A review by sleepycharlene
The Empress of Scarred Secrets by Andrea Corbin

5.0

5 stars  

★★★★★

☞ Trigger warnings: **contains spoilers*

Spoiler

abusive relationship, adoption, alcohol consumption, blood and gore depictions, body shaming, dead bodies & body parts, death of a child, death of mentor, mentions of death of a parent, decapitation, confinement, mentions of child abuse, mentions of death of mother by childbirth, estrangement, grief and loss depictions, mentions of imprisonment, intimate partner abuse, intrusive thoughts, knife violence, mentions of medical experimentation, mention of miscarriages, misogyny, mass murder, murder & attempted murder, nightmares, panic attacks, parental neglect, physical injuries & wounds, poisoning, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), scars, self-harm, sexism, verbal abuse, mentions of torture, war themes & military violence, weight loss.

.

✿ Representation: Queer rep (literally nearly everyone is queer), POC rep.

Is this a perfect book? No. I rated this 5 stars for the vibes.
Nothing less, nothing more.

This book is basically [b:Dead Moons Rising|56668914|Dead Moons Rising (Honest Scrolls, #1)|Jack Whitney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1610655363l/56668914._SX50_.jpg|88567898] without inflicting trauma on the reader. It had great world-building, enemies-to-lovers (ish) and a spicy attempted coup. Whats not to love?
The dialogue is a little clunky and can be jarring but the action and spice more than make up for it.

On that note, some thoughts:
- I cannot find it in me to forgive Marik. I don't think I can ever forgive him. He said all those things with his chest!! Unforgivable. Never trust a man and here is proof.
- If Sev chooses Marik over her, I won't be able to forgive him either.
- The ending was way to confusing. My brain cells couldn't connect the dots on that one but I trust the author will iron out the kinks and answer questions in the next book

RTC? idk.

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