Traitors of the Black Crown by Cate Pearce

Raena Schinen has a lot of issues, firstly she's not supposed to be alive because everyone believes she perished in a fire along with her entire family and bloodline.

Her second issue stems from the first but has a creative spin in that she can no longer be Raena Schinen so instead, she now goes by Sir Rowan. As if pretending to be a man wasn't enough, Raena now finds herself straying towards the fairer sex when she becomes the knight for Duchess Avanna.

Thirdly, and pay attention because this one is the ultimate doozie, Raena is out for vengeance against her Kingdom's Queen and Prince who arranged the fire in which her entire family perished.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about Raena who has lived her life by one simple rule: Never let them get too close and who can blame her? As she is thrust into service for Avenna, and Raena begins craving her touch, the simple truth of her identity could devastate her entire life's purpose. I honestly felt for Raena, her struggles of hiding who she is and what she wants was a torment that I cannot articulate.

Traitors of the Black Crown did have one great lesson after all the battles, lying, conniving, and treachery which is the importance of understanding people's motives, looking beneath the surface for that which lingers untold.

I am truly torn by this novel because despite having a strong LGBTQ representation and an enigmatic main character, I had some issues which were mainly the inconsistency in the writing and plot development. While there was very intricate world-building, there were certain areas that felt stretched and seemed to go on forever without any relevance to the salient points.

Thank you to Hansen House and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.