2026 romantic fantasy, second of its series. Gerard de Moireul is the
Golden Beacon, the Empire's most popular and successful general. He's
clearly going to lead the invasion of Belravia that everyone's
expecting, so the scandalous half-fae Queen Lorelei kidnaps him from
his camp…
Enemies to Lovers is a standard romance template. But here our
principals have genuinely good reason to be enemies, so there's a
real tension: can Lorelei really win Gerard over to her side,
betraying his Imperial master, without breaking his honour?
Of course Lorelei has other problems; she takes Gerard away to the Fae
realm, but they end up having to compete in a tournament, and
gradually realise just how good a fit they are for each other. (While
also constantly observing each other for signs of weakness.) Yes, they
realise they're clearly in lust with each other, but that's something
to be controlled while preparing for the fight that will inevitably
come soon. Neither of them can afford to fall in love… even if it does
turn out that they had remarkably similar childhood trauma. Burgis
delivers on emotional complexity, rather than just everything being
solved by True Love, in a way that reminds me of why I read romance in
the first place.
Did I fall for it as hard as I did for Wooing the Witch Queen? Not
quite. But I still enjoyed every moment of it and can thoroughly
recommend it. As usual with linked series romances, there's no need to
have read the first book to work out what's going on here, though
there is some setup for the final book (not yet published).