Once upon a time, a
line of kings that did not allow the barbarians to invade ruled the land of
Arcadia. One day, it all changed. Demons took over the land and held it in its
grasp. The lord of these demons – The Gentle Lord – made deals with the people
of the land. One deal in particular involved a young couple that desperately
wanted to get pregnant, but couldn’t. The young man struck a deal with the
demon lord. His wife would become pregnant with twins, but one of the twins
must be given in exchange to the Gentle Lord as his bride when she reached the
age of seventeen. The man agreed and his wife became pregnant and gave birth to
twins. The first came out easy, but the second twin took the life of her
mother. So it was determined that the first twin would be given to the demon
lord…
Nyx has known her duty to the land of Arcadia her entire
life. She is to marry the Gentle Lord and find a way to destroy him and his
fellow demons hold on their land. She is to avenge her mother’s death. She’s
known and trained for this duty her entire life. But there is hate in her
heart. Hate for her father for liking her sister over her, hate for her sister
for killing her mother, and hate for her aunt for sleeping with her father.
The Gentle Lord is different than what she has come to know.
He is still a demon and a lord of bargains, but he also has some dark secrets
of his own. On their wedding night, he gives two rules to his new bride; one,
the key he gives her opens certain rooms in his palace. Those are the only
rooms she is allowed to enter, but he cannot protect her from what’s inside.
Two, every night she will be given the chance to guess his real name. If she
fails to guess correctly, she will die. If she guesses right, she will free him
from his masters.
I was really excited to read this book. When I got the email
from Goodreads telling me about it in February, I couldn’t wait to get my hands
on it. It sounded like a Beauty and the
Beast retelling. But when I actually started reading it, it turned into
something completely different. It combined Greek gods with demons, and a
little bit of Rumpelstilltskin into the mix. It was a good mysterious fairy
tale. My only complaint was that the ending was confusing. She helps destroy
the Gentle Lord who actually turns out to be half of the lost prince? And then
time is restarted? What??
Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Great story, I just wished
the ending had been more concise.
Bookshelf worthy? The cover art is amazing. I would love to
have this on my shelf.
