Nicholas is the privileged heir to a powerful estate, with a future as carefully arranged as the marriage he’s expected to make. Mira is a commoner—the quiet, strange servant who disappears into the forest, returns with mysterious herbs, and keeps company with a magical wolf. To Nicholas, she’s nothing more than a witch in disguise, and when his father is poisoned, she’s the perfect suspect.
Determined to expose her, Nicholas sets out to prove her guilt. But when a hunting trip ends in disaster and leaves him wounded, it’s Mira who finds him, tends his wounds, and risks everything to bring him home.
As suspicions clash with undeniable truth, Nicholas begins to see the girl he thought he hated in a very different light. But with an arranged marriage on the horizon, a village quick to accuse, and a family name on the line, love between a nobleman and a servant is not just forbidden—it’s dangerous.
And the real murderer may still be closer than either of them realizes.”
Series: Part of the “Realms of Lurin” series, but does not seem to be connected to any other book.
Spiritual Content- A few prayers & reading form a prayer book; ’H’s are not capital when referring to the Creator; Nicholas hasn’t prayed since his mother’s death, *Spoilers* but talks to his mother and asks for her to speak to the Creator for him and beg Him to forgive him *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of the Creator; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of a book of prayers; A mention of a church;
*Note: Seeing magical creatures (including dragons, wolves, and fire birds) & mentions of them and tales of what some can do (including potentially curse someone); Mira meets a magical wolf and while tales say that if someone is bitten by one, they would be cursed forever, Mira is bitten and sees two visions of future events in her life (later, she says the future isn’t for her to know and if the Creator wanted her to know, she would know); Because of her interest in the woods and plants, Nicholas often calls Mira a “witch” and accuses her of being one (dabbling in the “dark art of divination”), but she is does not practice anything like that; Mentions of other mythical/magical creatures (including goblins and sirens); Mentions of witches, possible curses, & others possibly being bewitched/enchanted/under a spell; A few mentions of someone possibly being a ghost or spirit (not seriously); A few mentions of luck, being lucky, & luck saving Mira once; A couple mentions of a man’s “devilish screams” & later wondering if the man is possessed; A mention of superstitious people.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘dumb’s and a form of ‘stupid’; Some lying; Eye rolling; Eavesdropping; Two near-death moments with serious injuries, Being poisoned, Being in a forest during a storm (and thinking she’s going to die), Being bitten by a wolf, Helping someone who was shot and is bleeding, Injuries, Pain, & Blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Seeing deaths and dead bodies (on-page and a flashback, including someone being burned alive by a dragon; including someone who was poisoned and killed; border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Shooting at mythical creatures (while hunting and in self-defense); Nicholas wishes to destroy Mira and see her hanged (believing her to be responsible for a murder); Nicholas and his friend used to terrorize Mira when they were children; *Spoilers* After she saves him about half-way through, Nicholas feels guilty over his past actions and comments towards Mira and apologies *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of deaths, illnesses, & grief (including for parents and a brother); Mentions of poisons, a murder, attempted murders, & a murderer; Mentions of a suicide (*Spoiler* It’s revealed at the end that the brother of the young man was threatened by their sister to make it look like their brother committed suicide (the reason is not given) *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of hangings, prisons, & criminals; Mentions of fires & a death; Mentions of gunshots, someone being shot, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & someone possibly drinking too much; Mentions of hunting & shooting animals (implied more for sport than food); Mentions of nightmares & trauma from past events; Mentions of hatred; A few mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of a wolf biting someone; A couple mentions of body waste & the smell; A mention of a war; A mention of manipulation from a family member; A mention of throwing up; A mention of smoking & pipes.
Sexual Content- A hand kiss, two cheek kisses, a not-detailed kiss, and a barely-above-not-detailed kiss; Touches, Dancing, Hand holding, Warmth, (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); *Spoilers* Toward the end, when Nicholas confesses his romantic feelings to her, Mira doesn’t believe him and think it’s a prank; At the very end, Mira confesses her feelings after Nicholas has a near-death moment and she realizes her feelings *End of Spoilers*; Mira is glad that she doesn’t possess her mother’s beauty as her “common” appearance keeps men from noticing her; A young woman comments about being “tainted” because she’s already kissed a man before marriage; Mentions of kisses, kissing, a couple being caught kissing, & a vision of kissing someone; A couple mentions of an unmarried couple being left in a bedroom together with the door open; A mention of a woman’s virtue; A mention of a young woman’s “seductive eyes”; A mention of a widowed man fancying a widowed woman (but nothing coming from it); Light love, falling/being in love, & the emotions.
-Mira
-Nicholas Lockwood
P.O.V. switches between them
Regency-inspired fantasy setting
184 pages
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Pre Teens-
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Early High School Teens-
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My personal Rating-
As someone who enjoys learning about plants and their medicinal benefits, I really liked Mira. She was very sweet and reminded me of Snow White at times with her kindness. She definitely made the book better and was a great main character who perseveres through hardships.
Nicholas on the other hand: he was absolutely horrible at first. I’m not a fan of the enemies-to-more romance trope, so I was a little leery about this book because of it. Nicholas was a terror to Mira for their entire lives, basically, and it took a good shock to realize how awful he has been to her. I liked the character development—especially because it was muchneeded for him—but I wish we could have seen some scenes leading up to his change with feeling a prick of guilt for his actions and mean comments to her. I think it would have been more natural then as I was questioning how they could even fall for each other.
Rather than a find-out-who-the-murderer-was kind of mystery, it was more of a get-evidence-of-the-murder kind of mystery. The answer seemed obvious to me, but I enjoyed the setting of a regency-like fantasy time-period. There’s magical creatures, but no magic per se. I would have liked a bit more in the faith content regard regarding the magical creatures—did the Creator make them for a special purpose? Or are they just animals to hunt like deer? I think there could have been more with the world-building, but for the page length of the story, I mostly enjoyed it.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the author for this honest review.
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