This is more of 3.5 rounded up to 4

I'm surprised there isn't more mention in other reviews about the Sexual assault, sexual abuse and the many times the main female character was dangerously close to being raped. If these are elements that don't work for you I definitely don't recommend this to you.

This particular world is very full of misogyny and just men who are absolute assholes to women. Women are sold off as debt, or because they are useless, beaten on what appears to be a regular basis by men, whether they are wives or whores who work in brothels. It very much comes off as a world where women have zero power, and that's an odd choice for a romance series in my opinion. The world is a bit confusing, but hopefully later books will clear things up. I was surprised by the ages of people in this world, I don't know why I wasn't expecting 100+ year old characters but that's a thing in this and it threw me at first. I'm not sure I fully understand how the bonded mate aspect works, it seems like it is done on basis of choice and not something forced which is a nice change. The mate symbols where strange but I think that's because there was no explanation behind them. I also don't fully understand the hierarchy system, the word mage and other variations of it such as Archmage, highmage etc. is used a lot, so it gets confusing after awhile.

Mailin is a mixed women (she is literally called halfbreed in the story) who has some healing abilities and manages to con a stronger mage from another kingdom (city? I'm not sure honestly) into marrying her so she can get away from her father who abuses her. Killian is a bondsman who works for said mage and is riddled in scars and is every woman's nightmare because he is so scary looking.

Individually the characters aren't bad, Killian does have a horrendous past and oh boy do I feel pain for him. He does come off as extremely self-depreciating which can get old after while but I understand the choice, since he is suppose to be horrendously scarred. I will say though dude can fight and I am here for the self-maiming he did to get to the women he loves. (I will take the trope of self-maiming over hurting the ones they love any day thank you very much) While Mailin's past is sad and terrible in its own way, Killian's does feel heavier in comparison. She also has lived a semi sheltered life so she does tend to make dumb choices, but as the story progresses she starts to make better choices. I also really appreciated the end with who killed off the villain of the story.

As a couple, they are cute, I loved the idea of her being attracted to a man who has only ever been turned away by women for his looks. They argued here and there and they had some annoyances with his whole "you can't be mine because i'm ugly and have nothing to give but also I did a terrible thing in the past and you deserve someone better". Overall thought I enjoyed how they fought not only to be together but fought for each other.

I loved loved loved the fight scenes. All to often I have read romance series with men who are said to be great fighters and the author gives me nothing. But Mands said let me show you how my main male character will absolutely go batshit crazy and maul and kill his opponents. I am here for it! I really hope the rest of the series has just as amazing fight scenes!

There was only one sex scene and I personally am a believer in quality over quantity when it comes to the sex in romance books, and while this scene was probably a 2 in the spice meter (for me) the length and effort put in to it made it worth the while. There are a few other make out sessions but overall I didn't feel like the author was writing just to get her characters to bang, and that's a plus for me when reading romance. The sex scene came into play when it felt like it was ready.

I'm looking forward to the next book, (mostly for some more amazing fight scenes!)