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First, a warning for those who love clean romance and read YA because it doesn’t usually have bedroom scenes. This is not a clean romance. However, it is an extremely good one and more than worth reading.
On to the story.
Summary
Briar is a princess of the kingdom of Autumn, a land of perpetual harvest and stability. Poet is the court jester of the kingdom of Spring, a land bursting with life in all its forms. Both hold a secret that drives them. Both wear masks that hide what they truly feel. But Poet’s secret will destroy him and all he loves if it comes out. Briar, driven by the ghosts of her past to be a dutiful princess, tries to find the reason Poet sneaks out of the castle with a dagger in his hand. What she discovers binds her to Poet and his secret, and creates a passsionate forbidden romance.
- File Size: 4148 KB
- Print Length: 306 pages
- Publication Date: November 8, 2015
- ASIN: B0175PMU8W
Review
Briar is very believable in her grief and her need to be something she’s really not (i.e. the perfect princess). She’s strong and intelligent, daring in just the right way, and with a wonderful heart that only becomes more wonderful as the story progresses.
Poet…*sigh*
Poet is amazing.
Court jester for the Spring court, to say he’s unconventional is a bit of an understatement. Reading his performances captivated me, which is a very big deal in my mind because a performance is a difficult thing to capture in words. Due to the difference in their stations, there’s a bit of a build up to their meeting, but the attraction is made clear from the start when they see each other, her from her window, him from the courtyard below.
Each interaction afterward is a gradual building of tension until their first dialogue, when he catches her walking the corridors after the welcoming feast and it becomes clear how close and far apart they are.
I fell in love with them as a couple in that moment and devoured the book from that point on.
Their romance is amazing. Full of real issues that aren’t easily solved, these two not only come to understand each other, they work well together. Poet’s description of their lives if they were to be together broke my heart because it was so very true and he saw what was going to destroy them so clearly. Briar’s determination in spite of those odds amazed me. This is one of those rare romances where I love the heroine as much as the hero.
For those who care, there is a love triangle in this story. It’s a believable one and, for me, the first where the rival isn’t another woman. Not only that, the rival was incredibly sweet and kind and I ached for the pain he went through. Very well done.
Poet’s secret was as real and raw as I’d hoped. Like many things in this novel, Jaster doesn’t hold back when it comes to reality. The mental illness referenced is based on real symptoms and she doesn’t keep Poet, as the hero, distant from any of it, in any way. Reading it, my heart swelled with even greater admiration for these two characters. It’s difficult to handle such sensitive topics well, but Jaster did.
The ending is very good and satisfying. Unlike some romances where everyone gets everything they want by the end this book does not make things so easy. This book does have a Happily Ever After, but it’s real, if that makes any sense. More pain than usual is involved. There were characters who deserved to get all they wanted who didn’t. But, for me, that made Poet and Briar’s ending all the more satisfying. For a story called Trick, this book was a heart-warming examination of truth in relationships and ourselves.
It rocked my world and showed me what fantasy romance could be. Highly recommended.
Amy Keeley 