Donna Grant has done it again! I absolutely love anything by Donna and this is no different. What's not to love about dragons?! I swooned over the MMC and loved the FMC. I loved the story as a whole and the writing was fantastic as usual! I'll forever be a Donna Grant fan!

The Bastard King was an amazing read that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. This story was full of action, mystery, suspense, magic, revenge, danger, betrayal, steamy scenes and more. I enjoyed all of the characters in this story, even the evil ones but you won't know whose truly even until the very end with a cliffhanger that will have you wanting more. Kora is determined to have vengeance against those who destroyed her family, but she never expected Derek to enter her life. Derek and Kora both have secrets they keep close to their hearts, however when those secrets and the real enemies are revealed, both of their lives are on the line and knowing who to trust becomes even harder. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the next book in this series because I need to know what happens next. Readers looking for a paranormal romance story that is action packed until the very end should not miss out on this story. It's one that I don't think will disappoint and is one I will be recommending to my paranormal romance book loving friends.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, NetGalley.

A trigger list was not included in the book. I will add my own. TRIGGER WARNING FOR INFANT/CHILD DEATH, VIOLENCE TOWARDS CHILDREN (ON PAGE), AND GORE.

I feel like the first half of this book could have been scrapped without changing the story at all. The Bastard King was my first Donna Grant book. I don't know anything about her universe. If I did, maybe I would have enjoyed this book more. There was no world-building in the first half of the book. I had so many questions: what is a Star Person? How many species are there in this world? Who can use magic? etc. I felt like the first half of the book was unnecessary; most of the world-building and plot happen in the second half.

I feel I don't know the main characters. What are their motivations? They keep repeating them, but the reader is never exposed to any emotional content from the characters' point of view that could lead to an emotional investment. I just did not care about any of the characters. On top of everything both Kora and Derek seem to have the extraordinary talent to make the wrong choice 100% of the time. How can characters be so idiotic?

I feel the romance between Kora and Derek was rushed. They sleep together before the reader gets an understanding of the world they live in. It's like Donna Grant wanted her main characters to have sex so badly that she gave up world-building in favor of many, many sex scenes. Even when the almost non-existent plot started to pique my interest, the scene was cut short for Kora and Derek to return to bed. This is the opposite of c0ck bl0cking.

The second half of the book was much more enjoyable.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY!!!! OMG! Dragons. Evil rulers. Donna Grant has outdone herself with this one. A woman that is searching for the one person that destroyed her family and village. A man who is keeping a secret that could destroy his new relationship. Sex.
Kora has been looking for the woman, Villette, that killed her family and left her alone. She doesn’t trust anyone but she might have to so she can find Villette. Derek is a dragon and has been Villette’s “toy” for years. He believes if he does what she says, she will help him release the dragons. But he never expected Kora. The moment they touch, nothing else matters. Will Derek lose her when she finds out the truth?
I really don’t want to give anything away. I can’t wait to see what else happens. This does have a cliffhanger.

* Voluntarily read and reviewed for Netgalley *

I love everything about this book, it took all the things I want from fantasy and wrapped it all up in one.

The only thing is that cliffhanger is a KILLER, waiting impatiently for book 2!

I really enjoyed this story and I thought that it was a good first book.

I thought that the story was well developed and a good setting for this new duo of books.

This is a romantic, wary, sexy story with action - and dragons!

It is 4 stars from me for this one - highly recommended!

I personally love fantasy/romance and medieval stories and happened to stumble upon this book that has all three! Lucky me :)
I really like the writing style for this book, I also like the dynamic between the main characters and the political aspects woven into this story.
It is a classic enemies to lovers trope which I adore and I think it was executed well. We have the ruthless male love interest and the intelligent female love interest. We have conflicts, political rivalries, betrayals and much more.
I feel as though the characters have great chemistry and this is definitely more of a slow burn type of book.
I just wish it was easier to know when the POV was a different person.

I must say though the cliffhanger is keeping me on edge I cannot wait to read the second book from this duology.

Overall heavily enjoyed it and I want to thank NetGalley for allowing me to read this.

Main Takeaways:
- Enemies to lovers
- Medieval
- Kingdom
- 3rd Person
- Multiple POVs

Thanks for the advanced copy! I went into this book thinking it was going to be something else, but ended up really enjoying it! I liked that up until the end they kept up the mystery. The relationship between the two main characters was entertaining! Would recommend only to those who enjoy spicy books! Can’t wait to see where the story goes next!

***ARC Review***

5⭐️ - Wow

I read this whole book in a day, and could not put it down. This book is a really interesting take on the romantasy genre, and is a book I’d recommend to fans of Fourth Wing. I really liked both of the main characters, though sometimes I found myself wondering how the FMC, Kora, has survived for so long when she makes so many little mistakes that end up snowballing into huge issues. I also really liked the MMC Derek, and am really looking forward to seeing how his character arc progresses in the next book. My only complaint is it is sometimes hard to deal with all the character perspective switching. I wish the chapters had an indication of whose perspective it was going to be written in, and maybe less of the inter-chapter chaotic switching. It just was personally a little hard to track for me, though I understand the purpose. Overall though, a really great book, and one I will highly recommend to anyone looking for their next romantasy.

I received this book as an ARC.

I really enjoyed this story and the twists and turns along the way.

I found the FMC and MMC to be interesting characters that grew as they spent more time together. It is frustrating, although realistic, when they just won’t divulge what they are going through/need.

I expected the cliffhanger but didn’t hate it and look forward to the next book.

An interesting, sexy, romantic and magical adventure between two magical creatures who are supposed to be enemies. I’m not sure where the title comes in though.