Entangled in a court ruled by tradition and intrigue, a young witch must come to terms with newfound power and desire—and a choice between loyalty and survival.…

The royal witches of Anglion have bowed to tradition for centuries. If a woman of royal blood manifests powers, she is immediately bound by rites of marriage. She will serve her lord by practicing the tamer magics of the earth—ensuring good harvests and predicting the weather. Any magic more dangerous is forbidden.

Lady Sophia Kendall, thirty-second in line to the throne, is only days away from finding out if she will be blessed—or perhaps cursed—with magic. When a vicious attack by Anglion’s ancient enemies leaves the kingdom in chaos, Sophia is forced to flee the court. Her protector by happenstance is Lieutenant Cameron Mackenzie, a member of the royal guard, raised all his life to be fiercely loyal to the Crown.

Then Sophia’s powers manifest stronger than she ever imagined they would, and Cameron and she are inextricably linked in the process. As a witch unbound by marriage rites, Sophia is not only a threat to the established order of her country, but is also a weapon for those who seek to destroy it. Faced with old secrets and new truths, she must decide if she will fight for her country or succumb to the delicious temptation of power.…

Tracy’s review of The Shattered Court (Novel of the Four Arts #1) by M.J. Scott

Lady Sophia Kendall is a lady-in-waiting to the princess of Anglion, Eloisa. She is about to turn 21 years old. This is the time in a woman’s life when she comes into her power, if she has any. The amount of power she has will determine who she marries.

When Sophie and one of the princess’s guards, Cameron Mackenzie, are off getting supplies for the princess the royal palace is bombed and Cameron does his best – going through portal after portal – to get Sophie to safety. This puts them together on the morning of Sophie’s 21^st birthday and she ends up coming into quite a bit of power. The power overwhelms them and they end up having sex. This sets off a chain of events that has everyone in an uproar and finds the two of them married. No one is happy with Sophie and there’s even one Noble who Cameron trusts that says that Sophie may be in danger because of her power.

The court is in an uproar as the King is dead and now Eloisa is Queen.  No one knows who was responsible for the many deaths in the palace and it has everyone on edge.  Sophie doesn’t know who to trust and the woman from the temple seems to be influencing Eloisa more and more.  She’s also treating Sophie like dirt and Sophie can’t figure out why or how to stop it.  It seems like there are more and more secrets that Sophie is discovering every day and the more she finds out the more confused she is about what is right and wrong.

This was a good start to what seems like it might be an interesting series. I found the characters to be likeable and the writing in the story was very readable. At first I found it a bit odd to mix the fantasy aspect of the story with the setting, which seemed to be more historical in nature, along with a very contemporary way of speaking but it all worked in the end.

There was enough suspense, intrigue and romance to keep me reading, even when it got a bit slow in the middle of the book. By the end I definitely wanted to know more about what would happen. It wasn’t left on a cliffhanger, per say, but the book definitely had no conclusion to it which might bother a few people.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

This title is available from Roc. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.