Twisted Roots and Soil

5⭐️2🌶

I finished my ARC of Twisted Roots and Soil by AJ Charley a couple days ago.  This one was so good.  I don't even know if I can describe it.  In this society women, especially women like the FMC Alyxia, are expected to marry and continue the sacred bloodline by the time they hit 30.  Aly's parents have a husband picked out for her already and he's a deuche.  Aly is a Foundation.  She is a member of one of the founding families of this realm and she has golden (literally) blood.  When they turn 20 these people go through a ritual to determine which branch of magic they will choose and at what strength it will be.  Aly was pressured by her parents to choose a certain branch, which wasn't the one she truly wanted and thus failed the ritual.  She has no magic and has been hiding that fact from everyone for the last 8 years.  Her sister Bri has fled the realm and wants to meet Aly to give her important information.  Aly decides to go to her sister and askes her twin best friends to come with her.  Before she goes she Attunes to an Amplifier horse named Aven.  Because she has no magic and isn't a Shield she shouldn't have been able to do this.  But once they bond, Aven can speak to her.  He doesn't care about rules and bonded to her because he likes her.  Aven is an awesome character, he's sarcastic as all get out is hilarious.  Once they embark on their journey Aly's other sister Drea joins them.  They sneak along the back roads for a while then run into the twins older brother a Shield Commander and future general Cayzenn.  He makes Aly a deal, she goes back home or she goes with him on the squads mission then he'll escort her to where she lied about going, since she can't admit to where she was actually headed.  She decides that they'll all go with Cayzenn's squad into the mountains.  Zenn and Aly start getting close to eachother on this mission and a lot happens on the journey including Aly training and becoming physically and mentally stronger.  I don't want to get into too much detail here but there is a ton of shady stuff going on.  Nothing is as it seems and its all about control of the masses.  This was twisty and full of intrigue.  The spice was exceptional and a slow build up.  This was such a fun story and I cannot wait to read more about this world.  This is another debut that doesn't remotely read like a debut.  It was incredible!