A review by floofymoosereads
White Horse Black Nights by Evie Marceau

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the first book in the Godkissed Bride series, a romantic fantasy about a magical young woman’s journey with her gruff bodyguard to meet her promised husband. Tropes include arranged marriage, angst, enemies to lovers to ?, one horse/bed, and who did this. this book contains adult content (spicy). Dual POV.

The Lovely: This book is a crazy, sweet ride from the first pages. While the protector/guard as a love interest trope is not unique. The story itself is different than anything I’ve read and layered in such a way you don’t even realize they will all fit together in the end. I also loved that the plot moved quickly from the beginning and never let up. I couldn’t put the book down.

Also Lovely: I loved the characters - the gruff MMC and the resourceful and adaptive (if not a bit naive) FMC. Their relationship continually evolves but even at the end it isn’t clearly defined. It’s complicated and real, and most of all, messy.

The Mundane: I would have liked to learn a bit more about the magic system and more about the world itself. We learn about the magic system as it defines the main characters and in how it fits with the plot, but there’s a lot more we don’t know. The world building relies on the concept of a generic medieval world and it’s hard to imagine the environment (especially the castle) in any of the five senses.

Rating: 5/5 Stars 3/5 Flames

Recommendation: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I went into this without expectation as a randomly saw it on Book Sirens as an ARC and it sounded like something I would enjoy. But wow, it knocked my socks off. It’s going to be a long wait for book two! If you light romantic epic fantasy with a unique plot, a clever FMC and spice, I think you would like this book.