Charlotte Kersten

You can’t blame yourself for not knowing what you were never allowed to know.”

Year published: 2020

Category: Fantasy romance

Summary: Stephen’s god died on the longest day of the year…

Three years later, Stephen is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But all that changes when he encounters a fugitive named Grace in an alley and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now the pair must navigate a web of treachery, beset on all sides by spies and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind…

From the Hugo and Nebula Award winning author of Swordheart and The Twisted Ones comes a saga of murder, magic, and love on the far side of despair.

My thoughts: I started out my journey with Paladin’s Grace feeling extremely annoyed by its sense of humor, which felt far too affected and precious to me. It really grew on me rapidly, though, and by the end, I was completely won over. I can now confidently say that this book is the epitome of a charming read – the dialogue is witty, the writing is clever, the characters are a loveable and quirky bunch, and the romance is very sweet.

My favorite recurring bit is definitely about how long-suffering, miserable and guilty Stephen’s order of paladins is, but there is also a lot of heart to how their plight is depicted as they struggle to find purpose after the loss of their god. Stephen and Grace also make a great couple – they are two older people with difficult pasts who are both kind and earnest and awkward and make each other feel safe and hopeful and accepted. There is a somewhat frustrating amount of them convincing themselves that they aren’t worthy of love and misconstruing what the other one means, but their struggles are justifiable, I suppose.

The beheading and poisoning plots kept my interest but the real stars of the show remain the charming cast of characters and great sense of humor that resonates through everything. T Kingfisher did test my limits with the number of times Grace reflected on Stephen smelling like gingerbread, but I’m brave and strong enough to look past that and say that this book was a blast.