The Shadows Between Us is a young adult fantasy by Tricia Levenseller. Right now I am pretty sure this book is slated to be a standalone, but I am also fairly certain after the ending of Shadows Between Us that there needs to be a sequel. I am keeping all of my fingers and toes that there will be another book because I LOVED The Shadows Between Us. This is easily one of my favorite reads of 2020 so far. This book rocked my socks off and then some! It is being taglined as “a Slytherin Romance” and I couldn’t agree more. This was all kinds of swoony and wonderful and I could not get enough of these characters or their story. I want more, more MORE!

In The Shadows Between Us, we meet our main character Alessandra, who is wonderfully devious. She plans to become Queen by wooing the fearsome Shadow King and then killing him. But the Shadow King, Kallias,  is no dummy, and he is pretty devious himself. I hung on every single interaction between the two of them, and I couldn’t get enough. These two are so well suited for each other, it is crazy. Not to mention the plot of the story was also a lot of fun. I loved learning about Kallias’ shadow magic, and when it becomes apparent that someone is trying to kill him, watching Alessandra save him so she could continue to woo him (and ultimately kill him herself) was a lot of fun. It was also fun to see her intentions slowly shifting. Their romance is a slow build, but oh so worth it! There are lots of secondary characters to get to know and to love as well. It was a varied cast, with plenty of secrets, twists and turns to keep readers engaged. 

Fans of fantasy romances will fall in love with this villain romance. The Shadows Between Us is a book that I know I will want to revisit time and time again. I loved everything about it. The writing and the world are wonderful and include so many of the fantasy elements I love- Secrets, court politics, great characters and a fantastic romance. This book is one of the best fantasies and romances I have read this year. The Shadows Between Us will be a hard book to top! I am such a fan of Tricia Levenseller.