Series: Book #3.5 in the “Blades of Acktar” series. Reviews of Book #1 Here, Book #2 Here, and Book #3 Here!
Spiritual Content- 1 Kings 3:5-9 & 4:29 at the beginning; Scriptures are read, mentioned, & remembered; Prayers; Church going; Swearing on a Bible; Talks about God, Jesus, & forgiveness; Keevan wonders if God is punishing him by taking away his looks and voice (that he used to use for luring maids into kissing him); Mentions of God, His will, trusting Him, His purpose for us, & forgiveness; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of church services & ministers, & worship; Mentions of Christians; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A couple mentions of blessings & being blessed; A mention of Christians being arrested.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a “what in Acktar”; A couple lies (to protect one’s feelings); Fighting, Being stabbed and nearly killed, Intense pain, Major injuries/wounds, Blood/Bleeding, & Passing out (semi-detailed); Seeing bodies, major injuries/wounds, blood, & someone nearly dying due to a slit throat (up to semi-detailed); Grief (for parents and siblings, up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of deaths, assassinations, assassins, dead bodies, grief (including for parents and siblings), injuries/wounds, & lots of blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of wars & battles; Mentions of executions & prisons; Mentions of torture, beatings, & whippings; Mentions of criminals, thieves, stealing, & arrests; Mentions of passing out; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & a tavern (including Keevan and a brother drinking together previously); Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of hatred; A mention of eavesdropping;
*Note: Keevan has moments of PTSD after the assassination attempt when others try to touch his neck; Keevan thinks it would have been better if one of his brothers would have survived rather than him.
Sexual Content- a hair kiss, a cheek kiss, a border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss, and a semi-detailed kiss (with asking permission first & being careful not to lose himself in it and have self-control); Staring a lips (and trying not to); Blushes; Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Nearness (most with asking permission first, barely-above-not-detailed); The book starts with Keevan being caught kissing a maid (noting that he had let himself go “too far”, wasn’t thinking, and feels ashamed of his actions) and thinks he would have stopped before he hurt her, yet knows that wasn’t true because the girl was crying and telling him to stop, but he only focused on the “pounding of his pulse” and ignored her no because his desires were telling him yes; Keevan knows he messed up and his uncle is firm with him about his poor actions, but his father waves it aside with the phrase “boys will be boys”; Keevan wants to be better which includes trying to avoid looking or staring at Addie’s body in moments where her dress shows her body (and chest) in a way she is unaware of (x3); *Spoilers* Keevan wonders if he could have a girl like Addie be in love with him (despite her knowing his past) and while he has done his best to treat all women with honor, he wonders if he could find out what it means to love a woman as God intended; After a discussion about his past and forgiveness, he asks Addie if they could be more than just friends and if he could court her with the intention of marriage; Towards the end, Keevan meets with the maid from the beginning and apologizes to her; She still lives with the memories of that time, but had forgiven him *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of princes luring maids into closets to kiss them; A few mentions of kisses going “too far”; A few mentions of avoiding temptation (with God’s help); A couple mentions of flirting; A couple mentions of attraction (between a married couple); Love, falling in love, & the emotions.
-Adelaide “Addie” Croft
-Keevan Eirdon, age 17-22 (?)
P.O.V. switches between them
216 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
Prior to reading this book, I was nervous about it due to a sample I had randomly read of the beginning. We’re introduced to a young prince who has skimped on his responsibilities and focused on what pleases him—even if that’s at the cost of harming innocents and forcing kisses on maids. I knew this author would handle this topic carefully and with great faith and character development after reading the previous books in this series. And I was right, she definitely did. But I’m still going to give a warning for this book because of the book opening with a sexual assault.
I think the author did really well highlighting the change in Keevan. It didn’t feel like a 180-change because we only saw parts of the change from different times: the start, five months later, a few months later, two years later, and then another two years later. Each time there more and more growth from him regarding his past choices that hurt others, including young women he took advantage of. He continues to feel guilt and shame over those past actions. There’s three scenes that particularly stood out to me about his change: Him guarding his thoughts and eyes when Addie accidentally shows him more of herself than she knows she is. He is very cautious about Addie and does not want to hurt her or fall back to his old self. That desire to be good and honorable—especially towards her—helped my views on him immensely.
We cover almost five years in this book—before the first book started and all the way through to the third book in the series. Just with a main character difference, which adjusts many things in this Book #3.5 story. Going into this book, I didn’t particularly care about learning more about Keevan (mainly because I didn’t care for his attitude in Book #3), but I found myself interested in seeing his change and I thought Addie was sweet.
While I haven’t finished this series yet, I don’t think this book is necessarily to read per se—at least, I don’t think so having after only reading the first three books. You would definitely have to read those first before this one or you would be completely lost, but at this point, it’s not 100% necessary because this character is really only introduced in Book #3 and this is his story. It was interesting to see the perspective change on different events from the prior books, but it’s not a book I can personally highly recommend because of the sexual assault implications. Some older readers might not be bothered by it and I think the author handled the character’s regret very well, but I still want to give a heads-up on that content.
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.
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