Never would I have picked up this book if it wasn‘t for my bestie Chiara (who you can stalk on IG as @_ckarys and also on GoodReads - and you should!) who has been recommending me this trilogy since our very first conversation. Repeatedly. Over a hundred times. The reason why it took me so long to pick it up was simply: I usually don‘t read such books and was afraid it would not be my cup of tea. Well let me tell you: this was not only my cup of tea, that was my whole iventar of tea. Oh boy, oh boy!

While I can enjoy why people think of this book as problematic, I did enjoy it when otherwise I might have reacted the same way.

Pacat has created a world where sex, politics, power and intrigue are not seperated, but rather one huge complex where each aspect is there to serve a bigger reason. I understand that this book needs trigger warnings and if I didn‘t know that it had to turn into a different direction, I might have DNFed it the moment rape was shown explicit. My first thoughts were indeed: so this is about sex, huh? Not the typical genre I would pick up, but it is so much more than that. I do think it needs to celebrated that Pacat used a sushed down topic like sex to show a world of politics, lies and intrigues.

As for the two main protagonists I must say they stole my heart right away. Even Laurent. That bastard. (I love you!)

When you start reading this, see the problematic parts as something that nurtures the story and plot to some degree, you can‘t stop reading. There is no putting aside. Your eyes are glued to the book. And you desire for so much more.

Anyways, it does only get four stars of mine because really, if no one has told me, I wouldn‘t have read any further than the first couple of pages. Because as I said, I get why they are seen as problematic, and usually those are not my cup of tea. But as soon as you join the ride, you‘ll love it.