“I might be the forge maiden, but I am no delicate flower. I am as cold as silver. As strong as iron. I will bend for destiny, but not for any man.”

Hunters, vampires, an ancient curse, a blood oath, and a forbidden romance come together in this gorgeous darkly re-imagined Snow White meets Beauty and the Beast. Floraine is a forge maiden for the Hunter’s Hamlet, she was raised to make weapons for the hunters to hunt vampires, and her entire life has been spent listening to the wills of others and having no choice of her own, not even in who she can marry. Her only solace is her family, her mother who was a forge maiden before her and her brother who is a Hunter. But on the night of a blood moon she sees her brother dying at the hands of the Vampire Lord Ruvan and decides to do whatever it takes to protect her home... even taking a forbidden elixir and going head on with the vampire lord. However, Ruvan doesn’t want to kill her in fact he wants her. He kidnaps her and brings her back to the vampire castle and he explains his true motives: he needs a human’s help in breaking the curse placed on him and his people...a cursed they believe to have been placed on them by the hunters. Ruvan and Floraine make a bloodsworn oath: she will help break the curse and not harm him or those loyal to him and he will not harm her or even come back to the Hamlet in exchange. The more time she spends with Ruvan and his covenant the more she is realizing that everything she was taught to believe about them is not true, that they aren’t mindless creatures after blood... and that there is something much darker going on here. The more time she spends with Ruvan the more she begins to question the line between hatred and love and what is the truth and what is a lie. This was the perfect blend of enemies to lovers with slow burn romance and high stakes quest. Ruvan and Floraine have to honestly question their entire histories and beliefs of what they know, and face new emotions and feelings, they have to find the bond that is deeper than blood and truly see one another for who they are. Ruvan was honestly so swoon worthy, he’s kind, supportive, patient, and my all time favorite thing: CONSENT. He is constantly checking in on Floraine and asking her if she is okay with things and that is just perfection to me. So yes, this is definitely one of my favorites from the series ( though it can be read as a standalone but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ALL THE BOOKS) and I can’t wait to see what book Elise Kova writes next in this series!

*Thank you to Elise Kova for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*