A Thousand Heartbeats

When her austere father and placating brother demand that 18-year-old Princess Annika Vedette of Kadier marry her cloying cousin Nickolas for political gain, Annika accepts to appease them, despite her reservations. But when she is kidnapped by Lennox, a ruthless mercenary from the exiled Dahrainian clan, Annika learns worrying truths about her homeland and her mother’s disappearance three years before. Meanwhile Lennox, believing that Kadier’s throne rightfully belongs to the Dahrainians, intends to take it back. The two teens grow closer when a momentous event forces them to rely on each other or risk being killed, and romantic feelings begin to blossom. While they struggle to survive and war looms on the horizon, Lennox finds himself torn between lifelong loyalties and newfound love. Cass (the Selection series) employs thinly developed alternating perspectives rendered in broad expository strokes to explore themes of palace intrigue, buried histories, and toxic familial dynamics. Though pacing is occasionally laborious, a tightly wound plot channels Romeo and Juliet with an enemies-to-lovers slant and notes of female empowerment. Ages 13–up. Agent: Elana Roth Parker, Laura Dail Literary. (Nov.)