She goes from a painfully reserved, law-abiding girl to one who’s rebellious enough to infuse each chapter with life, whilst not becoming unrealistically brave. ⤅ Since the book is from Emi’s (3rd person) perspective we get to know her very well, and it’s a delight to see her blossom over the course of the book. This is slow-burn, so nothing much happens in this book, but their connection is developing and its intensity takes my breath away. ⤅ The romance is toe-curling. Shiro is my favourite kind of hero – a sly, mocking, charming trickster who keeps making the innocent and sheltered Emi blush. But when she saves the life of Shiro, a yokai kitsune supposed to be her enemy, it sets into motion a chain of events which shatters her complacency in the future. For her own protection she’s sent to a tiny shrine in the middle of the wilderness, disguised as an ordinary miko (i.e.
The yokai, dark earth spirits, are invested in ensuring that the kami can’t descend, so they’ve been trying to take her life for the last decade. She isn’t sure exactly what the ritual entails, but it’s a huge honour to have been picked and she can’t wait for the solstice. Since she was eight years old she’s lived a life of physical and mental purity, preparing for Amaterasu to descend on the winter solstice in a month’s time and take over her body. Let’s dive straight in and find out why this book is so good.ġ8-year-old Emi is a kamigakari, a human girl who’s been raised her whole life to become a vessel of the Japanese goddess (kami) Amaterasu.
I can’t really think of a single way this book could be improved. For the first time, she wants to change her fate – but how can she erase a destiny already wrought in stone? Against the power of the gods, Shiro is her only hope… and hope is all she has left. On the day they meet, everything Emi believes comes undone, swept away like snow upon the winter wind. But she saved his life, and until his debt is paid, he is hers to command – whether she wants him or not. Mystery shrouds his every move and his ruby eyes shine with cunning she can’t match and dares not trust. Shiro is a yokai, a spirit of the earth, an enemy of the goddess Emi will soon host. Carefully hidden from those who would destroy her, she has prepared her mind, body, and soul to unite with the goddess-and not once has she doubted her chosen fate. In a few short months, her life as a mortal will end and her new existence as the human host of a goddess will begin.
0 kommentar(er)
