Between Tides & Thunder by Leena Kazak

Started On: October 10, 2026
Finished On: October 14, 2026
Format: eBook
Genre: Romantasy

Release Date: January 5, 2027
Preorder on Bookshop.org | Preorder on Amazon

Book Summary:
She was raised to hate him. Now she shares his bed.

Princess Mayah of Tundrayn isn’t allowed to want. Not freedom. Not love. Not even her own future. Instead, she’s spent her life healing others’ pain and swallowing her own. But when her father strikes a fragile alliance with enemy kingdom Arbinj to crush a rising rebellion, she is bartered into a marriage she didn’t choose for a crown she doesn’t want.

She expects a prince. She gets the Dark Commander.

She expects to wed Prince Faramir. Instead, she is handed to his brother—Zevayr, Arbinj’s feared Dark Commander. With a blood-soaked reputation and the ability to wield the very storms that haunt Mayah’s nightmares, Zevayr is everything she’s been raised to fear. Yet as the two traverse rebel-torn lands toward Arbinj’s glittering courts, forced into close nightly proximity for survival, the line between monster and man begins to blur.

As dangerous secrets from Mayah’s past resurface, she begins to question more than just Zevayr’s motivations. Is the true threat the Rebellion, or the two ruthless kings who seem determined to wage war at any cost? When loyalty means perpetuating a war built on deception, the question is not if Mayah will betray, but who: her people, her love, or herself?

This epic stand-alone novel delivers utter emotional devastation through the tropes of irresistible banter, immersive worldbuilding, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, arranged marriage, slow burn, elemental powers, one bed/horse/tent, and warring kingdoms.

Review/Thoughts:
This was so, so emotional! I loved these characters, then hated them, then loved them again. It’s been so long since a book made me gasp out loud! The author did an amazing job conveying the emotions, and I felt everything right alongside the characters.

Every single twist caught me off guard. I literally didn’t see ANY of it coming. Some of those twists had me wondering how we were ever going to come back from them.

I literally couldn’t put it down. I was making supper with my Kindle in hand because I couldn’t stop.

The pacing was a bit weird… The first half was a little slow and read more like a contemporary romance. But the second half is where EVERYTHING happened and it felt a bit rushed. I would have loved to see a bit more of the happy ending.

But wow. I loved it!

*Thank you an Netgalley + Scarlett Press for an eARC! 💛

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