Esperance
Esperance Trilogy #1
Heather Frost
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication date: Nov. 18, 2022
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Rating:
Twelve strangers. Six marriages. One year in Esperance.
Amryn has many reasons to hate the empire. Her latest is her forced marriage to General Carver Vincetti, better known as the Butcher. If he learns even one of her secrets, he will kill her. And Amryn has many secrets. Not only is she an empath with forbidden magic, she’s also a newly recruited rebel intent on destroying the empire—starting at Esperance.
Carver knows the rebels have infiltrated the remote temple of Esperance. His job is to hunt them down before they can wreck the emperor’s new peace. Despite the demons that haunt him, Carver is intent on his mission—but he’s not prepared for Amryn. From her fiery red hair to her surprising wit, his new wife has captured his attention. The attraction that flares between them is undeniable. Now he just has to determine if she’s the enemy.
When the newly married couples become targets in a violent game, Esperance becomes more dangerous than anyone anticipated. Carver and Amryn are about to discover that no one is exactly who they appear to be—especially each other.
My thoughts…
In order to unite the kingdoms, the emperor has decided to have each kingdom select a male or female to send to Esperance. There, they will marry a person chosen from another kingdom to be their spouse for the next year. They will have no correspondence with their kingdoms back home, and they must remain in Esperance for one year. The goal is to form a bond, and unite the kingdoms. However, there are rebels inside Esperance, and Amryn (the FMC) is one of them.
Amryn was tasked by her uncle and the rebels to use her time in Esperance to help the rebellion meet their goal. She is an empath, which would be a death sentence for her if anyone found out. Empaths are villanised for being able to control your minds, and therefor they’ve been exterminated. However, not all of them were killed, and Amryn is proof of that. So, it stands to reason that she would want to see the Emperor’s plans fail, when he has brought so much death and destruction to her people. All of this is easier said than done when Amryn gets to know the people she will be spending the next year with. From her husband, to the Prince (who is also participating) and everyone in between, she starts to form friendships with these people and soon she starts to second guess the rebellion.
One thing that I like is that we get both Amryn and Carver’s POV in this story. Carver is a general in the emperor’s army, and has the agenda to find the rebels and stop them, all while keeping the Prince safe. Since we get his POV, we are there as he digs for information behind the scenes, plots with the Prince and other trusted members in Esperance, and navigates being married to someone he doesn’t know, who appears to be afraid of him.
Not only is this story in dual POV, but because Amryn’s power is to feel what others are feeling, we get a bit of insight into the other characters through her. So, when Carver starts to develop feelings for Amryn, she can feel them. When someone is injured, or killed, she feels it, and it affects her. Her being able to read people like that was very interesting because it helped break up the miscommunication that would have otherwise happened in this story. She could tell when someone was being truthful or lying to her.
I don’t want to go into too much detail about this book because a lot takes place. What is supposed to be a one-year-long bonding, and unification between kingdoms turns into treason and death. Even though this book follows Carver and Amryn, we are around the other participants the entire time, that we get to bond with them, too. So when one of the is injured, or hurting, you actually feel upset for them. The author did a great job creating this world that wasn’t so focused on just Carver and Amryn. I really hope we get to see more of them in the next book.
Favorite quote…
“There is an unrivaled peace in a library. Surrounded by words, but enfolded in silence. Knowing that stories lie dormant on the shelves, but a little time with you and they would come alive.”
