Slow Burn Done Right! Our Shield of Sparrows Review

April 2026 Book Recommendation: "Shield of Sparrows" by Devney Perry Host R.J. (Rosemary Jean-Louis) and Book Club Bestie guest reviewer, Paige Green, a book influencer and member of the IRL MustLuvRomantasy Book Club exhale over this worth it slow burn.   

Connect with Paige on IG: @popthebutterfly

Follow us on IG: @mustluvromantasy

Key Takeways:

• Shield of Sparrows feels like a reset for romantasy fatigue
• Applause for FMC Odessa’s boundary-setting, character growth
• MMC the Guardian (Ransom) is the broody hero with real humor we need
• New trope coined by Paige: "Surprise threesome!"
• Worldbuilding highlights: Lysa, Voster priests, crux migration and rabid monsters

Share your rating and mini review in the comments or send us fanmail.

IRL News and Events not to miss:

April 19, 2026 - Season 4 premiere of Hallmark Channel's The Way Home        Listen to our episode The Way Home - Why Hallmark's Time Travel Series Belongs in Romantasy to get ready for it.

April 25, 2026 at 1 p.m. ET- RSVP to join the Must Luv Romantasy in real life book club meeting on the sequel Rites of the Starling by Devney Perry at Panera Bread near Emory University in Decatur, Ga. 

Follow us on IG: @mustluvromantasy

Transcript

Welcome And What We’re Reading

R.J. 0:00

Welcome to Must Love Romantasy, your podcast for recs and reviews of books and other content where love, magic, mayhem, and hot takes collide. I'm your host, Rosemary Jean-Louis, but call me RJ. I'm a lifelong sci-fi and fantasy lover turned romantasy super fan. I love the genre so much, I started two real life book clubs. Join in to get recommendations and reviews of the romantasy books worth obsessing over or not. I also include shows and other content. So grab your swords or your coffee and let's fall in love. One epic story at a time. Hi Book Besties, how you doing? In this episode, we're recommending and reviewing Devnie Perry's hit Shield of Sparrows to get into the mood for its sequel, Rites of the Starling, which came out this month. If you haven't read Shield of Sparrows yet, it's okay. Hit pause at the catch up, and then definitely come back to take a part in our mini book club. If you have read it, or even if you haven't, you can still join in. It's romantasy, so we endorse whatever makes you happy. A little bit about Debbie Perry. She's better known for her romance novels. She's written over 50 of them since 2017. Shield of Sparrows and Rites of the Starling are her first entries into the romantasyy genre and are part of the Chains of Seven series. So, how did she do that? One of my book club besties chimes in on our review segment next day. She's here for this review. Uh, such a busy person, but I am glad she made some time on her schedule for us. And of course, you did a cameo in our defining romantasy show in March, and she gave us uh her definition that she'd love to have to make sure it's it's got some romance, it's got some medieval crap going on in there. That that was her. How are you doing today, Paige? Doing good. When you are not attending our book club and giving your definition of what romantasyy means to you, tell those listeners about you.

Paige 2:58

Well, I'm Paige. Um, I'm a book influencer and book reviewer and have been since 2017. I have worked and will work with anyone from indie authors to traditional publishers, and my handles are just pop the butterfly anywhere and everywhere.

R.J. 3:15

Awesome. And of course, I will put that in the show notes, but uh I tell you, uh listeners and book besties out there listening that we have a cream of the crop reviewer with us right now in our midst. So bow down, okay? Interested to know how did you hear about it? And then tell us how did you consume it, read it, what method?

Paige 3:42

Didn't hear about it actually until I received the arc. Um, I had a paperback arc, uh, which is an advanced reader copy um provided to me from Red Tower Bookslash Entangled Publishing. So the first time I had heard about the book was when it showed up at my doorstep.

R.J. 4:00

So it almost was like mystery meet, right? It was just there. Okay, what is this? Let me try it. Um so you were all about the reading uh after you read it. Did you try the audiobook at all? Are you are you an audiobook person or are you mainly like a traditional? It's gotta be physical, either through an e-book with a Kindle or some other apparatus or device, or um are are you just like traditional gotta turn the pages and put a bookmark um in the physical book?

Paige 4:34

My favorite method is paperbackslash hardback. Um, but I do do ebooks and audiobooks. I don't do audiobooks as much just because I have um a little bit of hearing loss. So sometimes reading the audiobook is a lot slower for me. So if I need to really finish something super quick, like for a book club, like we'll I will pick up the physical version of it.

Spoiler Warning And Plot Recap

First Reactions And Genre Fatigue

R.J. 5:00

Got it. And and that's understandable. We always consume these books um the best way and sometimes the fastest way possible, especially to meet that book club meeting and get in there so we all know what we're talking about. And when people start talking about what happened in chapter 45, you're not like, oh gosh, I didn't get up there yet. Don't let me plug my ears right now. For me, as usual, I'm the audiobook girly, um, as well as graphic audio. I had actually heard about this book through Audible because it was suggested after I read The Curse of Silver Secrets and Cruel Shadows duology by Vera Ray, which I adored. And I felt had some similarities. And of course, after I had finished that, I went through book withdrawal, as you often do after you finish a book you love, and Audible recommended Shield of Sparrows as one of those. Uh, if you like this, you'll also like this. Then later on, I I just loved it so much. Um, IJ Graphic Audio, the dramatized version of it. What was interesting about the audio book, uh Paige, I'll tell you this: that people complained about um the actor who played The Guardian because they felt uh, you know, God bless him, Jason Clark is his name. They felt that he mumbled too much. And uh Samantha Brentmore was the voice of Odessa Cross, and she was just amazing, amazing. She just had this very um uh energetic, effer evervescent quality about her that um encapsulated the character. And then finally, you know, they had a different cast with graphic audio, and they were phenomenal. And I will just give you this last last anecdote before we get to it that uh graphic audio, again, I will highly suggest it, that it was so good, especially the action scenes, that I was playing it. My younger brother, who lives with me, um, was in the room washing dishes. He's a total auto guy, meaning car. All he likes to do is watch and listen to car videos, explaining it in in minutiae. And I'm playing this thing, and I'm like, oh boy, he's in the room. Let me turn it off. He was like, put that back on. That was good. You know, I want to hear the rest of it. So it's a tribute to how good graphic audio is, and then how good the writing of uh Devney Perry did with um Shield of Parrows. Shield of Sparrows. I cannot talk today, right? What's wrong with me? That's okay. It's it's all like you were dealing with allergies before this. I was dealing with um, you know, the return of the cold uh part three for me. I got hit with a cold three times this winter season, and thankfully now we've finally switched over to spring. Hopefully everything will be fine, but it's still rattling my brain a little bit. Now we're gonna get into our uh review portion, and I wanna say this that our reviews are broad strokes, broad brushes. We get into uh an overall vibe check of what it is that we liked about the plot and what it is we didn't like, if there was anything. Get into characters and tropes and some of our questions and some of our hopes and dreams, if you will, for the future for the sequel. So we're looking at this through a broader lens, and this gives you a way to reminisce about the book if you've read it already and feel the vibe again, or make that decision to read it after you listen to this. But I will say we will have spoilers. So sorry. If you haven't read it and you do not want a spoiler, just stop this, read the book, come back and play this um to hear the rest. Uh if you don't mind spoilers, that's all good and all cool. You can just uh play this, listen to it, and then go back and read the book um for the first time. Or of course, if this is um your second or third rodeo, you read it again. So, with that said, let's get a quick and dirty plot recap. Here's what happened in Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry. Odessa Cross is the overlipped princess of princess. The spare, the backup, the girl who was never supposed to matter. Her sister May was trained her whole life to marry the Prince of Tura as part of the ancient Shield of Sparrows Treaty. But at the ceremony, the legendary monster hunter known only as the Guardian invokes an ancient rite, the Chain of Sevens, and chooses Odessa to marry Prince Xavier of Tura instead. Before she leaves, though, her father gives her a secret mission. Find Tora's hidden capital, discover the source of the Guardian's power, and kill him if she can. Once in Tura, Odessa is thrown into a brutal world of monsters and CrossFit meets survival camp training sessions. She slowly and reluctantly bonds with the Guardian for terrifying, smoking, hot, emotionally stunted, and funny protector until she discovers the truth. Prince Xavier, her husband, is a decoy. The Guardian is the real Prince and the man she actually married. Had in a monster play called Meitsa and a final twist involving a crux monster that after death turns into a red-haired woman who looks suspiciously like Odessa. And yeah, we're ready for book two. Paige, let's get a vibe check. What was your immediate reaction? Did this book make you fall in love with the romantasyy genre again? Did it make you go, uh, what was the what was the reaction and the feeling?

Paige 11:23

So when I originally got this book, it was around April of 2025, right before it came out. And I picked up the book and I read a couple of pages of it. I think I got to the part where she had cliff dived. And I wasn't completely vibing with the book at that point. So I set it down. I picked it back up for our book club. And when I started reading it again for the book club, I got a lot, I got uh into it more and more the the more I read it. Um I thought it was gonna go the traditional arranged marriage route, but it didn't. And I really loved the route that it took instead with the twist on the genre, and I especially love the overall magic uh used and the setting of the book. Um, I will say that I think it really did uh make me really appreciate romantasyity again and want to get more into it after I read it.

R.J. 12:16

I agree. For me, initially, that first scene when she jumped off the cliff, I was like, Whoa, what what's happening here? What why is he doing that? Um, that kind of hooked me. But um, I will say that um it it's slow burn and it it was one of these that put the slow and slow burn and it meandered, and there was a lot of you know, going from village to village and town to town and the journey, the journey, this, that, and the other. And of course, her uh being the type of character who, and we'll get into this, but uh Odessa crossed the female main character or FMC asking a lot of questions, and that could be like wearing me down. Like, uh am I reading about a four-year-old or something? It's like every five seconds she's asking questions. But ultimately, when it took off, it took off and it got really exciting and really interesting. I really loved her, uh Dessa's character growth in the graphic audio um listening of it. That's when I did appreciate that aspect of her personality, of her asking a lot of questions, because we at that point really learned and realized that we were learning about the plot through her asking all these questions and going with her through that journey. And I loved her journey of growth. I loved her um enemies to lovers, um, Ark with the with the guardian and how funny of a character um he is. And to your point about the the world building the fantasy, and yes, it did make me have a lot of faith in uh romantasyy again, because there were there were a few Vera Ray's books, definitely not in that category of I was a romantasyy fatigued, because I as I said I loved her books, and and because of her books, I was led to this one. But um, but yeah, to your point, you know, you read a lot of these books and the tropes are the same, and the characters can kind of be the same, and you know, the love portion of it will be like bam, like by chapter three, they're together and they're docking boots or whatever. But this was not the case with this. Anything else you want to add about um your vibe with this before we get into the the characters and the the main character energies that we felt with the different um female male main characters, excuse me, the FMC uh and the MMC and and the other characters in between.

Paige 15:04

I really liked that it was a lot more woodsy, in my opinion. Usually romantasyy leads, um usually leans into like the castle settings and stuff like that. But in this in this book, um we were in tree houses, we were in very small villages. I really liked that vibe. I love a good tree house.

Odessa’s Growth And Tough Choices

R.J. 15:26

Me too. It it gives you like that Peter Pan Lost Boys vibe, right? Uh maybe even throwing Tarzan for good luck or whatever. And the other thing I did like were the strong female characters that a lot of time in these these romantasyy books, it's the guy who has his squad, and and you're learning about, you know, his squad of fighters. But this time you had, in a sense, her squad uh ultimately found family is the trope. But you had her squad of people who were women and they were strong women, and they and they all had different roles that they they weren't all like these warrior women, but they all have different types of roles that made them strong and made them instrumental to the plot. And and anytime you can have a librarian in there that that's taking down names and uh adding to uh the the plot in a wonderful way, in a smart way, because hey, you know, librarians rule and they're cool, you know. Um I love that and that's great. So let's then move on to those main characters. Initially, of course, we're gonna talk about the the FMC and the MMC. So, what do we think about our girl Odessa Cross? Now Odessa Wolf.

Paige 16:52

I'm gonna say that I know that you didn't like the way that she kept asking questions, but I I did. I really like that. It helped me understand a lot better what was going on. Um, sometimes I I call them different, um, there's there's different types of books, and I call books like this where they ask questions and it's answered kind of like uh you can turn your brain off kind of book because you're not having to overly think about um all the all the scenery and all of the interactions to get the answers that you want from the book is just kind of shown to you. And I really like that aspect. I like sometimes when I could just turn my brain off and, you know, oh, my questions are answered. That's nice. Next. I really liked how it was also very easy to put yourself in her shoes through that method, because a lot of the questions that you might have as a reader, she was also asking to um her, to the audience in the book and stuff like that. Um, and it her overall rebellious tone. I really appreciated that as well.

R.J. 17:59

Wasn't that really refreshing, especially early on? This is even after the cliff diving, after she underwent that bait and switch that her sister was was supposed to be the sparrow, and that nope, we've decided that it's gonna be you. And she's on the ship, and the guardian's telling her, Well, you're gonna do what I tell you to do, and jump when I tell you to jump. And she's like, No. I will not. So that that was that wasn't that refreshing about her, that it was like one of these take you aback moment, like, wait, did she just say no? And and she just she laid down a boundary, which was really fantastic about her character, and you don't see that enough, I feel, in the romantasyy books with the female main character saying, This is what I will do and won't do. And hey, if you don't like that, um Emma C too bad.

Paige 19:01

It was very empowering, I feel like, um, to read that kind of a female character when some romantasy kind of leads leans into the trope of um, you know, a weaker character that grows stronger. She was already very strong at the beginning. Um, but I did like to see her growth in that, especially her confidence in not only sword fighting, but in um carving her own way of life in this book. I've liked that that that that confidence helped her lead to helping fight back against the monsters, um, not only within the book, but also within her own family, both her birth family and her now-in-law family.

R.J. 19:40

True. And it was also fantastic to see her growing confidence in being a princess, soon to be queen. Initially, she was always just saying, Oh my goodness, don't call me that. I'm just a regular person. And I I think by the end of the book, in a sense, she accepted it, not that she's this high royal, but that she's a person who, because of who she is, she makes a difference. By that time, the end of her journey, she had accepted and embraced her new kingdom, right? Because throughout the journey, she was like, I'm supposed to be a spy, I'm a Quentin, you know, okay, you made me the sparrow. I I wasn't supposed to do this, but father has told me as part of this role, May was supposed to be the sparrow and spy, so you will do it. And throughout her entire journey, she was always doubting that that she was like, I suck as a spy, I'm terrible, and blah, blah, blah. And I'm a Quintan. But by the end of her journey, she had really accepted the people she was a tour in. And all of her actions basically confirm that, especially to her, like all of all of those acts of bravery. And wasn't it also refreshing to see her just going like a lot of times, also in these romantasyy books, you know, the female main characters, she's learning how to fight with a sword and a knife and all this other stuff to all of a sudden be Xena warrior princess, like by the middle of the book. And and she wasn't like that. She was doing the best that she could because she wanted to help. And she saw, especially during the the fight at the the tavern when when the monsters overran it, and she saw the the guardian was faltering, she whipped out that arrow man, and she was just shooting them arrows, you know. Um, and then another milestone about that growth was uh that treehouse fight with uh I forget which monster it was. It might have been a bear wolf, it might have been a Tarkin. But at any rate, um, she saw those kids on the ground and she's like, I'm going to go get those kids, you know, and and you're just on pins and needles, and she grabs those kids and she's climbing up the rope ladder and underneath that. Monsters swinging it and swiping it, and her, you know, her arm her shoulders almost out of the socket. It I mean, it was intense. And then by that time, then she falls over. I mean, she's on the ground, she's like made her peace with ready being ready to die. And the guardian comes in to save the day. But gosh, Paige, what a nail biter with that. But what what a moment of growth for her, right?

Paige 22:25

Yes, it exactly. Um, I think especially the children scene, I think that showed a lot of her growing into this uh new role that she wasn't expect she wasn't really expecting to be the the princess that they sent off or anything. She was just gonna be married off to some guy that was in the kingdom. Um, but not just, you know, being royalty, but also coming into the fact that she's gonna have to lead people and lead by not only example, but in bravery as well.

Ransom The Guardian And Chemistry

R.J. 22:58

Exactly. Exactly. And then of course, let's talk about the guardian, who could have been your, you know, your standard issue jerk of a guy. He's broody male. Of course, he's the silent type, but I really then, you know, was starting to dig this guardian guy. And you had a sense that, yeah, they're they're probably gonna end up together. But he was broody and and that silent type, but he was just so funny, like unexpectedly funny, wasn't he?

Paige 23:31

Yes. He did uh he did frustrate me a bit though.

R.J. 23:37

Okay.

Paige 23:37

Don't imagine a little bit honest. He frustrated he frustrated me a bit because it while I found him funny and charming at the end, and I really do like his character, I just I did not understand the whole cloak and dagger stuff at first. And I was very put off by his uh very intrusive questions to Odessa and his very like uh he he knew he knew that he that she had been told to spy. Like he's so smart. Um that's that's that's why he went with her initially, in my opinion, instead of the sister, because he he knew what what what was up. Um, but I was just very put off with him um asking about her previous partners. But after that, like I felt that was so invasive.

R.J. 24:23

You know, he was just teasing her. But yeah.

Paige 24:28

But I did like that after that he opened up uh more and more once he realized of like, you know, this this girl does not know how to spy. I am perfectly fine here.

R.J. 24:42

It was also a moment of growth for him, uh, along the way with his journey. Um initially he didn't trust her, and and that was one of the things that she kept even needling him about. That I know you don't trust me and and stuff, and I I know you don't really consider me part of the family and stuff. As he started to see her acts of bravery, as he started to see or hear all of her questions and the the things that she wanted to know, as he also just saw how much she cared, then he started to vibe with her as well. But it was all it was funny, just initially, of course, as as soon as they met and they were on their way for her to to go to the kingdom of Alasaria, she thought that she was like, Okay, I I'm feeling some things for this man who's not my husband. Little does he know, little does she know, right? Yes, she's feeling she's a whoo, you know, his his arms. Ooh, ooh, those butterflies that I just had. Oh, stop it, to stop it. And it was just so funny um to hear that that dialogue, especially her inner dialogue, and of course, being the person that she is, that not only is she a person who asks a lot of questions, but she's the person who lets her inner dialogue become the outer dialogue. And it it was just definitely uh funny. There was there was that moment after the tavern fight, um, when the guardian and Odessa get into a a conversation about his past partners, and she clearly was saying in to herself, like, my goodness, why did I even ask that question? And and this is this is when um he inadvertently revealed that he had Lysa, uh, that's that disease that is making him a faster, stronger warrior, but is making the monsters rabid and and by extension making eventually him to be a rabid, crazy person. And he didn't realize that he revealed that to her around the time of the tavern fight, and they start talking about it, and but she's a little distracted and starts thinking about oh, at the tavern there was this woman there, and I wonder if you guys were together, and I'm trying to figure that out. So I'm I'm gonna read uh a little bit of their dialogue of this back and forth that I just found so funny. This is kind of around chapter 38 after, again, that that tavern fight, and um he's telling her the guardian saying after I was bitten, after the fever, I felt different. But like I said, the changes came over time. I didn't realize there was anything wrong with me for months. I felt different, but as soon as it was just letting effects from the fever. I was at a tavern. I met a woman, and she was like, Oh, met a woman. Like, like kind of like you know, he's telling you about a disease, but your main thing is like, Wait, did you say you met a woman?

Paige 28:03

To her benefit, she doesn't care if you're infected with anything that's very progressive. Thank you.

R.J. 28:10

Exactly. You know what? You could be affected with whatever. I I'm good. We we could still get together. Are you dating anyone? Yeah, that's the real question here. Exactly right, and that's what I loved about the two of two of them and this section about she's saying that the jealousy was instant, and the person, the the name of the person that she's referencing was was it Soraya from Ashmore? Was that who he'd taken to bed? Who who he'd kissed? I mean, this is her thought bubble, and to your point, yeah, it's like he's telling you he's got this disease.

Paige 28:50

It's okay, we'll work around it.

Hidden Identity And The Big Reveal

R.J. 28:52

Yeah, well, you know, and then and then maybe and then he jumps in that you know, she didn't get Lysa, he said, and she's oh good. My voice was too bright. That's great. I'm sure your future wife will be glad that you can uh this just kept getting worse. I mean, you know, you know the word that she was gonna about to say that you can uh okay, I shouldn't say that word, you know what I'm saying. And then he goes, That my future wife will be glad that I can kiss her and you know, knock boots is the magnum I use. But I mean, that was one of the the best scenes in the book that just really made me fall in love with these two, with how just funny their chemistry was, and then how funny a character she is in these in this circumstance of of this being a disaster um and him being affected. But this is what you're thinking about. Of course, in a sense, this was like uh, you know, this is enemies to lovers, slowburn, but all of a sudden there's like three's company involved here with um her learning that the the person who that that she married, air quotes, uh Xavier was his name, Prince Xavier. We then learn that he's not the true Prince Xavier. His real name is Dre, and he's the cousin and body double of the Guardian, kind of kind of like you know, the the the um the Star Wars uh movies, like uh Attack of the Clones, where um Padme, she had a body double or something all the time. Um, so that that's what that made me think of. As you read that part, was this uh okay, oh duh, you know, I I saw this coming, or was were you like me, where I was like, wait, what now? What's happening?

Paige 30:49

I uh I have really good intuition. So back at the wedding scene, I could I could tell like something was off. And I I'm very big into like celebrities and stuff like that um in real life. So I was like, I wonder if this will be like a decoy kind of thing, because there's there's something odd about this whole this whole situation.

R.J. 31:11

Then we learned to her relief, and and and she even kind of she basically said it that, oh, thank goodness, you know, the Guardian's really my husband, and I've been pining for him. Whew! But let's talk about how it was even revealed a three-way, like where I'm joking that, you know, first of all, Three's company, three's crown, you know, the three of them, Dre, um the Guardian, who we then learn his name is Ransom, finally tells her. Um, she's been asking all this time, Ransom and Odessa, but um she learns that Dre is not the real prince when she's going going over to his door to be like, okay, he's my husband. I gotta get to know him. Maybe this will be the moment where we lay down or something and knock, knock, knock, and out comes this dude, out comes, out comes uh fake Xavier, and out comes Jocelyn, her ladies maid, and they're all disheveled. It's like, what a way for them to reveal this. What was your reaction to that? I mean, I did not think three-way would be a way to reveal it. I thought, you know, maybe he was cheating with one person.

Paige 32:26

Not just like a few, just a few people. I really I really loved that scene. I think that was one of my favorite scenes in the whole book. I also really liked how um it was a it was a three-way, but it it showed like um a good promise for like a good poly relationship and uh for this to be such a big romantasyy, and romantasyies tend to historically be very straight. Um, I really liked the incorporation of queer relationships, and um, I like this trend going forward in romantasyies of showing more like uh queer and non-heteronormative uh relationships in books. So I was all for it.

R.J. 33:07

This is definitely an example of of a poly relationship, as you mentioned, and um a queer relationship that we can see. But my note would be like probably on Odessa's behalf is is that you know, if you're gonna do this, this is fine, but just don't do it with my my lady's maid. And let me know, first of all, that we're really not married and you're not my real husband, because that was like a knife. Knife to the stomach and the not really the heart, because she was uh in a sense off the hook at that point, but definitely that was that was an embarrassment for her. Like, I can't believe it. My husband doesn't want to sleep with me, but sleeps with Jocelyn and at Mother Dude. Anyway, what does he have that I own?

Paige 34:02

Really like her typical like blasé attitude about everything that just kind of pops up to then happens to her, like in this scene. She really had an attitude of like, well, this kind of stunk, but at least I wasn't too heavily invested in him. So it's whatever.

R.J. 34:19

Um, as we then kind of look at the different tropes that are in this book, uh, I'm not sure what like what category of trope is that one.

Paige 34:29

Surprise threesome, I guess.

Tropes Spice And Why It Works

R.J. 34:33

I love that. I love okay. We you you gotta you gotta trademark that one, Paige. Surprise threesome, as a as a new romantasyy trope. And of course, we have the other ones, the typical ones that were a part of this book. We had, of course, enemies lovers, we had arranged marriage, we had the hidden identity, uh, the spare becomes the chosen one, proximity, um, the training montage um that turns into an emotional bond between um, you know, the FMC and MMC, the monster-ridden kingdom, the monsters infected with something, kingdom, secret mission, and of course, found family. Other than the the surprise threes threesome, that of course, after this, I definitely want you to trademark. How do those, or maybe there's some that I didn't mention, uh, was was there a choke that was was your favorite?

Paige 35:35

Probably say the monster ruined kingdom and the way that this uh arranged marriage was just turned on its head. Typically, you know the husband and wife or the wife and wife, whoever the partners are of the relationship of arranged marriage, but this one it's just like it's this one. No, it's actually this one.

R.J. 35:55

Um, absolutely. And and you're, I mean, you're you're such a much more discerning reader than I am. I well, again, once one of these things I'm always saying, oh, I I had no idea. Woo, it went over my head. I had no idea that that person was not the guy. For me, I always go back to the thing that I love, which is slow burn. And for me, this was like one of the best slowburn um relationships that happened. I felt when they ultimately got together. And I I don't have a spice rating per se, um, but I felt the spice between them was just perfect because it was such a nice slow burn buildup of them establishing their relationship and also establishing who they are um as people. Um, and once again, once they got together, it made sense and it it was just uh a wonderful like I'm gonna tear up a little bit because you know she actually gets to be with her real husband. And that's so sweet and beautiful. Paige is just laughing at me.

Paige 37:05

Nah, no, I think it's sweet. Um, I I so I I have started giving spice ratings. I gave it a four out of five because while I thought that it wasn't heavy in the amount of spice scenes that were in this book, um, that what we got was really hot and heavy and carried the book in that regard.

R.J. 37:26

That's fair. That's fair. I mean, there were some descriptions, let's just say. There was details. There was details. There were details, definitely details. Um that said, let's talk about the world building. You can't have romantasyy without fantasy. And sometimes, again, that's something where you can get a little um romantasyy fatigue. Because with some books, the fantasy is just like set dressing, and it's like there, and you're like, okay, that didn't make any sense whatsoever. Um, and then sometimes the fantasy is uh so detailed and so convoluted, you're like, I have no idea what's going on, and why this magic person can do this and whatever. But I felt that the the world building and the fantasy, I think you mentioned it earlier, were just on target and were just enough and definitely were um it was easy to follow and they sense in this world it hooked you in. And it was also just definitely unique with these different types of monsters. And the way that we ultimately learned of why the guardian is the guardian, um, right? And then um we all as also part of uh the world building, you had these uh Boster priests, these these are the the priests that um institute or or rather implement blood oast and how creepy they were. Were they frenemies or enemies or whatever? And of course, the big part of the world was the crux and this crux might migration that they're trying to race against time to avoid or um you know batten down the hatches, get into your crux bunker or wherever you hide, um, to make sure that you're you don't get taken and got got by these these crux monsters. So talk a little bit more about how you reacted to the world building and the fantasy aspect of romantasy.

Paige 39:44

I think that this book did really good to um hit it like perfectly on the head. Um, it was pretty standard with the feuding kingdoms bit, and there's this whole sacred ceremony of uh of marrying someone off to someone else of a different kingdom. That's a tale as old as time in romantasyies and other fantasy books. Um, but I did think that where it really shined is with the Lysa disease, um, all of that, but it wasn't very overly complicated, it was very straightforward in the parameters and was happening here. And um, with the inclusion of the crux, I also felt that that was very uh straightforward, a bit mysterious because we don't know like the full parameters of it, but I feel like that it was enough to um get us into the second book without having anyone overly confused in the next one.

Worldbuilding Monsters And Side Characters

R.J. 40:40

Exactly. And that's what I really loved about this book too, and that's why for me it was an additional listen to, not because I was confused, because I enjoyed it and I enjoyed the fantasy aspects of it that I could follow, and that put you on the edge of your seat enough because to your point, there was a little bit of a fantasy element uh or a rather mist mystery element to it about the crux that you um all the other different types of um monsters were introduced in some way because they showed up and they were killing and hacking people. And of course, you know, the guardian is his troops had to, his rangers had to fight against them or hunt them, and the crux we we meet at the very end, and the crux turns out to be a very pretty formidable and scary monster, and it was just one. I I thought it was gonna be like a a gaggle of cruxes or something, but it was just one, and that was pretty uh scary and damaging. We also then had not scary and damaging, but I call them the the MVP like side characters that also kept you coming and interested in the book. Who were these MVP side characters for you that you were like, you know, this person is really, really cool or my buddy?

Paige 42:14

Definitely Caitlin the librarian. Um and also uh I think her name's pronounced Tilia. Is that how it's pronounced? Okay. And I also I also love the inclusion of the pet phase. So cute.

R.J. 42:29

And it was just so natural too, because uh in other romantasy books, it's like okay, we're just we're gonna throw in a dog or a cat or a fox or a random.

Paige 42:40

I'm always down for a pet being thrown in.

R.J. 42:42

But I felt this was this was a little bit more seamless, and it made sense. And of course, uh, for me, as well as the two characters that you mentioned, uh, we we can't uh not talk about Chio de Sparrows without mentioning Evangeline or or Evie, as she's called, a little four-year-old, who we learn is the lost princess of the Kingdom of Tura, who ends up being the Guardian's younger sister, but she does not know that. And she thinks that um Xavier, the fake Xavier, who's really Dre, follow all that, right? Um, is her dad, and thinks that the Guardian's mother, who's been lost in the sauce, Luella, is really her tutor. How about that for like cray cray fi family dynamics? I think the scene where to me it was like if I were in Odessa's shoes, where I was like, What did I get into by marrying into this family? When they were revealing Lysa, right? When Luella re revealed to everybody that, well, oops. Um I kind of, you know, created this thing that was a concoction that I was hoping would make people more invincible. And I ended up Using it on my son because he was sick, injured. And then he got bitten by a bear wolf, and now he's infected. Uh oops. Your heart was like um so sad for the guardian to learn this because he did not know. But it's poor Odessa who's like the fly on the wall, hearing like this back and forth family argument between him and his mother. And I I think Catelyn was perhaps part of that scene. How did you react to that as you were really reading that and also learning the reveal that good grief? It was the mom who created this thing. I know you were trying to to help your kid heal, but why did you think that was appropriate?

Paige 44:45

Oh Lord, that was just such a mess. I did not see that coming to to Devney Perry's uh benefit. That was that was quite a twist. I thought more that it was gonna be more a vo a Voster, voyster, however it's pronounced, um caused, but to have it be his mother, like that was woo, that was bad. I could I could tell that because Odessa reminds me a lot of me. I could tell that because if I was thinking it, Odessa was thinking it, I was definitely thinking, um, well, this is a lot more complicated than my family issues. Exactly.

R.J. 45:24

You're like, well, glad I glad I'm with my dad, and all the only thing I had to deal with is that he wanted to turn me into a spy.

Paige 45:34

And the mysterious stuff of my mother and you know some random guy from my kingdom saying that he had her killed. Yeah, yeah. That's small fries compared to this.

R.J. 45:47

Totally, totally. Oh my goodness. I was just so heartbroken for him with having him just after learning all this, storming out. And then it is also part of the plot is that the reason, of course, that uh Luella, the Guardian's mom, is in hiding is because of her conflict with his father, where his father, King Ramsay, was really more in love with her than she him. And the way that the poor guardian or ransom heard the tale is as old as time or remembers it, is that his father caught her in the act cheating with another guy and uh started choking her to death and told the other guy, scram, or or you'll be killed. I'm misremembering whether he actually did get killed, whether King Ramsay stabbed him or not. But we do know that he he was trying to kill the mother and the guardian stepped in. And it kind of hits differently now. Even he realized that it hit differently when the dynamic of wait a minute, did King Ramsay know that? That this is what she just did, and maybe the reason why he was like in enraged and ready to choke her to death was not so much that she was cheating and he caught her in the act, but because he found out that you took this stuff and you gave it to our son. What in the world is wrong with you? What do you think, Paige?

Paige 47:26

It's really hard to tell. Um, because he's just he's so crazy looking and crazy sounding in the book. Um, and it's probably like a good mix of the two that he was not happy with what she did um with her with their son, but also uh he just seems like he was so obsessed with her that you know cheating would drive him to do that. I'm still trying to figure out the library stuff, though, with him.

R.J. 47:55

Right. And and also part of the plot, King Ramsey was just riding through town, just torching books. And and if you had one, he might torch you too. And I think part of the explanation was that, oh, he's doing this because he thinks there will be spies coming into our kingdom and they may learn some things that that he doesn't want them to know. So screw it. Let's just burn it all, which which makes uh not quite a lot of sense. Um, because you're burning your history and and your information and and stuff. Typically, of course, in romantasyy, there is that villain who's the mustache twirling villain, a lot of times doesn't have a name, or maybe one name. I I guess the closest thing to a mustache twirling um villain is King Ramsay. But I think the other part of this book that I found refreshing is that it didn't have that. It had a lot of complex evils going around or gray areas of evil, right? Yeah, you had the monsters, are they really evil or not, or are they just rabid? You had the Bosters, are they friends or are they friendly? Um, you also had um Odessa's dad, who he's the the guy without a name, which I I think in the next book we're supposed to learn it. But he had additional uh bad intentions in terms of sending Odessa out to spy and even made a spy. And then, of course, you had Banner. Uh now Banner is the character who was initially Odessa's fiance. It was a political engagement. He's a general of uh her father's army, if you will. He wanted to kill the Guardian because the Guardian uh killed his brother under some circumstances that perhaps he knew, but maybe perhaps he didn't. And then he surfaces towards the end of the book, ready to start killing people. I'm just mad and I'm here, and I'm first of all here to pick up my real fiance, who then turns out to be another one of her ladies' maids. It's like you and this one was Brielle. Can this chick not catch a break with her lady's maid finding men all around her? Paige? What do you think of that? You know, you're pretty smart. I I I don't know if you're sitting there going, yeah, I bet you he's engaged uh secretly to Brielle.

Family Secrets And King Ramsay

Paige 50:28

They were definitely together or something like that. It was gonna be another situation where she found Brielle instead of Jocelyn in his bed. But I bet you anything. I just it just it felt it felt so random just to see him pop up because until that point, he had, I don't think that he'd ever really been in the room at all. Maybe at the very beginning he was in the room when she got betrothed and married off, but I don't think that he'd ever been there. So he pops up and I'm just that mean girl that that I was just like that mean girl's meme where it's like she doesn't even go here. What are you what are you doing here?

R.J. 51:06

Certainly when he said I'm I'm here to collect my fiance, I was I was like um the guardian and Odessa in terms of their interpretation, going, Oh no, you are not taking Odessa. And I'm like, no, he cannot take Odessa. And he's like, Oh, honey, I'm not here for her. I'm here for my real fiance. Odessa, who I think the final point with Banner was, of course, the fight that she had with him. Let's just say, all heck is breaking loose with the crux coming and people running all over the place. But the dude has only one thing on his mind. I have one job, it's to kill the guardian. I can't find him. You will do because you married to him. And it's just like, oh, okay. I I guess if if there's if there's some of a you know, a plot scene that we like pull a little bit that was like, okay, that quite didn't make sense, but you know what? It was a good fight. I would say that. And so, so of course, let's talk about that fight a little bit more and your reaction to that fight. Here she is the person who started out this book as the weakling, engaged to this general, and now she's fighting with him, and she actually has a chance. What did you think?

Paige 52:30

It really was random. He just kind of appeared. At least we cut that time. We're not gonna have to worry about like a love triangle in the second book. But um, yeah, but um I I thought it was such a very um uh what a what's the word I want to go with? Um kind of like closed circle moment where, you know, she started off here very like phase one, and now she's like, well, you know, I can handle myself. I don't need my husband to come help me.

R.J. 53:02

True. I don't have the lines in front of me, but I think it was these wonderful sentences that alluded to the fact that, okay, she spent two months, you know, training and her muscle memory now is here, um, being able to be a fighter. And while his style was a little bit more gorilla and maybe not as disciplined as hers, she was able to hold her own because her training was so recent, she was very disciplined in her attack, she was able to duck. I mean, it was it was just a really fantastic moment. And unfortunately, in the melee, yeah, you have Xavier, or rather fake Xavier. He comes in there because he notices that Evangeline, who, of course, we have to remind people that if if we hadn't said it already, that he's saying that he's uh Evangeline's father, and that's what um Evangeline believes. He sees that as part of this melee, Evangeline is to the side and may get hurt, and he runs in and he um gets stabbed. And then, and so by the end of the book, we're not sure if he's alive or not. It's like he's critically wounded, and it's like, oh goodness, please don't kill that poor guy. But R.I.P. the banner, because of that, because he stepped in and gave Odessa an opening to then stab him. And then, of course, Brielle was like, I do not want to live my life without my love banner, and allows herself to get killed. What a dramatic kind of ending for the two of them, especially for the guy who randomly comes to pick up his fiance, and well, mission was not accomplished, topics.

Paige 54:54

No, and you could definitely tell that um this was planned. I feel like that she was obviously like the other spy that they sent. So it was not just like I'm here to pick up my fiance, uh, because I I don't know, maybe it's just my disdain for banner, but I don't think that he really had any any thoughts of big romantasy intentions or anything. I think it was just more like, well, we pick up the information and we take it over here so we can learn about this kingdom, since everything else was burned by the king.

R.J. 55:26

Good point. Good point. Um, there's always like two reasons for things, and the the more practical reason was for him to pick her up because she's more, she was probably more trained and adept at being a spy than Odessa, who was like trained over eight hours of not being able to sleep or something before they carted her off on the ship, right?

Paige 55:51

Yep. So they they lost their good spy, they lost their general who really can't fight to save his life for being a general. They had the crux come and beat the crap out of everyone. Like, I don't know where they're gonna go from here, but it's not anywhere good anytime soon.

Final Battle Deaths And Fallout

R.J. 56:14

Oh boy, book two is is has gotta address some things, but for sure. But yes, R.I.P to all those people, and RIP also to Luella Ransom and Evie's mom, because she got, you know, sliced uh, I think in half by a crux uh poor woman. I mean, after after how you know, that made my heart hurt. Even though I was kind of mad at her at that point for the revelation, it was just like, gee, after all these years of you hiding, I think it was like five years, and then this is how you go. Oh well. But let's talk about um just the final part uh that was like the dun dun du part, which was after they killed the Crux, it automatically transformed into a woman with red hair. The Guardian was like, huh, she kind of looks like Odessa. Or rather, she has red hair like Odessa. I wonder what that means. I'm not gonna tell her, just burn the body, please.

Paige 57:23

They're both very blase. They just make such for such a great couple. Well, this is weird. Oh well.

R.J. 57:30

But then seriously, I mean, do you think there's an implication there? Uh uh it probably is some implication. Some people are saying, oh, could this be her her twin sister? Could this be the mom that her mom was uh had some sort of magical ability or maybe a curse or something that turned her into the crux and she went around killing people and you know, then she met her demides, which I hope is not the case because dang, I would have wanted to meet her mom. But this also perhaps is some implication about um Odess's abilities. Throughout the book, we learned that she has a uh a high sensitivity to being around the vosters that nobody else has. She gets into immense pain, tingling, all the all the god things when they're around. And and even they're flummoxed by it all. They're like, hey, who's your mom? Really? Do they know something? Any theories on um what that all meant?

Paige 58:31

There's definitely something with her mom and the way that the mom died, because we keep getting little stories with the random person that left her kingdom and went to this kingdom. Um I think that there's something going. I don't think that it was necessarily like she got turned into the Crux, but there's some sort of um, there's some sort of link between the way that Odessa's mom died and why the Crux chose that form to show to the Guardian. And also the Vossters are involved. I'm I'm incredibly suspicious of the Vossters. I think that they're up to no good. I believe in the bad in the bad vibes.

Crux Twist Theories Ratings And Plans

R.J. 59:11

And and of course, at the end of the book, uh Ransom kind of gives his blessing for Odessa to take Evie and run off into the woods and and be uh taken away by uh the I believe it was brother Dime, one of the Vostors, who also just like makes her hair and and skin crawl when they're around them. Um but yeah, it's one of those situations where you you probably really can't trust these guys, um, even even though they've helped ransom with his Lysa situation and and dealing with it. So we're up to the point where we can now give a rating to this book. We've had this fantastic conversation. I so enjoyed going through it with you, Paige. I do have a new rating system. Here's my new rating book, besties. Um, it is uh one star stands for nope, do not finish. Two stars is we shall never speak of this again. Three stars is meh, didn't really like it much. Four stars, I really, really liked it. And five stars, I'm re reading, listening again and again. So what is your rating based on that criteria, Paige?

Paige 1:00:36

He gave it a five-star read. Um, I really like the direction it went. I like the spin on the tropes, and I think once I finish my read of book two, I'm not sure if that's gonna be the last book in this series or whatnot, but I will definitely be rereading the series again to see all the Easter eggs I didn't um pick up on beforehand.

R.J. 1:01:00

Agree. And I also gave it five stars, uh also gave it multiple listens, as I mentioned, in multiple mediums with the audiobook and graphic audio. And uh, you'll be so proud of me. I downloaded it as an ebook from Kindle Unlimited now, just so I can kind of speed read it through before a sequel comes out. Well, book club bestie page. It was such a pleasure to have you on the pod to review this. Um, it was wonderful. Um, I hope you come back again to review Rites of a Starling. Can I convince you to do that?

Paige 1:01:42

Definitely. You've already had me convinced.

R.J. 1:01:46

Excellent. And uh tell us again, uh, give us your handles where we can uh find you on your socials.

Paige 1:01:55

It's pop the butterfly pretty much in everywhere. So that's YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, uh anywhere I can make a social media handle, it's always Pop the Butterfly.

R.J. 1:02:07

Excellent. All right, thank you so much. Thank you. How about it, Bookbesties? Did you agree with our review and ratings? Share your rating and mini review in the comments. Shield of Sparrows, by the way, is currently being developed into a movie by Amazon MGM Studios. In May, we're of course recommending and reviewing Rites of the Starling. But why wait? If you're in the Atlanta area, come to our in-real-life must-love romantasy book club meeting on Saturday, April 25th at 1 p.m. Eastern Time at Panera Bread near Emory University, where we'll be discussing the book. Info is in the show notes on how you can RSTP or find us in the book clubs app at RSTP. Season 4 of The Way Home, by the way, our favorite romancy 10 time travel series premieres on Sunday, April 19th. Yay! Listen to our earlier episode, Why Hallmark's Time Travel Series Belongs in Romantasy to Catch up. We'll give you some hot takes on the first few episodes and then a full season review. Remember to follow us on Instagram at Must Love Romanticy and Love is Gell L-U-V. Until next time, happy reading. Thanks for listening to Must Love Romanticy. If you enjoyed today's show, be sure to follow the podcast and then share it with your fellow romantasy fans. Until next time, keep your sword sharp, your coffee strong, and your heart ready for the next epic love story!