A review by okays1331
The Wrath & the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 
"What are you doing to me you plague of a girl?" He whispered.

"If I'm a plague, then you should keep your distance unless you plan on being destroyed." The weapon still in her grasp, she shoved against his chest.

"No." His hands dropped to her waist. "Destroy me."


Yes! I love all of this!

All of the characters are so interesting, and I cared about each within a chapter of meeting them with the same wariness that they care about each other knowing that my heart is going to be broken. The setting is luscious and beautiful from the palace to the garden to the clothes. The way they talk to each other is poetry. I love not only the romance but the bonds of brotherhood and chosen family that transcend the bonds of blood.

The author has taken a story we know and given it so much depth and feeling spanning the breadth of human emotion grief, longing, friendship, guilt, self loathing, love and something more. I am entranced. The ultimate in enemies to lovers with a near fatal attraction that neither of them can resist no matter the cost to the kingdom. Their tangled romance is further complicated by Sharhrzad's family and friends who love her so much that they will do anything to get her back from the evil boy king. I can't wait to read the next book.

Once more, she curved the scimitar at him, and he blocked it grasping her by the waist and bringing the flat of the shamshir against her throat. In her ear he whispered, "Do better than this Shazi. My queen is without limitations. Boundless in all that she does. Show them."


 
"I took her from you! Nothing I do, nothing I say will every fix what I've done. If there has to be a choice between us, there isn't one to make, Joonam. Not for me." My everything.

Sharhrzad rose to her knees and braced her palm against his chest. "And you expect me to make this choice," she demanded.

He nodded once. His eyes ablaze. She curled her fingers into the front of his chemise. "You honestly expect me to breathe in a world without air?"

Khalid breathed in sharply as his hands tightened around her arms. "I expect you to be stronger than that."

Sharhrzad's features softened, "But there is nothing stronger than this." 
 
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