Summary:
Captured by a king of darkness. Forced to find the light within.
Arwen Valondale never expected to be the brave one, offering her life to save her brother’s. Now she’s been taken prisoner by the most dangerous kingdom on the continent, and made to use her rare magical abilities to heal the soldiers of the vicious Onyx King.
Arwen knows better than to face the ancient, wicked woods that surround the castle on her own, which means working with a fellow prisoner might be her only path to freedom. Unfortunately, he’s as infuriating as he is cunning—and seems to take twisted
pleasure in playing on Arwen’s deepest fears.
But here in Onyx Kingdom, trust is a luxury she can’t afford.
To make it out of enemy territory, she’ll have to navigate back-stabbing royals, dark magic, and dangerous beasts. But untold power lies inside Arwen, dormant and waiting for a spark. If she can harness it, she just might be able to escape with her life—and hopefully, her heart.
My Thoughts:
What a fantastic book this is! I can’t believe I had not read it before now, and I wish I had read it sooner! A Dawn of Onyx is a really great book, full of magic, sacrifice, enemies to lovers tension, friendship, personal growth, and so much more.
I loved our main character, Arwen. She is caring and strong, stubborn, eager to learn things, and willing to do anything to save her family. Arwen can heal others, and devotes her life to saving others. She doesn’t feel as loved and strong as her brother, but as we go on in the book, we get to witness her growing into herself. One of my favorite things is watching our FMC grow into herself and her confidence, and become the woman she is meant to be.
Our MMC, Kane, is soooo perfect as the MMC. A shadow daddy wicked king, he is as dark and devious as everyone says… or is he? I loved getting to know him more throughout the book and from Arwen’s perspective.
Their budding attraction? AMAZING. Kate Golden knows how to write a slow burn with a ton of banter. It was perfection, and I was eagerly devouring their relationship as it began to grow. I also loved all our other characters as they came into play!
The world building in A Dawn of Onyx was 10/10. I felt as though I was plopped right into the world and story. The details describing everything, the background info, it was all perfect! There was so much character development, a lot of plot, and the story was truly so good.
This is your perfect slow burn enemies to lovers romantasy! It doesn’t have a lot of spice, but the spice that is there is great. I enjoy a good spicy book, but I felt like this was really well done and did not need more than it had!
Overall, A Dawn of Onyx by Kate Golden was fantastic and enjoyable, and I am so excited to read book 2! I recommenced it to anyone who likes a slow burn enemies to lovers romantasy.
Worthy of a re-read.
See what other books I think are worthy of a re-read here.
Read my review of book 2, A Promise of Peridot, here! Stay tuned for my review of book 3, A Reign of Rose, releasing October 8th 2024.
