When an orphan girl is determined to become warrior legend, but first she has to convince the royal court that she’s worthy… and her escort is a curmudgeonly warrior who doesn’t have time for her sh!t. This audiobook had me up until the early hours of the morning wanting to know what comes next.

This book has all of the ingredients for a solid fantasy romance- interesting magic, overthrowing of patriarchal rules, curmudgeon mentor/love interest, found and true family, and long buried secrets… I found myself cheering for Althea from page 1 and loved to hate Wilder as soon as we met him. No spoilers, but their slow burn is done so well and I can’t wait for more in Vows & Ruin!

Let me start by saying that I liked the narrators of this book. The audio version was done well.
Now to the story itself. There was just something missing for me. I did like it, and enjoyed reading it but I can't give it more than 4 stars. After reading "Slaying the Shadow Prince" by the same author I was happy to see more of Wilder but his character fell a bit flat for me. The romance between the two MC's was just "fine" in my opinion. I felt the story was a bit predictable (which is fine) but there was nothing earth shattering for me. Overall it is a good story and I did enjoy it but I don't think it was a stand-out for me and the characters weren't overly remarkable.

I will continue to read other books by Helen as they are entertaining.

Thank you NetGalley, Dreamscape Media and Helen Scheuerer for access to the the Audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.