You may want to hide yourself away with this one if you like slow burn, so many secrets, arranged marriage, monsters and adventure, plot twists, spice, magic and myths, and a bit of a wild ride 👀 In all honesty over here, I saw the cover for this one, read part of the blurb and was like YES 👀 this one. This one I’m going to fawn over until I can get my grubby little hands on. And I did, fawn over it until I got my hands on it. I really had no other ideas of what to expect, I ignored reviews and other people talking about it and went in as blind mostly because of my friends Nikki and Brittany telling me I should read it, because lets face it, our reading friendship is essentially the epitome of when my mom used to ask “well if your friend jumped off a bridge would you?” *yeets self off bridge to read* No but really, I enjoyed the delicious slow burn of this book and the build up of all the mysteries. Arranged marriage has to be one of my absolute favourite tropes so I was eating this up and some of the plot twists that the author threw at me? I am shook. Someone pick me up off the floor. Actually maybe wait until book 2 is coming out, I’m not ready to face getting up yet. Read more

"𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒖𝒙𝒖𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔. 𝑰𝒇 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒎, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆?" 𝐈𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫--𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝. I usually don’t start unfinished series, but I still picked this up because of all the hype! ✨️ The world-building is absolutely one of the strongest parts. You're not overwhelmed with info dumps; instead, the details just unfold naturally as you go. It’s all layered into the story in such an immersive way. Every place it took me felt vivid and alive in my mind. I could picture everything so clearly. ✨️ The entire book is wrapped in secrets, questions, and mystery. I loved it! ✨️ I wasn’t sure how to feel about the FMC at first, but she slowly grew on me. To see her character evolve and grow was delightful. And the MMC? He pulled me in every time he was on the page and I was soo impatient to get to know him better as he was also a mystery. "𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒉, 𝑻𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒆. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒚. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆, 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖." ✨️ This is a sloow burn, and while it was done very well, I did find myself wishing for a bit more romance. I’m really hoping we’ll see more of that in the next books! ✨️ The pacing was just a bit too slow for my taste. But wow, did it pick up speed toward the end😳 I had a lot of fun reading overall, the whole world and the story was very rich and intriguing, and I truly believe the second book will be even better. ⭐️4.25 | 🌶1.5 (The book arrived in great condition and the edges are stunning!) Read more

After I saw a fable book club reading this book that has been hyped up by so many people already, I got my hands on the sprayed edges edition and after finishing another book club book I dived right into this one and oh my god it did not disappoint. The book I’m talking about is “Shield of Sparrows” by Devney Perry which has been all over booktok / bookstagram but has been absent in local bookstores near my city and I don’t get why. This story, it’s gold. I can’t even properly review this book because it was so long and yet way to short and there was so much happening, I’m not going to spoil this amazing story, so it’ll be a bit of a story outline review. Odessa Cross, firstborn Daughter of the Gold king of Quentis. Always overlooked, always overshadowed and never in the inner circle. Which gave her a lot of leeway in the castle to just roam around. But not today, today she has little time to roam because some guards from Turah are coming. With a younger sister Mae being appointed as the Sparrow, to be wed of to a Prince of one of the other lands to unsure mixed bloodlines and peace among lands due to an old accord that’s been sealed with magic called “The shield of Sparrows”. But nothing goes as planned, as the king has planned. The prince of Turah demands a Bride prize and the bride to be has to be Odessa. The marriage having to take place that same evening to they can go back to Turah the next day. Once in Turah, Odessa can’t have imagined all the dangers lurking about. All the monsters that seem to be drawn to them. After being locked up, she has a demand. To wield a sword, which wasn’t the brightest idea, since she has to train with the best guard of Turah, the one her folk loathe with a vengeance called the guardian, but who even is he? How did he get his ‘powers’ and surely he had a name? With the king of Turah of burning books and on a hunt, Odessa can’t seem to find the reasoning of, she sets about finding out truths. The truth about monsters becoming more feral than they are supposed to, the truth about the capital that seems more than a myth then an actual place. The truth about the guardian but also, adventure. To find out what caused the infection that makes the monsters kill hundreds of people, but also to find out if it can be cured. Because the monsters aren’t the only infected among them. Live as she has known it her entire life had changed so much. She’s become a warrior, a savior, a “sister”, a keeper of secrets and hasn’t let the shadows pull her back, gone is the little mouse and risen has a woman with a purpose. Absolute ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐star read; can’t wait for the next one. Read more

Arrived in mint condition! Super happy with the Amazon packaging and also the actual book that is of excellent quality! Read more

This book is incredible! I already love Devney Perry and no surprise this one is GREAT! The description of the world, the characters, and oh the surprises along the way. I’m already hungover and wanting the next one! Read more