My intention here is to review books that are NOT under Awesome Shit I Love. Unfortunately, this month I am unable to do that. You see, I started rereading one of the series on my list and I've been unable to stop. There's a reason The Emperor's Edge is on my list of favorite things. Since I just completed the 5th book in the series last night, I will be reviewing Blood and Betrayal by Lindsay Buroker.
"The last thing Maldynado Montichelu—former aristocrat and current ladies' man—ever wanted was to be left in charge. After all, the team just blew up a train, crashed a dirigible, and kidnapped the emperor. It's kind of an important time.
But, with Amaranthe captured by the nefarious Forge coalition, and Sicarius off to find her, the team is lacking in leaders. Also, Sicarius has made it clear that Maldynado’s life may be forfeit should anything happen to the emperor while he’s gone.
To make matters worse, Forge’s cutthroats are after Sespian, and the young emperor believes Maldynado's loyalties are suspect. As if it’s his fault that his older brother is working with the coalition to usurp the throne. If Maldynado can’t figure out how to earn the emperor’s trust quickly, Sespian will go off to confront their powerful enemies on his own.
Meanwhile, Amaranthe must find a way to escape from the coalition’s newest ally, Master Interrogator Pike, a man who plans to pull all of the secrets from her head, one way or another…
Blood and Betrayal is the fifth novel in The Emperor’s Edge series. If you haven’t read the first one yet, you can pick it up for free."
I'm not sure how I happened upon this series. When I found it, the covers were boring as hell and this wasn't the type of thing I was interested in reading. But I found them, read them, and fell in love. They are almost historical with a dash of steampunk, but at the same time have some fantasy and sci-fi elements. Honestly, how does someone categorize these books?
That said, this is not the first time I've gone back and read them. It is the first time I've seen the new covers, though, and they made me so happy. I always wanted these books to look as bad ass as they are, and now they do.
I am a romance writer, so I think the fact that I love romance is pretty obvious. Because of that, Blood and Betrayal is my favorite out of the series and I was excited to get to it again this time around. Overall, the romance is slow burn and clean, but this is the book that really brings it home for me and makes it sooo worth the wait.
The characters in this series are unique and amazing. I crack up constantly... in-between bouts of squirming at the edge of my seat.
While this book is my favorite in the series, I highly suggest you start at the beginning. I seriously cannot recommend this series and book enough.