Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the royal court with her cleverly phrased—and not always true—divinations. Honesty is for suckers, like the oh-so-not charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to strip Violet of her official role once he’s crowned at the end of the summer—unless Violet does something about it.
But when the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus’s love story for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse, one that will end in either damnation or salvation for the kingdom—all depending on the prince’s choice of future bride. Violet faces her own choice: Seize an opportunity to gain control of her own destiny, no matter the cost, or give in to the ill-fated attraction that’s growing between her and Cyrus.
Violet’s wits may protect her in the cutthroat court, but they can’t change her fate. And as the boundary between hatred and love grows ever thinner with the prince, Violet must untangle a wicked web of deceit in order to save herself and the kingdom—or doom them all.
Gods this book is so me. So fierce so intense… so heartless. Gina Chen does a wonderful job at weaving this tale as Violet does. Her writing is amazing throughout and I love the wittiness and snark between characters
I loved watching Violet try to piece everything together while we did. She was always so intense and honestly nothing but brutally honest most of the time. Even her lies weaved some evil truths. I just loved the brutalness of it.
As for our other characters I really enjoyed Cyrus, Camilla and Donte. With Cyrus, as “only for his kingdom” as he seems, I enjoyed Cyrus. I’d absolutely fall for him too. How can you not fall for someone who you’ve grown up with who knows you so well? With Camilla and Donte, they both bring their friendship, laughs, and good-times and I’m glad they were there for Violet.
As the ending grew near, I kept trying to guess what was happening but I couldn’t. There were multiple twists I didn’t even see coming. It was horrifyingly glorious. I honestly did not expect the end we got, however I am really happy and cannot wait to see how the second book plays out.
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