The fantasy realm of Akora, an ancient island civilization hidden from the world by its geography and its citizens, serves as the backdrop for this fanciful Regency-era romance, the first in a new series from Litton (Come Back to Me). Determined to travel to Akora with Lord Alex Darcourt, a half-English Akoran prince, and search for her missing brother, Royce, Lady Joanna Hawkforte stows away on his ship. She's discovered after she injures herself on board, but Alex, intrigued by her courage and beauty, tends her back to health and introduces her to the customs of his homeland. Despite Akora's party line on female behavior—that women should be submissive to their warrior men and treated like birds in a gilded cage—Joanna and Alex's sister, Kassandra, roam about Akora freely. In the midst of one of her wanderings, Joanna overhears two men plotting against the leader of Akora, Alex's half-brother. Fortunately, Joanna and Kassandra possess special psychic abilities that may help them rescue Royce and thwart the traitors' plans. Through descriptive and sometimes flowery prose, Litton (aka Maura Seger) conveys the fairy tale–like perfection of Akora, but her protagonists, who also seem pulled straight from a storybook, are only marginally developed. Indeed, this frothy fantasy is driven more by flashy and unlikely action than genuine romantic tension or character development. (Mar. 5)
