The banter between those two is outstanding, I hope we’ll get to see more of them in The Rose & the Dagger. “A clumsy young man wants to impress a beautiful young woman.” He met her gaze, his dark eyes piercing.

“The captain of the Royal Guard wants to impress a lowly handmaiden?” “And I’d much rather fall to my death than admit a weakness to you.” “I work all the time,” he insisted, despite another dismissive roll of Despina’s eyes.

I said it once and I will say it a hundred times more, Renée Ahdieh is amazing! She writes incredibly loveable characters that will break your heart and then mend it back piece by piece. We get to visit their first time meeting and their hilarious interactions. ”īut the main storyline is around Jalal and Despina. “You do not strike me as someone who asks before doing something.”Īt that, Despina could not resist a laugh. The calipha smiled, the gesture as simple and unhurried as all her others. “May I”-Despina took another step forward-“be so bold as to make another suggestion, my lady?” I’m glad that we got to visit Ava in this story because she really was a big part of Khalid’s past that we only heard a little of. We were first introduced to Ava in The Wrath & the Dawn as Khalid’s first wife that had perished, she was also what started the curse that was cast upon him. The Moth & The Flame follows Despina, an aspiring handmaiden to the new Calipha of Khorasan, Ava.

Renée gave me exactly what I wanted needed and I loved it! And long story long, it was definitely worth the wait. I was reading little snippets here and there while working, which honestly wasn’t my brightest idea because I kept thinking of when I could just sit down and read this beautifully written short story. Her books are seriously impossible to put down. This review contains *spoilers* for The Wrath & the Dawn.Īnd Renée Ahdieh does it again, she managed to make me laugh, tear up, and swoon in just under 6 chapters.

The moth and the flame renee ahdieh