Content warnings: violence/war/injury, prejudice against a tribe (due to their hair color and way of life) and people with leprosy, cannibalism, animal death, implied/foreshadowed/unrequited incest (adopted siblings).

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Enemy's Keeper: Forbidden Ties follows Heather, a young woman who works as a watermill keeper and generally keeps to herself. She is caught between three opposing sides: the Normans, English rebels, and a fictional tribal society. Desperate to find her 'childhood sweetheart' Spencer, Heather instead discovers she may not have known him so well after all. Will the unraveling secrets and mysterious strangers affect her loyalties and alliances?

Pros:
• This was a fast read!
• I liked Toby! He was the wittiest and most dynamic character to me, and I felt a desire to learn more about his past and his connections to the other characters.

Cons:
• I knew upfront there would be a cliffhanger, but the plot of book 1 felt mostly like Heather running away from the different groups of people and then the book ending.
• I think this would have been more enjoyable as a Middle Grade! Heather reminds me a lot of myself/my friends at age 12-15 in terms of emotional maturity. This would have better explained how blatantly and obliviously one-sided her love for her "childhood sweetheart" was and why she so often ran away from all situations instead of considering her options/what others had to say.
• Some things didn't make sense to me personally, such as how a character could hang upside down for nearly a day and be perfectly fine afterward, how some of the characters didn't bleed to death in different scenarios, or why Matthew was significant enough to need a POV. I am, however, not a medical professional and it's possible Matthew is the main character in a future book!

People who might enjoy this book: fans of alternative medieval history, short adventure reads, and slow-burn romance!

I got to read Enemy’s Keeper as part of a book tour and received a copy from NetGalley as a read now! Enemy’s Keeper: Forbidden Ties, as the title suggests, is the first book in a new series by Kyrie Wang. Wang has taken an alternate history of William the Conqueror's rule and created a Medieval love story. The only thing I wish there had been more of in book one is romance! Clearly Heather has some kind of enemies-to-lovers thing going with Toby, but it was a little too slow-build for my taste. Heather must flee everything she knows to survive and when she has no place left to go, Toby rescues/kidnaps her. What is a girl to do?

I used CAWPILE to rate this book 3.5 stars. It’s my first ever fractional star rating because, while the book had a lot of action, it didn’t have a clear climax, and yet I really want to know what happens next!

I recommend this book for anyone interested in historical fiction, romance, adventure, action, and enemies-to-lovers!

Enemy’s Keeper by Kyrie Wang is a historical YA fiction novel centered around Heather in the 1000s AD.

The only positive I have for this book is that the actual writing wasn’t so boring I wanted to Dnf.

But truly this book had so much going on while at the same time absolutely nothing happened. I’m not sure where the conflict was or what the point of anything was in this. There were too many characters to keep track of and I just didn’t care.
The time period would have been more interesting if it was explained and explored more.

2.5 stars

4.5/5⭐

(I received an ebook copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review.)

Normally, I do not find myself gravitating towards a story set in this era, and one that is more historical fiction than fantasy, however I found myself pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

First of all, I enjoyed that Heather was a normal girl in this story and we saw it from her point of view. By normal I mean that she is the type of character you would expect to see as a background character in most stories, however, the author did an amazing job at showing how Heather's life was affected by everything going off, as well as her own choices.

I liked the suspense on what would happen next, as the characters were grey; none of them were "good" or "bad", but somewhere in a realistic middle. Even Heather had "bad" thoughts about certain characters and acknowledged that in different circumstances, she may have not done what she did which is a realistic flawed that was touched on well. With the blurred lines of these boundaries, we can also understand why Heather struggles with reacting to these mixed actions, not knowing whether her choice was the right one or not.

I am anticipating the second book after the book left me on a cliffhanger!

On the other hand, I do not know much about the history behind all of this (even though I am English...) and so was confused at a couple of points because there was so much happening and I didn't understand or know any of it. But this did not take away from my enjoyment of the book.

There were also one or two typos in the story such as "Matthew stiffened her shout" which I thought should be "Matthew stiffened at her shout", or maybe that was just my brain not comprehending. However, the majority of the book was consistent.

I really enjoyed the first installment of the Enemy’s Keeper series by Kyrie Wang.

All pros and no cons in this read. Forbidden Ties flowed really well and made me want to keep reading all day. I felt well-grounded in the medieval England setting and time period while reading which is a testament to the author’s research and skill in setting the stage. The stage is smaller in this book, but I can envision how the stage will become larger and encompass more in this historical fiction series. So, that makes me incredibly excited to read the next installment.

Cliffhanger warning as well! I don’t mind a cliffhanger especially when the whole book is so enthralling like this one. Along with the cliffhanger, there are morally grey characters and mysteries surrounding some characters. This ambiguity didn’t bother me. There were enough reveals, action sequences, and scenes to satiate my curiosity.

Because I like Outlander, another thing I liked about Forbidden Ties was that there are references to healing and herbal remedies.

Disclaimer: I received a free review copy from the author, Kyrie Wang, free of charge. It was my choice to read and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

I know I’ve found a good book when I have to negotiate with myself to do my responsibilities instead of grabbing a blanket and curling up with its story. The level of authorship and research that this book displayed was unexpected. Part of me wishes I could have read the author’s original story, but the other part is glad I didn’t have it to muddy my feelings about the characters at their current time. Already, I feel the protagonist’s struggle between the two sides she sees of others. I find myself rooting for her captor, while also understanding her loss and the obstacles that she faces. Do yourself a favor and read this story!