Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

The first book I picked up for FaRoFeb was Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan. This is the first book of her Chronicles of the Warlands series. I found this book thanks to a Instagram post for a trope Tuesday post, so was able to use it for the prompt recommendation from booksta for the 2nd board of Winter's Kiss. It also works for the Heaving Bosom's 2022 Reading Embrace prompt Ancient Egyptian glory hole. For FaRoFeb, I used this for the prompt something you love to hate.

Xylara is the half-sister of the current King of Xy, but as the second child was allowed a little more freedom. She has taken it upon herself to learn the art of healing. When Xy ends up in the being able to skirt the rules, she starts offering help after hours to the barbarians that are coming to takeover Xy. When Lara saves one of the generals, the Warlord Keir is drawn to Lara and her care for everyone equally. He decides to broker a deal with the King to leave him in seat (under Keir of course) but also wants Lara as his Warprize.

Okay, so first things first. When I found this book I didn't see anything mentioned, but this ends in a cliffhanger and the first three books are about Keir and Lara. I hadn't realized since the covers were different enough, so I don't want anyone else to go in not realizing the same thing. Now, this is also a slow burn and not very steamy. I did really enjoy the world building and the way that things evolved. I did want a bit more romance between them, but now knowing that there's three books about them I wasn't quite as strict with my rating. It is a very abrupt ending though, so just be aware.

Where I did have issue was the misunderstandings that went on so long. I do wish that Keir and his people were more open to having conversations with Lara and actually teaching about their culture and what is actually happening. There were also a few moments where it was pretty obvious that Lara didn't know what was going on or how to act, but they just wrote her off or got frustrated with her. It's like because she quickly learned the language everyone forgot that she was from a different culture.

I did speed through the books and immediately continued the in the series. While not perfect, it sucked me in so quickly and kept me so occupied that I had to give it as close to a 5-star as possible. It just had those few little nitpicks that didn't push it over the hump for me. I'll definitely be reading more in the series; at least finishing the first three books. I'm intrigued to read Elizabeth's other series Epic of Palins since it supposedly intersects.

Have you read Warprize?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Warprize, Elizabeth Vaughan, 4.5-stars, 0-days, eBook, 340 pages, published in 2005, traditionally published