【 SHADOWS AND SECRETS 】

book 1 in the Fatebreaker Trilogy

DNF @ 30%

Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Adult
Author: Arcadia Rayne
Published: November 2025
Publisher: Self-published
Pages: 614 (paperback)

I really should have put this down sooner. I’d been so excited going by the premise of this book – fae, assassins, a gauntlet challenge where the main character’s mission is turned on its head?! Everything sounded so exciting.

And that part of the plot almost kept me going (well, at least it kept me going for as long as I did). But good god, does this lean heavily on smut to build the romance. I just couldn’t bring myself to keep going back for more because of how the insta-love (and quite frankly, insta-lust) was written.

There is no real buildup between the two POVs this is written between; from the moment they see each other, the are drawn to each other intensely. And while I can tolerate that trope (that is one of the main tropes in fae fantasy, after all), it was the vulgarness with which it was written that put me off. Instead of backing the romance, I was going eurgh and ewww every time words like “wetness” (*gag*) and so on were used to describe desire.

Sometimes books like this make me feel like a jaded old woman. But I swear, people have forgotten how much more effective subtle things are for building up sexual tension, and only later on letting the characters get carried away with daydreams of ripping each other’s clothes off. Objectification ain’t love nor sexy.

So yeah, hard pass. I’m not sure how so many people are getting through 600+ pages of that. It’s so unnecessary and feels like I’m being bludgeoned over the head with romance in the author’s attempt to make it “intense”, rather than being swept away on an epic and irresistible romance. No thank you.

Title: Shadows and Secrets
Series: The Fatebreaker Trilogy
Author: Arcadia Rayne
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She was sent to kill him. Now she might have to marry him.

Huntyr Lachlan is Velia’s deadliest assassin, and the fae prince who destroyed her family just walked into her kingdom.

But when her plan goes wrong, she’s thrust into the Conclave, an ancient competition for the prince’s hand.

Now trapped in a deadly game, Huntyr must navigate rival suitors, perilous trials, and a prince who is far more dangerous, and captivating, than she ever imagined.

In a world where nothing is as it seems, though, her greatest enemy may be the one she least expects.