Vibes: MMF, elves!!!, guardian/ward, enemies to lovers

Heat Index: 9/10

The Basics:

Elven princess Liria is meant to inherit her father's throne—but when he dies, she's confronted with the realities of her own power, leaving a vacuum open for his friend (and her guardina) Ronan to step in. Fleeing to the human lands, Liria meets the charismatic Prince Sigurn. Torn between her long-simmering feelings for Ronan—unsure of whether she should even trust him—and her new connection with Sigurn, Liria is even more thrown when it turns out the men know each other... and the threats to her throne may be more complex than she realized.

The Review:

It's always lovely to pick up a book thinking it's a love triangle, when in fact... It's MMF! Yes yes, Sigurn and Ronan know each other INDEED, and swords do cross (quite a bit) and everyone is in love with everyone at the end, so... have no fear triangle-haters. This is the whole thing.

I don't hate triangles, so while I was happy that this turned out to be a triad romance (which I love quite a bit) I was honestly more worried about the elf thing. Elves can be really hit or miss for me—but these were ROYAL elves, and therefore I was willing to play ball.

There was really no need to fear. The elf stuff was well done, and not overly... elven. You get some politicking, some fighting for the throne, and some cool ice powers. But it's not Lord of the Rings; I mean, it's VERY far from that, all things considered. So if you're a little worried about how elfy this is going to get, I'd say that you're going to be pleased here.

I'd never read Amy Pennza before, and she has a quick, snappy, engaging writing style that pulled me in from the beginning. Her writing flows, her dialogue is fun, and I'd say that this reads pretty smoothly overall. I can't say that this is a total "one-handed read", because honestly? You get a good chunk of plot here. Like, yeah, the plot ultimately kind of leads to us getting these three into bed together, but like... There's betrayal. There are blood vows. I actually really liked some of the worldbuilding aspects. Basically: if you want your triad books to have actual substance, you'll get that here (if not quite as much as you would with, say, a Sierra Simone book).

Where I do have my quibbles are really in the character dynamics. I love poly romances. I love MMF. It is very difficult to write it without the heat being prioritized over the relationship development, which leads to one or two dynamics being emphasized over the other.

Here's where I think we had some stumbling blocks, to be honest. I was immediately drawn to Liria and Ronan's bond—if you aren't into guardian/ward stuff, then look away, because he has known her since she was a kid, and he is her dad's best friend. The book is very upfront about all of that. The thing is that this gives us a lot of layers to work with. They're conflicted, they're drawn to each other. You can feel the years of tension. To top it off? Liria is now suspicious of Ronan attempting to dethrone her, and he had does have genuine internal conflict about it.

Like, I can't say that Liria has as much depth as Ronan—he's easily the most compelling character of the three. But there's more for her to bounce off of when she's with him. There's a real trajectory the two of them must reach, a dynamic that has to overcome hurdles surrounding trust, duty, and entitlement.

Sigurn... is hot. He's Big. He's a bit rakish, but in a jolly kind of way. He tops. And yes, he has his family drama, and we know that he and Ronan have battled wills in the past. But by the time we see them together, they do have... tension, but a kind of equilibrium and acceptance of an imperfect relationship. Yes, there are a couple more steps to go, and they take them. Their dynamic is intriguing—but you don't get as much emotionally between them as you do between Liria and Ronan, and Liria and Sigurn one-on-one are honestly basically instalove and kind of boring in comparison to the other two dynamics. Ronan and Liria? Lots of conflict. Sigurn and Ronan? Lots of tension. Sigurn and Liria? Kind of just... fine. The sex is hot. There you go.

And for me, this really becomes more apparent as the story goes on. Sirgun just isn't as interesting as Ronan, and his dynamic with Liria isn't as interesting as her dynamic with Ronan, and his dynamic with Ronan is interesting, but a lot of the source of conflict has already HAPPENED.

It's not BAD, but it did kind of stick with me towards the end of the book. I got why Liria and Ronan were tangled up with each other. I sort of got why Ronan and Sigurn were all twisted up, though to be real, I felt like Ronan seemed way more preoccupied with Liria. Sirgun was just... not as important. This being an MMF book, I did have to take issue with that.

However, the story remains really fun. I was always engaged, and I breezed through the audiobook (which has good narrators all around). For a lot of people all my critiques here are not going to matter, because if you want a good time, you'll get a good time. And to be clear: I absolutely plan on reading more Amy Pennza.

The Sex:

I mean. It's really good. Each pairing in the triad gets an individual scene (I gotta say, Liria took quite a... pummeling... for an inexperienced woman in that short amount of time, but I'll chalk it up to elf stuff) plus several trio scenes. I do feel that Sigurn's status as "least interesting person here" continues into the bedroom, as he's very typical "let me tell you what to do", but hey. I'll openly admit that Ronan is probably the worst person at that bar, and boy does that make me like him more.

Overall, this is a really fun, hot romance that's perfect for those who want something high heat, fantastical, and a bit on the lighter side without being too lightweight. Don't let the elves scare you off!

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with a copy of this audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.