What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller

 #1 New York Times-bestselling author Tricia Levenseller makes her adult debut in What Fury Brings, a sexy, empowering romantasy featuring a warrior general who must kidnap and train a husband in order to take her rightful place as queen.

There's a shortage of men in the kingdom of Amarra. After a failed rebellion against the matriarchy, most noblemen in the country are dead. Now the women of Amarra must obtain their husbands (should they want one) by kidnapping them from other kingdoms.

Olerra, a warrior princess vying for the throne, is determined to prove her worth by kidnapping a husband. And not just any husband. To outmaneuver her treacherous cousin, she needs the best. Fortunately, the second-born prince of their greatest enemy is widely known for both his looks and his sweet, docile temperament. He's the perfect choice to secure her claim to the throne.

Sanos, heir to the Kingdom of Brutus, has nothing but contempt for the idea of a society run by women. Trained from birth to fight, lead, and follow in his father's overbearing footsteps, his path has always been set. Until he takes his younger brother's place in a drunken prank and finds himself kidnapped, carted off to the Amarran Palace, and informed that he is to become the husband of Queen Potential Olerra. Sanos needs to escape before anyone learns his real identity, but the more he gets to know his captor, the less sure he is of what he truly wants.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220908944-what-fury-brings

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My Review: 3.5/5 Stars

Olerra’s kingdom is a matriarchal one. Their goddess blessed the woman with the power to overthrow men and flip the tables on them and their cruel treatment of women. Many years later, Olerra is in competition to win the throne against her cousin but she is at every disadvantage. Including not being blessed with the goddess’s gift of strength. So she has proven herself in other ways throughout the years without anyone knowing her secret. But now, she must win the title of heir and her time is running out. If she wants to make changes to her country then she has to win. That plan includes using an old tradition. The one of kidnapping a husband. She sets her sites on the spare heir of the kingdom of Brutus. But without realizing it, she has stolen the actual heir.

Sanos hates his father and wishes the day he can escape from him. Yet he never imagined being kidnapped would do that. Or that pretending to be his brother for a moment, would lead to such a mess. Now he must survive Olerra and her brutal kingdom. Yet, he can’t help but notice the difference between Olerra and many of the noble women in her society. Or the fact that when she turns the table on his own country, that she has made some many points. While Olerra hopes to win his heart, he is adamant that won’t happen. But every moment he learns something new about her, well, his heart may just be softening. 

I won’t lie, this was a hard book for me to get into. I love this author and she is brave for doing a book like this. She really does a nice job of flipping the table and showing you a world where the women are in charge and what their side of cruelty will look like. There is definitely a mix of good and bad, but what really makes the difference is that Olerra isn’t one of the harsher ones in her kingdom. Though she has a softer touch and wants to make changes to help everyone in her kingdom. And interesting story for sure! 

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.