Title: Blade & Rose

Author: Miranda Honfleur

Pub. Date: October 7, 2017

Rating: ♥♥♥♥ – 4.5

A kingdom in turmoil or the love of her life. Which one will she save?

Elemental mage Rielle hasn’t heard from her best friend in far too long. Yet no one at the Tower of Magic seems to care about Olivia’s silence, or the curtain of secrecy surrounding the distant capital. Before Rielle can investigate, she’s assigned a strange new mission: escort a knight named Jon across the kingdom.

When whispers reveal mercenaries have killed the king, taken the capital, and that no one is coming to help, Rielle can’t leave Olivia in peril. But as infamous mages and deadly assassins hunt Jon, she can’t leave him unprotected either–especially as she finds herself falling for his strength, his passion, and his uncompromising goodness. Her past returns to haunt her, a werewolf stalks their steps, and an ancient evil is gathering, yet the restraints forbidding their love strain and snap one by one.

Saving Olivia and the kingdom means defying orders and sacrificing her every ambition, and could mean losing the man who’s become so much more to her than a mission. Which will she choose: her best friend and the kingdom, or the love of her life?

If you like the fantasy romance of A Court of Thorns and Roses, the dark intrigue of the Black Jewels series, the epic adventure of Game of Thrones, and a heroine who never gives up, you’ll love this romantic epic fantasy series.

Facebook advertised this book to me, and I am so glad it did, because it was SO good.

I didn’t quite realize that it was a 650 page novel, so I was pretty surprised when it arrived in the mail. This is book 1 in a projected 6 book series, omg. Books 2 and 3 are already out, and I already own book 2, which is even longer than Blade & Rose.

This epic adult fantasy follows Rielle, an Elemental mage, tasked with the job to escort Jon Ver, a Paladin, who has taken vows to avoid intimacy, and other vices.

So of course, Rielle and Jon fall in love along the way, and let me just say THAT I AM HERE FOR IT. It was a little insta-love-y  which I’m not a huge fan of, but oh my god. So much drama.

But that’s not all.

There’s another guy, Brennan, a giant ass. Once upon a time, he and Rielle were a thing, and in a moment of him not understanding her, she rejected him, and he took it so damn personally. And then she gave him another chance, and he ruined it so badly, and now she hates him. Hell, I hate him. Rielle has every freaking right in the world to hate him, and he can’t let her go. He’s awful to her.

Back to Jon and Rielle.

Rielle doesn’t need protecting, but Jon wants to do nothing but protect her, and same goes for Rielle. They often clash, being very similar dominant personalities, but at the same time they compliment each other well. Jon is the levelheadedness that Rielle needs, and she’s the chaos he needs.

While their relationship was very insta-love-y, it was also an enemies to lovers plot line, and I LOVE those kinds of stories.

THE BOOK ENDS IN A GIANT CLIFFHANGER THAT WILL MAKE  YOU WANT TO BUY BOOK 2 RIGHT AWAY. I know I’m going to be starting it pretty soon.

This book was just a fantastic fantasy. I do think it could have maybe been a little shorter, but the way the world was described, it made it easy to visualize, and the characters are mostly likable, but just about every character elicits some kind of emotion.

Miranda Honfleur has created this amazing world, with these amazing characters, and if you’re looking for a new fantasy, that probably isn’t on your radar, Blade & Rose is definitely that book!