Series: The Traitor's Circle #2
Author: Erin Beaty
Published July 10th 2018 by Imprint
Goodreads Synopsis
After proving her worth in book one as a deft spy and strategic matchmaker, Sage Fowler is now comfortably positioned in high society as the royal tutor. When she’s called upon to teach his majesty’s soldiers how to read and write, she jumps at the chance to serve her kingdom of Demora—and to be reunited with her fiancé, Captain Alex Quinn.
During a skirmish, Sage and Alex are separated. She watches him die before he can deliver important military intel—or so she thinks. She escapes from the enemy and makes an unlikely alliance with a mysterious soldier from a third nation. As Sage tries to rally their support against a common foe, the important political alliance is plagued by secrets and betrayal.
Can Sage complete Alex’s mission and save her kingdom once more?
Goodreads
Review
This book, this series, is just perfection, and I will scream it from the rooftops that everyone and their gran needs to get a copy and read it ASAP! As you'll be able to see, I read this book in less than a day, and that's no mean feat - it's just so unputdownable, that I could stop for anything!
Picking up after the trauma of book 1, Alex and Sage are both in love, but struggling with their demons. Alex blames himself for his brother, Charlie's, death, and Sage feels the guilt of 'failing' in her role. However, they both have important jobs to do - with Alex being promoted to Major of his own unit - a unit of the elite Norsari soldiers, trained for desert combat to defeat their enemy, the Kimisara; and Sage now the royal tutor to the prince and princesses. With very little time to be together, and the whole rule on military men not marrying before 24, any moment they can be together, they jump at the chance. Once Alex is given his command, and is told he will have to train in the desert, with Prince Nicholas in tow, Sage plots to steal away and join them. When she's discovered, because let's face it, it was bound to happen, Alex is conflicted, as he thinks that with her being there, he'll be more likely to do something rash, which could lead to people suffering, or dying, as in book 1.
However, the mission is a lot more dangerous than they might've first thought, and when a group of rogue Kimisar attack the camp, Sage and Nicholas barely escape with their lives, also thinking that Alex has died in the escape. They arrive in Casmun, and are treated like royalty by the king, and his sister, Princess Lani. While there, they help to uncover a plot to restart the war, and help the Casmuni people overthrow those in the government who are plotting against them, and against Demora. It all culminates with Alex and the Norsari being reunited with Sage, and they and the Casmuni battling the Kimisar, leading to some deaths and major injuries. The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, which I hated as I had to wait so long for book 3.
The romance in this book, even though Alex and Sage were separated for a lot of it - not by choice - is phenomenal, and these two are my ultimate OTP. But this isn't a romance book, no, it's so much more than that. We have true political and historical worldbuilding, complete with intrigue and fighting, and I found myself sometimes believing it all to be real, that's how well written and researched it is. There are no plot holes anywhere, everything is done for a reason, and the diverse cast of characters, all individual with their own backstories are developed further from book 1, with the introduction of a new bunch of characters, whom I love too - especially princess Lani.
Really, I'm not joking when I say everyone needs to read this book, and the series. Go get a copy, if you haven't already!
Dates Read:
July 9, 2018Rating
5 Stars
