Carving Shadows into Gold by Brigid Kemmerer

The story of Tycho and Jax continues with their journey to Emberfall, during which there's a vicious attack by scravers. With scravers terrorizing the countryside, Tycho worries about the consequences of his promise to Nakiis. Prince Rhen orders Tycho away to warn the King and once again he finds himself riding away from Jax. Callyn's story opens with her chasing the princess through the palace, part of her new job as Sinna's lady in waiting. Soon it becomes her responsibility to figure out why the Queen was attacked, trapping her in a game of politics that may turn deadly.

I'm going to start by saying, Jax and Tycho are sooooo sweet. They're sweet together and sweet to each other. If you are looking for a lighthearted romantasy that makes you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside, this book's opening salvo fits the bill. But as wonderful as it is it can't stay that way for long. Their relationship becomes strained by the necessity of finding balance between their love for each other and the need to maintain their reputations.  

Callyn's story is less sweet... Let me be so bold as to call it mildly sour. Callyn is trying to assimilate to palace life but finds herself being humiliated by Nolla Verin on a daily basis. She's afraid of the King and she's being used by the Queen. And if that's not complicated enough, she can't allow herself to admit that she's still in love with Alek because he betrayed her. Where Tycho and Jax are sweet, Callyn and Alek's relationship hooks you with sexual tension. As angry as she is with Alek, you know it's not over yet.

What I enjoyed:

I thoroughly enjoyed the pacing, Brigid Kemmerer's sense of timing is great. At no point did the story drag on with useless details or irrelevant character interactions. One thing consistently led to the next, and had I had the time available I would have read it in one sitting easily.

I'm not a romance reader by nature. I find there isn't enough going on in them to keep me entertained. But with Carving Shadows into Gold the romantic elements in this story were surrounded by action sequences and complimented by character growth: Jax making friends and overcoming the trauma that his father left behind, Tycho learning to let his guard down and beginning to question his oath to Grey, and Callyn realizing that not everything is black and white.

What didn't I enjoy?

This contains one of my pet peeves of too much blushing. It's in every single chapter. Sometimes blushing occurs multiple times a chapter. No matter the situation, someone is always blushing. People don't actually blush every five minutes and I think it ruins the quality of the characters when everything under the sun embarrasses them. Why are they so insecure?

Not really sure BK knows who her target audience is, I certainly don't. The writing style is what I would expect to find in a Young Adult novel (especially with all that blushing), but some of the content is not suitable for kids... Things heat up around the 20% mark. I would maybe classify it as light reading for the New Adult. I feel like the author needs to firm up her writing for the new adult or, remove sexual content for the young adult.

Don't miss it, it's out January 28, 2025.