A review by wilybooklover
A Taste of Gold and Iron, by Alexandra Rowland

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

5.0

A stunning fantasy romance. In this story we see stoic, principled Evemer assigned as bodyguard to the anxious Prince Kadou. They soon uncover a conspiracy plot at the behest of Kadou’s Sultan sister, Zeliha (not a particular convoluted mystery, but entertaining nonetheless) and in the process fall in love with each other. 

The romance was the main plot and it was sooo good. I’m a sucker for a slowburn idiots to lovers and it was executed so perfectly here. These two were so gone for each other. If you like some good mutual pining, this is the book for you. 

The worldbuilding was lush and vivid, reminiscent of the Ottoman Empire and full of politics. The secondary characters were fun and realistically flawed and diverse. This is a queernorm world and it was delightful to read how casually queer everyone was. Despite some moments of peril, the whole story felt cosy and soft.

This book also somehow made economics interesting to me and that is talent. 

I have no idea if there’s a sequel in the works but I would definitely like to read stories about Tadek and Zeliha. 

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