Jules Ember lives in Sempera, a land where time and blood are bonded into currency. Debts are paid with blood coins, leeching actual time from the lives of the poor and making the wealthy virtually immortal. Jules wants to help pay her father’s debts, but Papa is adamant that she not sell her blood for him. Desperate to save her only parent, Jules takes a job at Everless, the estate where she and Papa lived as servants until she was 7 years old. At Everless, Jules is back in the orbit of the owners, the noble Gerling family, especially the two Gerling boys, Roan and Liam. Roan and Jules were once playmates, and Jules believes Liam is the reason she and Papa were forced to flee Everless after a dramatic accident.
The estate bustles with preparations for Roan’s wedding to the queen’s ward, Ina Gold, an event that will bring the powerful queen of Sempera to the estate. Despite Papa’s cryptic warnings that Jules isn’t safe near the queen, inklings of a hidden past urge Jules into a tangled web of secrets among Sempera’s wealthy and powerful. As Jules discovers more about Ina Gold, the two Gerling brothers and her own past, she comes closer to a truth with far-reaching consequences for all of Sempera.
Author Sara Holland’s cliffhanger conclusion makes it clear there’s more to come in this story, which is exactly what readers will want. This fascinating world, built on the concepts of time and inequality, supports compelling characters in Holland’s intriguing—and sometimes chilling—debut novel.
This article was originally published in the January 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.
