Everything was very sweet and turned out like I’d hoped, and while there wasn’t a lot of time for passionate embraces, the characters made do with what they had. LaFevers was a real pal and gave me just enough romance to see me through the bloody moments. Nothing but good things for Sybella, please. She faces imprisonment, death, and the ire of very powerful people with aplomb and dignity. Meanwhile, Sybella is still a stone-cold B, even if she doubts herself once in a while. Truth and maturity began to temper and channel her impulsivity into an iron-willed determination that I appreciated and admired (even if I questioned her belief that the king could still be swayed to be anything more than a sexist, capricious man). But after she hits rock-bottom, she finally meets Sybella, learns some hard truths, and decides to fix her mistakes. In the last book, I was reading Genevieve’s parts from between my fingers because she was barreling towards an epic destruction of her own making. How many people are these nun-assassins going to have to kill to get out this mess? (The answer is: a lot.) While all this is going on, there’s also rumors of another rebellion rising up in Brittany, and Maraud is on the hunt for General Cassel, the violent man who murdered his brother and is ensconced in the inner circle of the king’s advisors. Now the lawyer her jerk of a brother sent to collect them is shouting “murder!” in the king’s ear and demanding Sybella be arrested.Īnd that’s just at the palace. Sybella is still deep in her own political quagmire because she had Beast whisk her sisters away from the castle in secret and murdered the men who came to kidnap them.

Except she finds out that the king had no clue they even existed and now that he DOES know she and Sybella are assassins and that his queen, Anne of Brittany, knew about it this whole time, he’s pissed. Genevieve had returned to the French court specifically to sleep with the King-who’s long lusted after her-so she could curry his favor to petition him to reverse his decision to disband the convent of Mortain’s daughters.

This sequel picks up immediately where the first book ended, which is in a big, steamy pile of oh, shit. This is a fun contrast to the first book’s cover that still manages to pack in a lot of little nods and symbolic imagery related to the story within. Bonus Factors: Just Desserts, Medieval WeaponryĬareful, Sweetie: spoilers! This is the second book in the Courting Darkness duology, so if you haven’t read the previous one, you should probably hop back in the TARDIS and go curl up in the library by the pool with the first book before continuing.

Courting darkness by robin lafevers