And I Darken by Kiersten White

And I Darken by Kiersten White

What I Drank Prior:  A whole bottle of wine and a 6 pack of beer... Sam is DRUNK

Spoiler free Overview:
This is a gender-swapped Vlad the Impaler story. You look at the cover and you think fantasy... its not... its historical fiction. This chick, Lada, (also known as Vlad the Impaler), is a child in her nursery... goes on to her early adult life with her brother. Her dad sent her as insurance for his empire to the Ottomans. Her and her brother made friends with the third in line.. who (obviously) ends up the sultan. Its all about getting back to homeland and the conflicts of growing up with your enemy and its wonderful...

Spoiler free thoughts:
I LOVE THIS BOOK. So I've been in a vicious mood for the last few days... i live in DC... its week 1 of Trumps admin... I'M ANGRY! I needed a book like this...

Characters: Long story short? I loved them. The three mains, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed are BAE. Their relationship is something that grows over time. Their back-stories are wonderful. You can (sorta) see who's gonna be the bad guy, but its actually kind of great. The characters are what make this story... Also.... LGBTQIA+ is a thing in this book. Also, its not a big deal. Its just wnderful.

Plot: Okay, so the plot is good... but its very clearly a character driven story. There are things that happen, but in MY opinion its all about how those plot arcs help the characters grow. It was great.

Writing Style: To be completely honest I paid zero attention to this because i was so mad that i cared more about Lada and her viciousness than anything else... Side note: I LOVED how she characterized Islam and its religion. She didn't make it about jihad or about violence or whatever. She showed that the religion itself is beautiful and peaceful. I just loved it.

**No Spoiler-y thoughts because its history and everyone should know... and I'm too drunk to tell the difference...**

What to pair it with: FUCKING WHISKEY. Ok. I don't drink dark liquor but if any case called for it... this is it... holy shit.

Rating: 4/5 shots. I loved it but it was predictable. Gonna finish the series and LOVED THIS BOOK, just knew what the issues/problems/plot twists were because I know the story of Vlad the Impaler.