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I felt compelled to pick this book up for two reasons: a) it takes place in the same universe as the author’s Aspect and Anchor series, which I absolutely LOVED, and b) I’m a fan of both captive and monster romances. I tried to keep my expectations realistic, knowing this was a shorter, quasi-spinoff rather than an epic journey like the main series. With this in mind, I found this to be a really fun story with great characters and an enjoyable dynamic between them.

I found myself actually cackling as FMC Vali and MMC Ranan were brought together through unlikely circumstances—a bit of a mispronunciation here, and a bit (okay, major amount) of sexual history embellishment there. Overall, this book was just SO entertaining. I adored the characters, especially Vali, who was strong, capable, and on a journey to figure out who she was as her own person and not a slave. I love how she was well-balanced, full of humor but also slowly realizing she no longer had to lie or manipulate to survive—she could just be. And I absolutely ate up the miscommunication trope that Ranan brought to this book, along with his sincere efforts to be a good husband.

That said, there were a few things that could have been stronger. The chemistry between Vali and Ranan felt lacking in the first half, and it ultimately took quite a while to develop. Also, while I usually love a good “one character gets hurt, the other has to nurse them back to health, and they fall further for each other along the way� trope, Ranan spent a LOT of this novella seriously injured. Given how short the book is, it started to feel like his recovery took up too much of the story, making parts of it drag.

So, in sum� did I have a good time reading this book, and am I glad I picked it up? Yeah. Could it have been better? Also yeah.