Hi book friends! If you follow me over on socials you might have heard me mention that I want to make some changes to my website. I feel like it needs to grow with me but don’t worry, nothing is being taken away. I will only be adding to the types of content that I already bring you. I have very recently started sharing book content on TikTok and on Instagram. I am Lianne Hempsall Reads on both of those platforms and as someone who has always loved to read I wanted to make content based on the books that I love. With that in mind I will now also be posting my book reviews to this blog. I will slowly be working on the structure of the website too so you can easily navigate to the things you’re looking for be that home decor, recipes, crafts or now books too. So welcome to my very first book review, Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe. This is a non spoiler review 🙂
What is the plot of Daggermouth by H. M. Wolfe?
Daggermouth is an adult, dystopian, fantasy set in a post apocalyptic world in the city of New Found Haven. The city is divided into rings with The Heart at the centre and this is where the elite live. The elite have risen so far above everyone else that they don’t even let people see their faces. It’s a crime to reveal your face to anyone else and crimes are severely punished in The Heart although it’s usually members of the outer rings who are punished the most. This is where our MMC Greyson comes in, he’s the son of General Serel who rules New Found Haven and he is the executioner. It’s his job to carry out the sentences in public executions.
The way that this world is set up though, is completely corrupt. The people in the outer rings are oppressed, starved and denied medical supplies to the point that they are all living in poverty. Especially those in the Boundary which is the outer ring. And of course this is where our FMC Shadera lives, she’s a Daggermouth. A contract killer. And her latest contract? Why it’s Greyson of course!
Is Daggermouth by H. M. Wolfe enemies to lovers?
This is what most people would call true enemies to lovers! These guys cannot stand each other and both try to kill the other multiple times. There is a whole lot of tension between them and the lust while still hating each other is very good. Buuuuttt I live for enemies to lovers (I’m living vicariously through book characters, I don’t know why I love it so much) and for me the couple has to do some stuff before they start to fall for each other 😆 and to be fair they do do that in this book. I’m just feral and need them to do more stuff. Several times. While still hating each other 🤣 so if I had to give it a star rating for enemies to lovers I would say it’s 4 stars. It’s close to perfection, I think most people would be happy with the enemies to lovers ratio but I’m just forever looking for another Secrets and Masks level enemies to lovers romance #iykyk
Who are the FMC and MMC in Daggermouth by H. M. Wolfe?
So I’ve mentioned these briefly but let’s look a little deeper. Our FMC Shadera is a contract killer, one of the Daggermouths and lives in the outer ring of New Found Haven which has the most people living in poverty. She has a personal vendetta against General Serel because he killed her parents, which is the main reason she became a daggermouth. So when she gets the contract to kill Greyson she jumps at the opportunity and this is where our story begins really. She is absolutely badass and I love her strength.
Our MMC Greyson is not all as he seems. On the surface he is the son of the general and the executioner but he has his secrets and maybe isn’t the bad guy that Shadera believes him to be. He is of course brooding and damaged and hot! Our first morally grey man of the series.
We also have some brilliant characters that aren’t main characters but essential to the story. Lira is my favourite, she’s Greyson’s sister and I actually think I end up loving her as much if not more than Shadera. And then because one morally grey man just isn’t enough we also have Jameson and Callum, this book does have some found family vibes towards the end and I do love that in a book.
So do I recommend this book?
This is the easiest 5 stars I’ve given so far this year. This story is incredibly written with complex characters that make you feel all the feels. As a woman living in this political climate I found some of the subject matter quite hard, this is obviously an extreme version of men overpowering women but definitely makes me question what kind of future we as women have while also sharing the message that we are strong and can overcome much more than we think we’re capable of. The plot twists in this book just kept coming. Every time I thought “that’s got to be it” I was hit with another one. I was hopeful, I was crying, I was devastated, I was feeling it all especially at the end of the story. It’s going to take me a while to recover from the last 30 mins of this book!! If you loved The Hunger Games then you will absolutely love this, this is of course for adults though and not YA 😆
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my first ever book review and that I’ve also convinced you to give Daggermouth a read. I don’t have any other book reviews to direct you to yet but maybe you’ll like to make these Dark Chocolate cookies to enjoy with your next book!
Lianne x