Blood and Blade by Anna Augustine

 

Review: “The Wife Market of Taletha was open for business, and I was up for sale.” Welcome to the first line of “By Blood and Blade.” You know when you have potatoe chips and they say, “I bet you can’t just have one?” This book is like that – I bet you can’t just read one chapter….or five…. Forget it. Once you start, you’re in for the whole book.  I honestly couldn’t put it down. I was swept away into an exotic land of belled shoes, purchased brides, exotic courts, and desert sands.

 There were topics in this book…. (not explicit) of parental abuse, debauchery, forced prostitution, spousal abuse…. Topics that turn your gut and make every cell in your brain scream “NO!”. These are things that no one wants to read about but in real life, they happen. More often than any of use would ever like to think about. What happens to the children who are the product of lives like this? Is healing possible? Can they learn to trust? To love? To rise above such filth and be better? “By Blood and Blade” took a hard look at this through the eyes of Dhama and Inara, a prince shackled by a brutal upbringing and a beautiful but abused girl sold to the wife markets. Their tale is one of trust, healing, and bravery. So much bravery. I loved this book – my only complaint is that there were no boring parts that I could put it down and ACTUALLY get a good night sleep. I’m still guzzling an extra cup a day to make up for that all-nighter. Thank-you Anna for sharing an ARC copy of your beautiful book with me. Also.... I need a hardcopy just so I can display it on my shelf because - AH! TOO PRETTY!

Back Cover: 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 Serians, 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?