Can the She-Wolves of Siena survive the lion's den? Luciana Betarrini is living a nightmare. Blinded in battle, she is unsure what her future holds. When Lady Tiliani Forelli volunteers to serve as the young Lady Romano's governess--in order to protect the child--Luciana quickly follows suit, volunteering as a tutor. But as they navigate life in the treacherous neighboring castello, they find Lord Ercole a chameleon of adversaries, intent on mastering the She-Wolves of Siena any way he can. Together, Luciana and Tiliani must find a way to bring Ercole down and buy time for Domenico and Marcello to establish new allies. But Luciana continues to find herself at a crossroads: Is she willing to risk leaving Sir Giulio Greco forever in order to chase healing through the time tunnel? Or is she called to accept her plight--in light of the myriad blessings of her new medieval life--and make her way through the best she can?
"Sometimes the wise way costs you something."
What an exciting conclusion to the Oceans of Time series. I loved returning to 1372 Italy and this book picked up right where the previous book left off as Siena and Firenze locked horns in an ongoing war. It was interesting to see that the republics of Siena and Firenze came to blows because of one man's greed, deceit, and betrayal. First person voices of Tiliani and Luciana were easy to love and cheer on. Tiliani's bravery, strength, tenacity, and loyalty made her a true leader. Luciana's resilience, cleverness, and resourcefulness made her a She-Wolf for sure. I really loved Valentino and Giulio for their selfless devotion, solid faith, unshakable integrity and loyalty. We didn't see as much of Domenico and Ilaria as I would have liked but they played great supporting roles in this book. There were plenty of realistic battle scenes and I felt like I was one of the Fiorellis anxiously anticipating the next move.
Some of the subplots felt a bit contrived and Ercole was difficult to understand as a character but all the subplots melded together nicely in the end without loose ends.
If you enjoy speculative novel set in the medieval times, you would enjoy this. I received a complimentary copy courtesy of Enclave Publishing via Celebrate Lit Tours and was under no obligation to post a positive comment. All opinions are my own.
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