story kept me interesting and wanting to come back
- Distinct character voices

NEGATIVE POINTS
- Eliana's story feels a little forced in the beginning
- The trail system felt like it weighed the book down, specifically the paragraph long focus on Rielle's outfits
- Pacing can be off at times
- Some of the explanation in the later half was unclear, had to read a few times.

NUMBER RATING
PLOT - 7
CHARACTERS - 7
SETTING - 9
WRITING STYLE - 7
ENJOYABILITY - 8
AVERAGE TOTAL: 7.6

TL;DR SUMMARY
Furyborn is a solid introduction to the Empirium trilogy.. It feels like Claire Legrand took everything she has loved in previous stories and threw it at a wall to see what stuck, and it worked. Furyborn creates an interesting world filled with complicated characters that keep you coming back for more. If you love grandiose fantasy series then this one should be on your radar.

Posted to Death of the Author Reviews April 15

I received an e-galley of Furyborn from the publisher through netgalley. That did not alter my review.

5/5 Stars
Furyborn is told in alternating point of views between Rielle and Eliana. Eliana's timeline is over 1000 years after Rielle's timeline. At first I thought this may get annoying or confusing, but each chapter is headed with the character it's following. They also are very obviously different. And each chapter ended with a minor cliffhanger so I'd have to read TWO more chapters to continue (and because I never stop mid chapter). That definitely kept me reading and kept my interest!

As for the characters, I didn't really connect with Rielle as much as I would have liked, I connected way more with Eliana and preferred her chapters. I did like the supporting characters in Rielle's chapters quite a bit though which helped a lot.

The magic in the world was really interesting, but I feel like Rielle's magic was explained more than anybody else's and I would love to learn more about what makes the way she can use hers so special. It was kind of explained here and there but not fully.

I really enjoyed this book and I am looking forward to continuing the series!

I would give this title more of a 2.5 stars but rounded up because the beginning was super strong. The opening of this book was amazing and riveting, couldn't wait to read more. Then the middle chunk of this book was lacking in so many things, from interest, to plot, it just bogged me down. I didn't connect much to either character, although I liked Rielle better, just because she was complex. Just had a hard time staying interested in the whole story. It started strong, and didn't deliver what I was hoping. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

Furyborn tales the story of two Queens, one who will doom the world and another who will save it.
Rebellious Lady Rielle lives in a world of people who can control the elements, but she does not know the force of her powers until she sneaks away from her father. Despair leads to trials and Lady Rielle must come to terms that she may just be the star of the prophecies of her world. The book alternates between the story of Rielle as well as the other mentioned in the prophecy. But right and wrong, good and evil are not as clearcut as the stories of the world would have you believe.
I love this book. It was exciting and kept me turning pages. I just wanted to know what would happen next to Rielle and what really happens in her life. I deducted one star because the second story was not as engaging or the character as likable until about the last three chapters of the book. I usually justed wanted to get back to Rielle's story as it was the most engaging and kept me on my toes.
That being said, I am ready for the next book and to see what happens to the two heroines.

3.5 stars

I received a copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

I received this book in the end of December when it already had a huge hype about it, it still has to this day, so I went into the story with high expectation. I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t love the story as much as others but there is a reason for it.

I didn’t know how rate this book because it basically two stories woven into one book, as the two POVs play out a thousand year apart and tell the tale of two different girls. And honestly I loved one of those point of views and I would give that one 5 stars in a heartbeat, while I kinda hated the other one and I would barley give it a 3 stars so that’s how the 3.5 rating happened. But let’s start at the beginning.

The writing is phenomenal, not overly flowery, but colorful, vivid and really engaging. The story sucked me in with the first chapter. It is a long book but it wasn’t a hardship to read at all.
The first chapter, which is basically a prologue kinda thing, is the little gems that connect the two POVs, however in my opinion at the same time it tells to much about the Rielle’s story. But it is necessary because other than this there is only an invisible thread connecting the two sides of the book.
As for the world building, the map at the beginning of the book was a huge help because the details of the world come into play really late considering their importance. For probably 20% of the book I had no freaking idea what was going on with a world so complex, where the plot builds so heavily on the workings of the society it can be a huge problem or as it was for me an irritating obstacle to fully immerse myself into story. However after thing regarding the world started to clear out and became more put together you could see the creative genius behind it. I loved every little detail of it and how they connected into an intricate and rich creation, especially with the cool elemental magic. Although I found it a bit strange that there weren’t definite indicators when it came to the world between the two times, I mean in a 1000 years not much changed technologically and such and that was just a bit unbelievable for me.

Before I get to the individual POVs I need to mention one more thing that bothered me. I understand that the author wanted to lead the two storyline parallel that’s why the alternating but the changes between them, was abrupt and almost always in the middle of some action or important even that it interrupted the flow of the plot in a bad way. Because of this the whole book felt bit like it’s stilted.

Rielle’s story

I didn’t like her POV, but mostly because of her character. After the ‘prologue’ where she already painted a bad picture about herself I still went into the story giving her the benefit of the doubt, feeling that there must be some good reason behind her actions. Unfortunately, her personality quickly soured my mood. And while the idea of a flawed heroine has a lot of potential but for me Rielle’s is just one that rubs me the wrong way, she is so arrogant, manipulative, conniving and shallow in a way, her sole focus is getting what she wants no matter who she prowls over for it. I got that she felt restricted and that was the fault of her father and teachers but the way she wanted everybody to love her and bow down to the all mighty and powerful Rielle was just annoying. She loved the spectacle around her, rejoiced because of it and ignored the obvious warning signals and clues in favor of her wants and needs. The best way I could describe her is a young child trapped in the body of a goddess who if doesn’t get her throws a world shattering temper tantrum. I tried to look for some redeeming qualities in her but didn’t find any.

“They will love me. All of them will.”

“I want……I want. I need. I crave.”

And don’t even get me started on the whole romance in it, that was just as equally bad as the rest of her character.
So there were things that I liked about her side as well. While the plot wasn’t overly complex or dynamic, it was more about the royal machinations, secrets and intrigue, it was a bit tedious for me, I found the descriptions of the trials quite enjoyable, colorful and imaginative.

Eliana’s story:

While neither of the heroines is easily or instantly likeable, they are both conflicting characters. I loved every minute of Eliana‘s part. She is just as flawed her counterpart but she is honest about it and I loved that. At first glance she is a hard ass, an aggressive, blood thirsty and somewhat cruel but after getting to know her better it turns out that she is just an angry and afraid girl who is willing to sacrifice everybody and everything to survive and save her family. She is the perfect representation of the most humane reaction. Every time her emotions come up she runs and tries to drown them she is a bit of a coward that way but she also goes through quite a character development along the way.
Her storyline is starts out a bit slower and has a completely different atmosphere and dynamism I still loved it more. For me it has more of an appeal, it was more interesting and complex. I also found the supporting characters diverse in personality and especially adored the rapport between Eliana and Simon which in my hopes later on going to turn into something more.

Furyborn follows the stories of two women in different periods of time and how their stories connect to form an ancient prophecy about the fate of their world. I loved this book. I think stories like this that bounce between characters from different time periods are always so fascinating to read for me, The pacing was really intense too. Every time I reached the end of a chapter, I had to keep going to find out what would happen next, especially because each chapter alternated between stories. I was so attached to what was going on both with Rielle and with Eliana so I wanted to know more from both of them. I really love that we start with the day that Rielle gives birth and sends her daughter away to protect her and then we go back with her story and watch some of the progression of how she ended up at that point. I'm glad that Eliana learned the truth of where she came from and was relatively accepting of the truth rather than having that be a long drawn out plot point because she is going to have a lot to deal with in whatever comes next for her story. I can't wait to read the next one and see what happens next!