General Fiction (Adult)/Romance/Fantasy
Pub date: 16 July 2026
My rating: 5/5 ⭐️
Summary:
Maid Marian’s life is over.
Her cowardly father has betrothed her to the most reviled man in the land: the Sheriff of Nottingham. Devastated, she’s sent on the quickest path to meet her husband, through the fae-infested Sherwood Forest.
But everything changes when her carriage is attacked by the most feared fae of all: the Merry Men, followers of the infamous Robin Hood. Kidnapped and waiting on the Sheriff’s rescue, Marian finds herself surrounded by the magical creatures she’s been raised to fear. But the more time she spends in their presence, Marian realises that not everything she’s been taught by her family is true.
And Marian can’t help but find herself drawn to her captor – the sinfully handsome Robin, who stands between her and returning to life amongst the humans.
As the Sheriff’s men close in on Marian’s location, she will soon be faced with the ultimate choice: the family she’s always known, or the love she can choose for herself…
Trigger warnings:
- attempted sexual assault
- misogyny
- gore
- discrimination
Review:
“Desire isn’t weakness; it’s hunger”
A stunning, tender and gory depiction of resilience, resistance, and power in all of its forms.
I don’t know what Erynne has laced this book with but I LOVED it. I’m not normally a fae fan, those stories never really did anything for me but this was just so well done! The setting is beautiful, the characters familiar and yet brand new and certainly their own. Lox was a decent MMC but Mare really is at the front and centre of the story and really hard not to love her. But the highlights for me were definitely the side characters. The Merry Men were fantastic, and the fae leaders interesting.
The prose itself is just stunning. The amount of highlights I have that are not just yearning lines, but rather stunningly phrased thoughts and descriptions?? Unprecedented (for me).
Unexpectedly violent and gory at times, but still beautifully done.
Did I predict the twist very early on? Yes, yes I did. Buy the ride was so good I did not mind one bit.
And whilst I understand some of the reviews commenting on the speed of a romance (I’m not a big fan of insta love either), it’s another thing I did not mind because both Lox and Mare were clearly in the realm of “destined lovers”. With it being very clear from the start that they’re both going to be the guardians of Sherwood.
Side note, content warnings are a MUST for the finished copy and I am very surprised they were not included in the ARCs.
“Tonight, I sever obedience to the men who would use my body as a warning to every girl who forgets her place.”
Leave a Reply