By Blood & Blade

By: Anna Augustine

Narrated by: Magnus Carlssen, Jane Maree

In the land of Taletha, the wife market is the prime place for young lords to find a spouse, but not the place for love. Something Inara knows all too well. After six years of rejection, she has no hope of being chosen for anything but a plaything.

When the future ruler of Taletha arrives at the market, Inara is chosen. More shocking still, Dhamar is exactly what he appears to be: kind, gentle, and willing to build a relationship of mutual respect and trust.

Yet, Dhamar has his own demons to fight. With a tyrannical father pushing for war with the Šerians, a scheming council, and the burden to protect those he loves, Dhamar is stretched thin. He wants to be a good husband to his wife, but how?

Thrown together by chance, will breaking down their walls reveal something beautiful, or leave only shattered pieces behind?

©2023 Anna Augustine (P)2023 Quill & Flame Publishing House

A heartfelt, swoony romantasy

Heartfelt, swoony, emotional, cathartic. This one delivered all the feels. From Inara’s horrible experience in the wife market to Dhamar’s struggles with his father, I loved how the author showed two characters from two very different walks of life but both trapped. Dhamar might be a prince but he’s as much captive as Inara is in the wife market. I loved the layers of political intrigue meshed with a strong romance plot about a woman desperately trying to overcome her past and a young man desperately trying to overcome the ways of his father.
There is a lot of deep emotion, especially around the wife market and the girls imprisoned within. The author handles it with delicacy and care but good to be aware for some readers.
Loved it!!!
And the narrators are fantastic.

Totally Satisfying Tale

I loved this beautiful love story set in the fictional land of Taletha. Somewhere between the heart-wrenching beginning of the Wife Market and the spell-binding ending, I became an Anna Augustine. And as a serious audio-book listener, I sincerely appreciated the skill of the dual narrators.