Review: Crown of Desire: A Fantasy Romance Novel (The Peacequeen Series Book 1) by Eve Bradley

Crown of Desire: A Fantasy Romance Novel by Eve Bradley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fantasy Reverse Harem

I'd probably give this book 3.5 stars, If I could.

Catryn is a whore. She’s been one her whole life as her father started selling her young. She’s currently working in a brothel as the city in which she lives is crumbling through corruption and lack of leadership. Then the brothel is filled with soldiers come to steal women away for their camp as they wait to take the city by force.

Catryn is claimed by Darrian, the son of someone powerful. He takes her to his camp and treats her well and even offers to pay her for her time and take her to somewhere safe after the war is settled. Having no real choice Catryn agrees and even enjoys their time together.

Then two men arrive, Valryn and Glend, a warrior and a scholar who have travelled from the Vault Citadel with a crown created by the gods and goddesses. A crown to sit on top of the head of new Peacequeen, Catryn. There hasn’t been a Peaceking or Peacequeen in 300 years. They are anointed by the gods and goddesses to rule over the the kings and queens of the continent, to guide them, especially in dark times of war. They are given Guardians to protect them and mystical powers of invulnerability and magic. Valryn was born to be a Guardian, and Glend and Darrian choose to become one. They each bound to Catryn and through her to each other and have to learn quickly how to work together effectively. They have to hit the ground running because war is coming to the continent and they have few resources with which to stop it.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this book. It’s well written and there is plenty of plot but I felt like I didn’t connect properly with the characters. I feel like I *should* have connected with them, but I just felt there was something missing. I think it’s because though there was some discussion about their pasts, they weren’t really talked about with emotion, with the exception of Catlyn. There was no real backstory for most them, with only a few hints. What I don’t know is if this was deliberate or not, and whether more information will come out in the next book. This is the problem with reading a new to me author, I just have what I’m reading to go on, I can’t make assumptions about the way in which they generally reveal information.

I feel there is lots of potential in the book. The plot is intriguing and want to follow the story but there are gaps in the world building as well as the characters backstory. For some people these may not be huge issues, but they are reason for me to not give 5 stars to a story that might merit it if the rest of the book lived up to the same standard.

At the Time of Writing This Post, This Book Was Not Available on Amazon.