Screams were heard around the world when I was approved for an E-ARC of my most anticipated release on Edelweiss. The Betrothed is the latest book by Kiera Cass, author of The Selection Series, which is my “not so guilty pleasure read” because I love it unabashedly. I thought this new book, The Betrothed, which is out May 5 2020, was one thing, and while it was that mostly, it also went places I didn’t expect (especially at the end) and I truly have no idea what the next books in this series hold! I love that though, all coupled with the royal court and decadence we know and love from Cass. It’s going to be a duology, and I already can’t wait for the next one!
Buy a box-set of the 5 books in the Selection Series here
Hollis Brite is a gentry woman in the court of Coara, and she has caught the eye of King Jameson. The young king has flirted with many women, and Hollis assumes she will be cast aside soon, but it becomes clear to her and everyone else that there’s more to what is happening than some court flirtation. Then, when another King and Queen, from Isolte, come to visit, Hollis is expected to step up in a big way and help keep the peace with the hot-headed king and his quiet, odd wife. It doesn’t help that a family has fled Isolte and is being kept in the castle, growing closer to Hollis as the days pass. You’re going to be enchanted by Hollis, Jameson, and Silas as this story unfolds and take you to new places, including some dark ones, and gives you a heroine who nobody expects to be as strong as she has to be.
I truly cannot explain what reading a (not high fantasy) royal YA book does to me. It’s like I become giddy. I flew through this book on a Sunday, and while the end definitely didn’t go where I expected (Chapter 32…what the heck…) I think this is a bit more of a “mature” YA from Cass, and while it has a lot of pretty dresses and court gossip and intrigue, it also deals with some darker themes, has talk of childbearing in ways The Selection didn’t (but no sex), and has more death than I was expecting. That’s all I’ll say. Maybe Cass has been watching Game of Thrones in her time off? Whatever the case, I really enjoyed this book, the cover is the most gorgeous thing ever, and I’m so excited to follow this series as it unfolds! I can’t wait to see what happens with Jameson (the King) next particularly, though of course Hollis is a great heroine.
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