This is a solid 3.5 ⭐️ I was lost at the beginning but let me tell you what an end! It was explosive and unexpected! A good read, very interesting and fun!
Recommended, yes! I would recommend this book for young teens that are getting into the world of books. Really nice and easy to read! Liked it!

A solid 4 star read from Gratton and Ireland - what a ride!

For my friends in their dragon-era, this is one for you! This gave me YA Game of Thrones / Reign vibes.

We have:
- Warring Houses
- Starcrossed / Forbidden Love (maybe!)
- DRAGONS
- Brilliant chemistry between characters.
- An unbearable cliffhanger!

This made me think Game of Thrones but make it YA. The book was luckily easy to get into and the world building and characters had you wanting to read this in one sitting.

This book alternates between the POV of Darling Seabreak and Talon Goldhoard. Both enemy houses, both in the middle of a war. Talon stops Darling from killing him, he somehow recognizes her more than he should. Darling is the one his brother has been painting all his life, there are 100’s of portraits in their house because his brother can’t seem to stop painting her.
Talon captures/kidnaps Darling and takes her home to meet his brother to finally figure out why he keeps painting her.


Two enemies stuck in the same house together, who knows where that will lead😉

really enjoyed this! kept me interested from start to finish, and I loved the characters! Since reading it the first time, I have reread three times and look forwards to more from the Author.

I think this book could have done with a huge dose of world building, world building and more world building. It had so much potential, but I think they only skimmed the surface.

The characters didn’t feel fully fleshed out and neither did the plot.

Unfortunately this book didn't click with me, I'm not a fan of insta love and I unfortunately DNFed will try again in the future.

I don't feel anything for this book. From the moment the entire backstory was spoiled in the prologue I knew this one was a dud. I just felt nothing. Exposition upon exposition kept piling up, characters interacted, but I just didn't care. I guess the diversity is nice, but that's, like, the bare minimum, nowadays.

The High Regent has been painting the face of a girl he has never met for years, and in the midst of war his bloodthirsty brother finds her. Darling Seabreak, an orphan child and the last surviving member of House Sphinx, is thrown into a political minefield.

I need the next book if there ever is one. This book was chaos and I loved it. The authors did well to blend their voices in a way that brought the two pov characters to life. Darling Seabreak and Caspian were my favourite characters and I loved the twists and turns this story took.

There are dragons, magic, Cassandra style prophecy and a slow burn romance. Such a great ending that left me wanting more.

It took me a little while to get into it at the start but once I was in it the story swept me along.

This was such an interesting read! I found myself so engrossed in the story, the characters had such incredible arcs, and I can't wait to follow this author's journey!

It's taken me a while to write this review as this book was a bit of up and down for me.
It started off really well, then it hiccoughed with some background info, which was so jumpy that I wasn't sure which timeline I was in. That put me off so much that I couldn't go back to it for a couple of weeks.

Darling (name changes!!!) and Talon are the main event in this book, but I had a real issue with both of them. Darling is initially portrayed as a strong, devil-may-care, daring, full of gumption and proactive character, but her actions show her to be otherwise. She is less leader and more subservient.
Talon, too, is a powerful character, who is supposed to be insightful and able to work out when people aren't fully honest, yet he is completely blinkered by his aunt.

There are so many different names, titles, history thrown at you, it is difficult to keep up what is supposed to be happening. I would have preferred a family-tree like drawing showing the links, and ended up drawing one myself so I could keep track.

The last few chapters drew me back in, but overall I was quite disappointed.
I received this book as an arc.

Was really excited for the premise and I think I set my expectations too high, because the story itself felt a bit underwhelming. I'm not a big fan of dual POVs from first person perspective. Overall, a good read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC copy of this book, in exchange for this honest review.

set in a fantasy world this book will keep you gripped till the end and that cliffhanger will leave you shocked and needing more. The writing was sharp and clever and just overall a fantastic book and I really cannot wait for the sequel.

First of all thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book, even if it took me awhile to read it.

This book has a unique magic system that took me a little while to wrap my head around and I'm still not convinced I really understand.

The book took a little while to hook me in, but once it had it was easy to fly through. The characters are diverse and quite interesting. This book is dual-POV which is a personal favourite.

In terms of plot, the book did lose me in places, but Caspian's maneuverings and manipulations did make for an interesting read.

I would definitely read the next book as I am eager to find out what is in store for the characters. I would also recommend if you are a fan of diverse fantasy.

This was an interesting read. I loved the mix and diversity of the characters, the storyline was well thought out and written. Did feel a bit sluggish in places but generally an overall good read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review.

This was a pretty middle of the road read. I have some issues but overall, pretty good.

I like Talon and Darling mostly. Talon is pretty dense most of the time, and <spoiler> because all I know about Talon is that he’s loyal to his brother, I don’t believe he’d let Aurora usurp Caspian and then go along with their plan. It wasn’t proven that he’s close enough to Aurora to do that </spoiler> But Darling is fun, she’s a good fighter and she’s got a good head, except for the bit where <spoiler> she gets engaged after like one kiss, I mean, come on </spoiler> but I can forgive her that, as she’s usually really smart.

Caspian reminds me a lot of Peter from the Great, except smarter and I am interested in seeing where he goes.

I still don’t really understand the boon system and I’m not convinced anyone else does either. Also the addresses like “my quill” and “my blade” are awful and reading them made me cringe. Please just say my lord or something.

The ending is cool and maybe I’ll read the next one. If you’re looking for a nice slow moving fantasy with some disabled rep, this is a good one. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for Goodreads.

Fantasy duology with a unique magic system.
The name, Darling Seabreak put me off. Just sounded ridiculous.
Story was OK but underwhelming.
Probably wouldn't pick up book 2

The premise of this one was definitely intriguing and reading it was fun. However I do feel that it was quite underwhelming.

Seeing representation and lots of diversity in this book did make me very happy.

This was an action packed book full of beautiful world building and language that brought not only the setting but the characters to life. The enemies to lovers trope was well written and the initial enemies conflict showed the promise of the trope from their first encounter. The magic of the narrative was intriguing and drew you into the world and left you wanting to know more. I really enjoyed the shape of the narrative and how as Darling learnt about the different houses so did the reader. The story held the readers attention and was full of mystery, intrigue and power, it was a brilliant start to a dramatic adventure filled fantasy!

I'm a sucker for kingdoms at war and multiple points of view in my fantasy. It has romance, ancient magic (also known as boons),prophecies, fantasy creatures and a fantastic cliffhanger.
I really enjoyed learning about the characters and trying to figure out motives of the multiple side characters we are introduced to. I liked how Talon and Darling are fiercely loyal to those they love and care about, but also are constantly trying to do the right thing. Caspian is one of my favorite characters with his eccentric personality. He is always keeping you on your toes. I would love to get scenes from his POV in the future.
I appreciated the diversity in this book, and it's nice to see this popping up more and more in fantasy.

Set in a fantasy world with a unique magical system and political intrigue, this first installment in a duology will leave you wanting more.

The story is written from the perspective of two young people on the opposite side of a war.
Darling Seabreak (I know, I hate the name too. You'll get used to it though, I promise) is the last living member of House Sphinx after House Dragon murdered her entire family. After spending a childhood in the sewers she has light sensitive eyes, but in the dark she has the advantage. After being rescued and taken in by House Kraken she's been trained to be a deadly weapon. After her adoptive father has been kidnapped she will stop at nothing to get him back and at the same time get revenge by killing the scions of House Dragon.

Talon Goldhoard is the second son of House of Dragon. When he was a boy his mother was assassinated by House Sphinx, which prompted his father to start a years-long war. Now his older brother Caspian sits on the throne and Talon leads the army, but his brother's erratic behaviour has made people start to question his fitness for the throne and Talon is under increasing pressure to take over. When he captures Darling, who looks exactly like the girl his brother has been obsessively drawing for years, he takes her to court where they get tangled up in politics and intrigue.

Despite the opening prologue, which completely hooked me, the story starts of relatively slow with quite a lot of exposition. Luckily, it clicks into place soon enough and this book really ended up positively surprising me with a killer of a cliffhanger that will leave readers gasping for the second installment.

The two main leads, Darling and Talon are far from the most fascinating characters in the story, but don't let that hold you back. They are best when together and despite their enemies-to-lovers set-up the chemistry is there from the word go. I personally prefer more slow burn, but the pacing of their romance does fit with a YA so it didn't bother me. I especially loved how soft Talon turned out to be for his loved ones.

By far the most fascinating character to me was Talon's older brother, Caspian. Since he was a young boy he's had visions of a girl he never met. His boon is painting and he paints her obsessively from a very young age.
You never read from Caspian's perspective, which means he has an air of mystery about him. You do get the sense that he might not be as mad and unhinged as people around him make him out to be, but since you never get a good sense of who he truly is we never know for sure. This makes him by far the most interesting character.

Despite having a little bit of trouble getting into Darling's and Talon's perspectives I ended up devouring this book and I absolutely can't wait for part 2!

3,75 stars.