I hadn't heard anything about this book until speculation was going around on what the next Fairyloot book would be, and someone mentioned it could be The Shadows Between Us. I took a look at the synopsis, and felt it was a book for me, and was overjoyed when I won a copy.

In The Shadows Between Us, Alessandra is the daughter of a lord, and knows it's expected that she marries well, but her sister is the favourite, so she's sort of left to her own devices. She likes to enjoy herself, and after her first love dumped her - and she killed him in retaliation - she's never let herself get too close to someone, at least emotionally, but knows that power is also she wants. The best way to get that power? Well, it's to make the Shadow King fall in love with her, marry her, and then she kills him and rules in her own right.

No one can ever get close to the Shadow King. He has literal shadows all around him, and anyone who touches him is put to death. But when Alessandra turns up at court, and neigh on ignores the king, he's intrigued, and they make up a scheme to pretend to be courting, so that both can have a bit more power, as Kallias is still dependant on his courtiers, and one is out to kill him. The more they are together, the less Alessandra wants to kill Kallias, and she finds herself wanting his attention not just for power, but because she actually cares for him. And, if anyone is going to kill him, it will be her, and she will stop at nothing to help her friends, and especially to find out who the assassin is, and get rid of him, before they get in her way.

I did like Alessandra, but sometimes she was a bit too much. Everything always had to have a goal, and she wanted attention, which got a bit old. I did understand it, though, because she's always been forgotten at home, and her dad was a wimp really. She grew on me, though, as she started to develop friendship in the palace, and we got to know her more, and not just her ambition. The romance between herself and Kallias was so slow burning, and I wanted it more and more as it progressed, but anything else would've been rushed and unrealistic. The plot, after we get over the initial plot to kill Kallias, was well rounded, and kept me engaged until the last page. I haven't read any of Tricia's books before, but definitely think I'll give her pirate books a go!