Enemies to Lovers is one of my favorite tropes and Allison Saft does it right. Her YA fantasy Down Comes the Night sucked me into an alternate world of conflict and magic so deeply, so completely, it took discipline to set the story down. Her characters are drawn with a deft hand, each with their own imperfections and endearing qualities. At the center is Wren, a healer with unusually strong magical powers. She’s also been gifted with a kind heart and has, as her greatest enemy says, the courage and the strength to do the hardest thing, to be merciful. The themes of mercy and forgiveness, friendship and love, acceptance and belonging, thread throughout the story seamlessly and resolve in a satisfying, if not bittersweet, way. Lovers of fantasy and magic both young and adult will enjoy Down Comes the Night.
Here’s the Amazon book synopsis:
Allison Saft’s Down Comes the Night is a snow-drenched romantic fantasy that keeps you racing through the pages long into the night.
He saw the darkness in her magic. She saw the magic in his darkness.
Wren Southerland’s reckless use of magic has cost her everything: she’s been dismissed from the Queen’s Guard and separated from her best friend—the girl she loves. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate, Colwick Hall, to cure his servant from a mysterious illness, she seizes her chance to redeem herself.
The mansion is crumbling, icy winds haunt the caved-in halls, and her eccentric host forbids her from leaving her room after dark. Worse, Wren’s patient isn’t a servant at all but Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria and her kingdom’s sworn enemy. Hal also came to Colwick Hall for redemption, but the secrets in the estate may lead to both of their deaths.
With sinister forces at work, Wren and Hal realize they’ll have to join together if they have any hope of saving their kingdoms. But as Wren circles closer to the nefarious truth behind Hal’s illness, they realize they have no escape from the monsters within the mansion. All they have is each other, and a startling desire that could be their downfall.