{"id":6008,"date":"2026-04-07T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6008"},"modified":"2026-04-07T09:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T09:30:00","slug":"a-villains-hope-by-s-e-mcpherson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6008","title":{"rendered":"A Villain\u2019s Hope by S.E. McPherson"},"content":{"rendered":"

A passionate, intricate fantasy romance where the complicated past collides with the fiery present<\/strong><\/h3>\n

King Beauregard has found himself the perfect mate. Penny can not only produce his magical heir to the throne, but she\u2019s supremely patient and understanding of Beau\u2019s biggest need\u2014to be with Elias. Penny is willing to share, and there is enough of Beau to go around. And in the beginning of this sequel to A King\u2019s Trust<\/em>, that\u2019s quite literal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beau is in pieces, and Elias must strike a sort of deal with a god, Vensharice, to bring him back to life. Lucky for fans of book one, the deal leads Beau back into the arms\u2014and bed\u2014of Elias, leading to the type of steamy reunion that author S.E. McPherson writes so well. What\u2019s so lovely about this polyamorous romance is that Elias and Beau\u2019s love isn\u2019t hidden behind royal shenanigans and lies; most people are aware of the situation and fully accepting of their love.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But the passion, desire, and mornings in bed aren\u2019t to last long. Soon, a mage from Elias\u2019s past\u2014Crue\u2014arrives to kill Beau. Elias has the knife in Crue\u2019s side, but he can\u2019t bear the thought of twisting\u2014of ending them\u2014and it puts Beau in true danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beau is later whisked away in smoke by a group of mages seeking both political power and a shake-up that\u2019ll awaken Elias from a stupor nobody except for them knew Elias was under. What follows is an action-packed, sacrificial fantasy plot where Beau, Elias, and Penny are separated and growing weaker by the day, needing to break the spell and tear themselves apart in order to find their way back to each other.<\/p>\n

A Villain\u2019s Hope <\/em>starts out in a similar slow-burn fantasy style to A King\u2019s Trust<\/em>. The fantasy aspects of the story play second fiddle to the political maneuvering and romantic longing in the first half, but then the second-half allows the rich fantasy world to take over, building upon the dynamic lore laid out in book one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This narrative takes what we thought we knew about Elias and flips it on its head, revealing the machinations of what really brings and keeps him here by Beau\u2019s side. The twist deeply complicates the love we\u2019ve come to know from book one in a fascinating, deeply impactful way. I found myself emotionally distraught by the news, wondering what it was I was supposed to do with my feelings for their romance. Talk about a complication.<\/p>\n

McPherson is steps ahead of the reader in this regard. The world is built around passion and a polyamorous romance, yes, but it\u2019s made full by the lore of heart-mages, thralls, ultrapowerful guards, terrifying gods, and the magic of warm embraces. While Beau is separated from El and Penny, the latter two grow closer together, learning to depend on each other and to trust each other despite all the evidence that they shouldn\u2019t. Their connection provides some of the same desperate anticipation that dripped from the pages of book one.<\/p>\n

This book is a strong bridge leading us to book three of this trilogy. Something epic is clearly in store for us in book three. A Villain\u2019s Hope<\/em> is a big book, and there are a lot of moving parts, but it can feel<\/em> big sometimes\u2014bigger than book one did\u2014and this is perhaps due to the separation of Beau and El and the plot being so dependent on them finding a way back to each other. Maybe it\u2019s selfish of me to want them to just get together already, or maybe it felt slower because it was.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, A Villain\u2019s Hope<\/em> bears all the markings of a successful second book. The story is elevated, complicated, and the stakes have risen ever-higher. Whatever is coming for us in book three, I\u2019m left believing this triad can take on whatever (or whoever) is waiting.<\/p>\n

The post A Villain\u2019s Hope by S.E. McPherson<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A passionate, intricate fantasy romance where the complicated past collides with the fiery present King Beauregard has found himself the perfect mate. Penny can not only produce his magical heir to the throne, but she\u2019s supremely patient and understanding of Beau\u2019s biggest need\u2014to be with Elias. Penny is willing to share, and there is enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}