Getting pretty close to the bottom of this stack!
Anaís Dí Sona has trained her entire life for one role—protector of the Kingdom of Dúndíor—but the darkness of her past and the suffocating grip of her royal father threaten to crack her will in a way no battle could match. When she’s given the task to uncover the secrets of an ancient legend, Anaís must choose between carrying out her sworn duty—or acknowledging a secret that could alter the course of her kingdom’s history forever.
Eoghan Kavanaugh was never meant to be king, but as his ascension to the throne of Nahonaugh approaches, he’s plagued with visions of shadows creeping and a sense of something terrible drawing near. When envoys from Dúndíor arrive for diplomatic negotiations, he realizes that his duty to the throne may be the least of his worries—and he’s running out of time to learn the truth before it kills him.
When trust shatters and secrets lurk, it will take all of Anaís’s determination and Eoghan’s steadfastness to uncover the truth—or the awakening terror may consume everything they hold dear.
Those We See in the Dark is the story of Anaís and Eoghan. Anaís is the daughter of the king of Dúndíor and has trained her entire life to be the leader of the kingdom’s protectors. Her sister Simone is the princess and heir to the throne, and when the King of Dúndíor sends Simone on a diplomatic mission to the neighboring kingdom of Nahonaugh, Anaís travels with her incognito as her bodyguard. There she meets the heir to the throne of Nahonaugh, Eoghan Kavanaugh… and shenanigans ensue.
This is a hard book to sum up – there’s lots of political intrigue, mysterious cabals, sentient fog, bestest sisters, assassination attempts, monstersssss… and a slow burn enemies-to-lovers romance in the middle of all of it.
This was a character-driven story, and Robin Rakkeby’s prose driving those characters is absolutely beautiful. I found myself sinking right into the story and reading into the wee hours. It was really immersive and just nice to sit down with for a while. It was a great read!
Anaís and Eoghan were obviously bound for a romance, but while it was obvious from the beginning (they feel a connection, you see) it was never an eye-rolling romance where they were fawning at each other and lamenting that it could never be (but definitely is anyway). The romance sub-plot was there, and it was nice to follow, but it was a sub-plot nonetheless. This isn’t a spicy romance, at least not yet, but I really enjoyed the slow, gentle smushing together of two people from enemy nations.
There were twists I was not expecting. I was surprised more than once, in a good way in one particular case.
I had 8.5/10 stars of a good time with Those We See in the Dark. I definitely hope to continue reading this series. I’d love to know how this story continues!
superstardrifter 
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