Title: A Taste of Gold and Iron

Author: Alexandra Rowland

Kadou, the shy prince of Arasht, finds himself at odds with one of the most powerful ambassadors at court—the body-father of the queen’s new child—in an altercation which results in his humiliation.

To prove his loyalty to the queen, his sister, Kadou takes responsibility for the investigation of a break-in at one of their guilds, with the help of his newly appointed bodyguard, the coldly handsome Evemer, who seems to tolerate him at best. In Arasht, where princes can touch-taste precious metals with their fingers and myth runs side by side with history, counterfeiting is heresy, and the conspiracy they discover could cripple the kingdom’s financial standing and bring about its ruin.

Oh this was so beautiful, Evemer and Kadou made my life!

In this queer fantasy we have Kadou. He is a Prince, his sister is the Sultan. After an ‘incident’ Kadou is assigned a quiet, stoic personal guard called Evemer and this is their hate to love, slow burn romance whilst solving a mystery!!!

I must admit I don’t normally gel with slow burn but this was so emosh and delish that I loved it!

There were so many things I loved about this book and I made a list (I love a list!!!!):

~ Such great rep of anxiety and panic disorder,
~ The Khayalar – personal guards who are trained for literally everything!
~ The fact that ‘fathers’ are expendable in this world,
~ Hate to love and sort of one bed tropes!
~ The alleyway! That made my heart grow sooooo big!
~ The hair washing – gaaaah my heart!!!!!
~ The narrator was fab!

But that ending…..why did it end there? Is there a book 2? I thought this was a standalone but I take it that it’s not?