While I quite liked Adanel, the heroine of this book, the hero Dugan was a complete and utter A double S hole. I just could not with his blaming Adanel for everything. She TOLD HIM that her father was a powerful, abusive, dangerous man who butchered the first man she wanted to marry before her eyes, Dugan literally had to rescue her from a tower where she’d been locked up for months, and then he insisted on believing she was in league with her father all along.
Adanel got in at least three brilliant ego-demolishing speeches to Dugan in the book, but unfortunately it appeared he didn’t listen to a single word of any of them, and didn’t believe any of what she said until it was confirmed for him… by other men. This is one of the most horrible things men do and it’s extremely unheroic behaviour. Despite this, Adanel still practically swoons every time he touches her, even though there’s one scene which is very forced-consent and made me deeply uncomfortable.
Despite the hot mess of the romance in this book, it does have its good parts; Adanel’s above-mentioned speeches are actually brilliant and deserved a much better reaction from the horse’s behind she had for a love interest, and the inter-clan political wrangling actually felt extremely realistic. Those are the only things that salvage this from the bottom of the barrel. Two stars.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review through NetGalley.