With Hearts of Flame (Deluxe Limited Edition): A Dark Academia Romantasy Novel of Vampires and Dragons Featuring Stenciled Edges and Illustrated Endpapers (Bloodwing Academy, 4)
Briar Boleyn
by Cassie Alexander
Bend Her: A Dark Beauty and the Beast Fantasy Romance is the story of Rhaim the All-Beast, a cruel beast mage doomed to die at the hands of the woman he must protect at all costs, and Lisane, the sheltered Princess of Tears, who has been given into his care and who needs him to teach her magic so she can be free—no matter how much it might hurt her.
The intro follows....
Lisane:
My whole life, I had been a creature used to candlelight.
But I wasn’t accustomed to my own breath hot against my face, or the rough feeling of fabric against my cheek—or knowing that my wrists were tied behind my back, painfully tight.
The last thing I could recall was being in a carriage…. We’d been running away from the Deathless...
And now I was here.
Wherever here was.
Tied up, in the dark, on the ground, with a bag around my head.
The very thing my father had been afraid of for me for my whole life—and the reason I lived in a gilded cage, only getting to leave the palace when I had throne-sworn mages by my side—had apparently happened.
I had been kidnapped.
Rhaim the All-Beast:
Every mage gets one clear vision on the eve of their Ascension into their full powers, right before they get the brand of their mage-mark: you see the thing that will cause your absolute demise.
Some men see snowy peaks or waterfalls, others bucking horses, and some lucky few see themselves with old and wrinkled hands, passing peacefully in their sleep.
In all instances, we’re told, the reasoning behind the visions is the same: if you’re strong enough to be trusted with powers, then you must learn to accept the hand of fate, as surely as you’d earned it as your mage-mark.
You need to know, deep in your bones and now scarred on your skin, that while there are things in the world you can change with your powers, death comes for us all.
There is no amount of magic that can escape it.
And so, when a group of soldiers brought a bound and drugged woman to my doorstep, to bribe me to fight in their war, and pulled the bag off of her head and I saw her there—the woman from the vision at my Ascension, and who has haunted my dreams ever since—I knew it was the beginning of my end.
She had no idea who I was, or what we were to each other. She knew nothing about my fate or future with her, or how she was destined to kill me.
Which meant in the present...she was mine, to do with as I pleased.
And I wanted to see her crawling.
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February 10, 2023
MOST ADDICTIVE AND AMAZING READ!!!! I absolutely loved this book!!! I was given the amazing ability to be apart of ARC group for Bend Her which I am so thankful for. Before reading this book, I was struggling with finding books that made me want to read. This book was the book to make me fall in love with reading again. This book is a dark fantasy romance that is a retelling of Beauty and the beast. I am huge fan of dark romance and fantasy, but I typically not a fan of retellings. I have tried...
February 9, 2023
I devoured this novel in one sitting, it was that good. The magic system is so unique, the romance is hot and steamy, and the characters that she writes are multi-dimensional and interesting. The histories she writes for her world building and characters will suck you into a dark retelling of beauty and the beast, but it doesn't feel dull or overdone. Lisaine is no meek princess, instead becoming the type of FMC that will save herself, and I love that. Fighting for her freedom and her powers...
April 4, 2026
You have to read all 3 in the series. I couldn’t stop reading! I am re reading all 3 I enjoyed so much. )
May 23, 2026
This was a well written book but without any world building at all. One 🌶️ scene at the end. It’s very skimmable. Too many inner thoughts and not enough dialogue by both the MCs. I will finish the book and read the second but I would classify this as a palate cleanser storyline. )
March 1, 2023
I received an ARC copy but loved it so much I bought a physical copy. I absolutely loved Bend Her. It was a slow start, but I think it made the story better. Wonderful world building and story telling. This is a dark Beauty and the Beast retelling with some Howl’s Moving Castle vibes. This story is the definition of a delicious slow burn fantasy romance. It’s very plot heavy, so don’t go into this thinking it’s going to be all spice. The slow build up makes the characters Rhaim and Lisane so...
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