“It’s dangerous to walk around this part of the city at night,” he admonishes me. I bring my sword up to his chest, letting the tip sit over his heart.
Instead of stepping back, his gaze falls to the weapon with amusement. “Is that why you continuously seek my company?” I ask. “Because you’re afraid of the dark?” His eyes widen innocently. “There’s safety in numbers.” I arch a brow. “You just watched me kill a man.”
“Eh.” He shrugs, waving off my recent homicide. “Three’s a crowd.”
Did you ever read a book when you were not sure if you want a happy ending for characters, or you want it to end on a cliffhanger so you will get more of that fantastic story? This one is such book for me. Heir of Illusion by Madeline Taylor is such a gem. I cannot explain how quickly I devoured this one, the only other thing I was doing was taking care of my children and every free minute I had I read this. I am pretty surprised that my fiancé was not mad at me that I am completely ignoring chores around the house. (to be fair I was also sick so that is probably the reason he tolerated it 😅)
So let’s take a look at a short description of Heir Illusion before we go to my full review.
Ivy Pomeroy has a gift—she can weave illusions like a damn masterpiece. Too bad, she’s collared like a pet by a ruthless king who uses her magic for his own twisted agenda. But Ivy? She’s not the kind of girl to sit pretty and obey. She’s got plans, secrets, and a desperate need to break free.
Enter the mysterious, brooding reaper with his own deadly agenda. He’s after the same powerful weapon Ivy needs, and teaming up might be her only shot at survival. But working with him? It’s a dangerous game—full of tension, temptation, and way too many sparks.
Betrayals stack up, illusions shatter, and Ivy’s running out of time. Because in a world where magic is power, freedom comes at a brutal price. And Ivy? She’s ready to make them all pay.
Blackout parts contain spoilers of story, click to see them.
Review
Overall review: 6/5 📿
Characters: 📿📿📿📿📿📿
Atmosphere: 📿📿📿📿📿📿
Plot: 📿📿📿📿📿📿
Logic/Relationships: 📿📿📿📿📿📿
Enjoyment: 📿📿📿📿📿📿
Spice: 🥵🥵🥵🥵
Ivy… Ivy Pomeroy get me to fall in love with her in first chapters. She is a strong female lead that is not pretending she is perfect, not scared and is doing what is needed. I love that Madeline wrote Ivy just alive. She made you feel with her, for her, or angry at her.
“I promise,” I instill as much sincerity into my voice as possible. They drop the subject, but I can tell they don’t believe me. And they shouldn’t. I’m nothing if not a liar.
This book is written in Ivy’s POV.
I was kinda sad at the beginning that we did not get Reaper’s POV, but after reading it I understand that if we see Reaper’s POV there will be plot revealed that it shouldn’t.
Her inner monologues will get you to think about scenarios that maybe never crossed your mind. She has to make some tough choices, and her feelings are described so vividly that sometimes I thought about her struggles after I closed the book. And that is exactly what you want from a strong lead in a book, to make you feel and think about what is happening to her.
Welcome our new shadow daddy Reaper Killian or Thorn. He is powerful, he is dark, he is morally gray and he has beautiful black wings. His mouth is filthy and sarcastic and will make you squirm in your chair.
He picks up one of the romance novels from my shelf and flips through the pages. “The second time we met, you were hacking a man into pieces while he was trying to take a piss behind a bar.” Indignation flares through me. “I waited till after he’d finished, thank you very much.” “And then,” he continues, a smirk kicking up one side of his mouth, “you used his blood to do some finger painting on the wall.”
His banter with Ivy is so funny, that I multiply time laugh loud. And I have so many of his quotes highlighted that gave me a pause in my thinking.
“More often than not, our shame isn’t deserved. It worms its way into our minds, infecting us with guilt for things that were never our fault.”
And oh my the surprise at the ending. I don’t want to mention it even in spoiler section, but I will be reading this book again just to track all his action that lead to the ending.
The plot of this book is amazing. Madeline will take you to the ride. Tempo is perfect, there are no moments when I felt like the book was dragging. Side characters are written well, and I hope we will get to know more about them. They nicely completed the story without pulling you out, and I wish we will focus later more on them.
The atmosphere of the book is also fantastic. There are scenes that will make you laugh and cry, but Madeline also wrote some scenes that make you think that probably she could give a horror book also run for her money.
Book even that is romantasy is focusing also on some hard traumas and giving heroin space to heal and grow but also make you think about hard decisions and what would you do in such situations.
I really love when author does give us some crumbles through the whole book that at the end will give you OH so that was it. Madeline did this masterfully. I paused at certain moments, sensing something was building, but I never saw the twist coming. And wow—when it hit, it hit. I was utterly surprised at the end, and none of my expectations were true. So hat down to you Madeline, I was completely shocked and kinda mad that book two is not coming soon enough.