A review by theladysparks
A Promise of Peridot by Kate Golden

5.0

 

Arwen embarks on a journey to the mysterious Kingdom of Citrine, fresh from the tumultuous events at Siren's Bay. Struggling with the aftershock of some revelations and her emerging powers, Arwen channels her grief and anger towards the one who deceived her: King Kane Ravenwood.

The unavoidable company of Kane, as he joins Arwen and her companions on a quest for the Sun Blade—a mythical weapon crucial to her destiny and the kingdom's salvation—tests their fragile ceasefire. Arwen battles with her lingering emotions for Kane, who is prepared to embrace his darkest self to ensure her safety.

Confronted with unimaginable magical beings, adversaries, and spells, Arwen is compelled to unlock the mysteries of her lineage to overcome the fearsome Fae ruler, Lazarus. However, embracing her inner light could spell doom for her and those she holds dear.

"I will not let anything happen to you. Nothing, not even the good of all the realms combined, is worth the loss of you. We will find another way."

After the way that A Dawn of Onyx ended, I should have expected the emotional rollercoaster that was A Promise of Peridot. Kate Golden came for my throat with this one and I'm not going to lie, I cried a few times and wanted to throw my Kindle across the room even more times than that. I adore the way that she writes and how flawlessly everything flows together and I am both extremely excited and extremely nervous for the conclusion to the Sacred Stones trilogy, A Reign of Rose, but am thankful to Berkley Romance and Kate Golden for sending me an e-ARC so that I don't have to wait until October to find out what happens to all of these characters that I have come to love.

Arwen's character arc in this particular book broke me. That light that I loved so much in A Dawn of Onyx had been altered by all the information that had been piled on her at the end of the first book. A Promise of Peridot had a very bleak beginning. A lot of grief hung around and it made me so sad for not only Arwen, whose entire world and existence had been changed, but for all of those around her. And the fact that we also got Kane's point of view in this book made it even more heartbreaking.

Kane's point of view wrecked me. Despite all the events in the previous book and how things ended, he is still so in love with Arwen and his thoughts regarding her were literally devastating because he wanted so badly to be with her but circumstances and his actions made it essentially impossible for Arwen to look past and I don't even blame her. I did, however, really loveeeee the jealousy we got to see from Kane throughout this book because I love an MMC that is down bad and wants what he can't have. His claws really came out in this one, especially during and after they arrived at the Kingdom of Citrine.

The adventure that their group goes on to search for the sword was one of my favorite aspects of the book. It was jam-packed with the found family trope and full of action that left me excited for more. The pacing was utter perfection and despite being sad/frustrated with Kane and Arwen's lack of a relationship, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The ending, however, wrecked my life so I will be immediately diving into A Reign of Rose so that I can find out how everything ends. I highly recommend this romantasy trilogy. It's a wonderful romance with really amazing world-building and an action-packed plot that will leave you wanting more and more of it.

- enemies to lovers (for real this time)
- found family on an adventure
- jealous mmc
- pirates and treasure
- strip poker
- "touch her and die"
- painfully slow burn (but in a good way)
- dual pov