Loosely based on 1,001 Arabian Nights, Sharazad volunteers to marry the caliph, determined to hold him accountable for the girls he marries and then kills the next morning. As Khalid listens to her stories and as Shazi continues to survive night after night, we learn more about Khalid's pain and the curse on his family.

This book was definitely driven by plot and has somewhat relatable characters, and Ahdieh definitely kept me wanting to find out what's next. I enjoyed the book, but I'm left with a lot of confusion. I also couldn't get into her writing style, but this tends to be a more personal thing. While the blossoming love beween Khalid and Shazi is believable, I don't know if much of a "case" was made for Tariq in the background - I didn't care much for his (Tariq's) part of the story, and while I liked the "role reversal" that tends to happen in a love triangle, I just didn't have a lot invested in him in the first place. I'm a big fan of loose ends, but I felt like this story held too many loose ends - after nearly 400 pages, I should know a little more how/why the magic works and what's really going on behind the scenes. Maybe this will be more clear in the next book.

Again, fantastic, fun plot. Characters are great. The writing styles and patterns just weren't for me.