Tricia Levenseller, author of Daughter of the Pirate King, is back with an epic YA tale of ambition and love in The Shadows Between Us… him.
3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.
No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to do everything within her power to get it.
But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen—all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?
“Tricia Levenseller’s latest, The Shadows Between Us, is a decadent and wickedly addictive fantasy, full of schemes and court intrigue, and delightful descriptions of food, which I am always a fan of.” —Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Three Dark Crowns series
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Audiobook excellent narration
Not your typical young women looking to marry the rich and powerful. Oh she’s looking to marry rich and powerful but will not conform to do it. She’s no virgin, no shrinking violet, doesn’t know how to keep quiet, and she’s conniving. I loved her.
The King is not what you’d expect either, or what she expected. He’s dark, dangerous, murderous, and so much more. He loves his dog, so you know he’s got my vote 😀
This is a romance, with lies, manipulations, snark, backstabbing, political warfare and more.
Fun and tense, a nice escape
A fantasy romance which is more heavy on romance than on fantasy, filled with elements of political intrigue and just a dash of murder mystery and suspense.
A woman whose mind is as sharp as blade wants to become the Queen.
To achieve that she has to make the Shadow King fall in love and then kill him, thus taking all the power to herself.
Well, how do you seduce a king you cannot touch, simple, with your mind.
Alessandra is a murderous, sexually empowering, scheming woman who want the throne to herself yet on the way she unexpectedly falls in love with the king who is just as scheming and wicked.
The dynamic and the relationship that forms between these two is amazing and quite real.
But not just with the king, I liked the friendship she forms in the palace, especially with Rhoda and Hestia. It was not a fake, shallow bond, they supported each other throughout the book.
The book was not overtly drawn out, though there was hardly world building. A king who rules over 6 kingdoms, but there is bare minimum mention of them and they hardly have impact on the plot.
I understand that it was a standalone, still whatever was mentioned of the world was interesting, would have loved to learn more.
Another vague aspect, only the king has magic powers, even when explained, it is imperfect. I do not get the plot of just him having it and no one else, maybe the reason of it could have been a good sub-plot.
All in all, I really enjoyed the characters and the book. It was a good love story. Honestly, if there was a sequel I would not mind reading it.
I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a romance with morally gray characters.
Seriously, this was totally new! Morally ambiguous characters are not my jam usually but I was pretty much loving Alessandra from the first page. It was a perfect slow burn romance, with royal intrigue galore! The ONLY thing I wished for is an epilogue to show Kallias and Alessandra ruling their empire.
So, I saw and read the synopsis and thought it sounded good and I bought it. Then there came the mixed ratings from people and I was worried. It took me a while to get to it but I finally read it and happy to report it loved it. Was it perfect? No, of course not but not every book needs to be perfect to be great and loved for me.
I loved Allesandra, she is funny and know what she wants. She also has a dark cunning nature to her, but I loved that. She is very calculating and will go to great lengths to get to her end-goal.
But the more time you spend with her you will see there is so much more to her. I loved that the people she meets along the way not change her but enhance her in a way. She never really changes, always has this dark nature to her.
Normally a book where the outfits are described on a daily basis would be a bit ugh to me but in this case, it made sense and fit in the story and I found myself looking forward to the next outfit.
I also enjoyed how she was fighting for equal rights to women in all mattes of life. And how she was not afraid to show and tell people that if needed.
The Shadow King, we learn only things through her as we only get her POV but what we know, I loved. I think he made a nice counterpart to her.
Overall, I loved it, the writing was great and pretty fast paced. But still a pretty smooth and fast read. I think, this is a standalone but I wish there was more, even though it was ended pretty solid. I just wanted more of her.
There were a few minor things I didn’t care for, like some things with her dad and how certain things were handled a bit too easy, but for the most part I loved it. The twist in this book …wow, while some I had a feeling about, a major part of that came to a shock and I didn’t see coming at all.
I liked the end, that while it was good it still had a bit of a bittersweet feeling to it.
Overall, as mentioned I really enjoyed it a lot.
I rate it 4
I think what stood out to me the most about this book was that the heroine was not a good person…and I did not care. 80% of the entertainment factor of this story came from, “Oh my gosh, she did not just do that!” moments. The other 20% came from a pleasingly original style of world building that felt unique without overwhelming me in the details. I think most YA fantasy romance novels rely heavily on beautiful prose as the shining factor of their books. There isn’t much of that in this one, but don’t let that fact discourage you. What it lacks in frills, it makes up for in sheer, face splitting fun.
Not young adult, did not finish; This book very much mis represents itself. In the first three pages we have her murdering someone at the age of 15 because he does not want to stick around after sleeping with her. Then we jump forward three years to her in her bedroom with a lover she’s breaking up with because she doesn’t want to marry him. This is not a clean read safe for teens! I returned it because I couldn’t go any further with that being our first introduction.
It was very well written! A total evil man and woman love story lol. It was kind of refreshing. I also loved how Alessandra was so #girlpower. A woman isn’t defined by what’s between her legs! Let it be dozens of lovers or just one it doesn’t matter!
Anyway it was a super easy and quick read. So definitely something you can pick up quickly and enjoy. The ending was a bit strange with the “twists” buuut in the end its just a love story lol nothing more.
It was great! I would actually love if this Author would make a series in this style! We need more villians!!!
This girl empowerment, bad-girl ya fantasy is a quick, easy read. I particularly enjoyed the character arc and Allesandra’s over-the-top confidence.
“They’ve never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart. And they never will.” From the first sentence, I was interested and looking forward to how Tricia would end the book satisfactorily.
Allesandra is self-reliant and ambitious. She wants to rule the world and carefully makes plans accordingly. 1- woo the king. 2 – marry the king. 3 – kill him and take the kingdom.
A dark and romantic story that centers around a murder mystery and court drama.
Shameless and brilliant.
The Shadows Between Us was an incredibly refreshing fantasy told with so much humor and heart that it sucks you in from the very beginning. Alessandra might be my new favorite heroine—a witty murderess with questionable morals but unwavering ambition. I just loved her. Thank you for giving her to us, Tricia.
All is not what it seems when it come to The Shadows Between Us. Those shadows hold lots of secrets and Levenseller carefully weaves us though the trails of fantasy and mystery mixed with a victorian like flare.
Alessandera will capture your heart with her first line ad the book it told through her vantage. Her quick wit and sassy mouth will have your heart in a flutter. She is not a weak girl ho depends on a man. She is women on the mission to get what she wants by any means.
I thoroughly loved her feminist wisdom, ability to adapt and converge with the cast in which we had been introduced to through the book.
Levernseller creates a would that anyone would want to be a part of even if it is slowly being consumed by the King. With intimate details of lands, castle and fashion galore ( defeiently giving America, The Selection Series, a run for her money) your brought into thinking one thing but leaving in completely an utter shock.
The only flaws I felt was that the descriptive words seemed to almost mimic also that the book was not long. While i enjoyed the quick pace I felt that the ending the last 25% of the book was filled with so much angst that it came all to quickly and I would have loved to the scenes played out just a pinch more than what they had.
A wickedly fun romp with corsets and jeweled daggers, Levenseller drops us into a competitive royal court, led there by Alessandra, an unapologetically ruthless and self-confident courtier who aims to overthrow the Shadow King and become queen. The king’s mysterious abilities and dark secrets complicate her passion to rule, all building to a sizzling, unbidden romance. The Shadows Between Us will heat up the page ― and your heart.