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We Burned So Bright
TJ Klune
4.5
A Game of Hearts and Heists: A Steamy Lesbian Fantasy Romance (Girl Games Book 1)
by Ruby Roe
Published Feb 10, 2023
Categories
About this book
Scarlett Grey is a disgraced assassin clawing her way back to relevance, while Quinn Adams is a lethal poisoner who has spent years systematically dismantling Scarlett’s reputation. As professional rivals, they have spent their careers sabotaging one another’s contracts and engaging in a volatile, high-stakes dance of hatred and undeniable attraction. Their bitter stalemate shatters when they are coerced into an impossible heist by the Magician Queen.
Forced into an uneasy alliance, the two women must navigate a treacherous landscape of deception, magical threats, and the lingering tension of their secret, shared history. Working together requires a level of trust neither woman possesses, especially as both harbor clandestine motives that threaten to unravel the mission and endanger those they hold dear. As they infiltrate the Queen's domain, the boundary between professional sabotage and personal longing blurs.
Trapped in a game where every move could lead to betrayal or death, Scarlett and Quinn discover that the most dangerous risk isn't the heist itself, but the vulnerability of their own hearts. In a world of shadows and lethal ambition, they must decide if their rivalry is a wall they want to break down or the only thing keeping them alive.
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What readers are saying
Hopesexy sapphic subterfuge 🖤🩷
"Enemies to lovers. Grumpy/grumpier. Assassin vs poisoner. A Game of Hearts and Heists proves that Ruby Roe can do no wrong. This fast-paced romantasy combines intricate world building with a story line full of subterfuge to bring you the first installment of what is sure to be an epic sapphic series. This enemies to lovers novel follows Scarlett, a disgraced assassin, and Quinn, a poisoner/medic, who can never quite decide whether they want to fight or [insert not-safe-for-Amazon word here]. Their years-long antagonism is full of secrets, bondage, stabbing, spanking, hateful orgasms and a yearning neither one can escape. Roe does such a thorough job crafting New Imperium and its surrounding areas that you feel you could walk right in and join the characters on their quest. Having read Kingdom of Immortal Lovers first, the setting is familiar but also completely unique. The author sets up the supporting team members with rich backgrounds just waiting to be explored in the next books. Open door spice is consistent throughout the book and includes light Dom/sub, impact play, bondage and strap. I’d give it 4 peppers. ["
January 7, 2026 Verified Purchase
CourtneyEnemies to Lovers Romance
"This book was quite good. If you enjoy a good lesbian enemies to lovers romance, this is one of those that won’t disappoint. The pacing was good for both the romance and the overall plot. The author builds an interesting world and magic system. The reason for the feud makes sense. I really liked the cast of characterize and their personalities. I also like that they were morally grey. It made them more interesting. ["
August 12, 2023 Verified Purchase
Keyshla MelendezI loved it!!!! Please read this book
"This book was amazing. It had all the things I loved loved. This is the second book by Ruby Roe that I read The House of Crimson Hearts being the first and I loved it just as much. Every book Ruby writes is amazing. This book is in the same universe as The House of Crimson Hearts but I another city. I just love when series interconnect in some way with each other. The world building and magical system in the book had to be my favorite. Scarlett and Stirling I fell in love with instantly. All the characters were very unique and their interactions with each other you can't help but get attached to them especially the Heist team. I gotta admit though took me a few short chapters to like Quinn. I found her selfish and self-centered at first for stealing Scarlett business when her own business was doing perfectly well on its own given she was an amazing potion maker and medic. Scarlett literally lost everything and was about to get evicted and Quinn stole the only thing Scarlett had left. So in that small regard took me a bit to like her if anything I was enjoying Scarlett tormenting her LOL. I did found very unnecessary and irritating how Quinn got angry at the end even when she learned the truth from both Scarlett and Quinn's own brother. After learning the truth she had no reason to be angry if anything Scarlett was the one that should have been more angry at Quinn than she was. Especially given what she learned and her business being stolen. She was more forgiven than me LOL. I'll admit despite Quinns selfishness and some of her behavior annoying me she eventually grew on me if you don't include her getting angry for no reason at the end and what she did to Scarlett. I loved her character overall. I can't stay mad at her lol 😂 The book was overall amazing and I highly recommend it the book is amazing, characters are really good you can't help but like them all, the world building and magic system is so unique and perfectly explained so you can follow along. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating from me 🌶️🌶️🌶️ and half chilly peppers for spice Although that cage spicy club scene deserves its own rating so i rate that scene a 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ holy cow was it spicy 🔥 🔥🔥 My review was going to be more detailed but my phone deleted what I wrote 3 times so I don't want to risk a 4th. Please read this all Ruby Roe books they're amazing so far the two I read are incredible and deserve all the praise and reviews and 5 stars. ["
August 9, 2024 Verified Purchase
Chelsceymostly carnal desire without a deeper romance
"Seems like enemies-to-lovers is all the rage for most romances these days, and while it has never been a favorite of mine, I do want to read more of this trope to see if the problem I have is a me thing, or if the enemies-to-lovers’ books I have read simply haven’t done it for me. I’m sad to say that this book doesn’t get me closer to those answers. But, oddly, my issues with this steamy, sapphic enemies-to-lovers’ fantasy romance wasn’t the trope itself, but the world building. Set in a semi-urban fantasy, you have a kingdom torn in two (literally) where magic is determined by if a certain sentient house likes you enough to gift you magic. There’s a magic house for everything, and if you are gifted said magic, you’ll be given a tattoo so everyone knows you have Assassin guild magic, or mechanic magic, or rune magic, or herbal magic, or well, pretty much anything I guess because the world building never gets that defined. Everything felt a bit vague, and hurried, sacrificed mainly so we could be told more just how much our rivals turned enemies want to fight, and sleep with each other. If you want a steamy sapphic romantasy with a defined world and magic system, this book is not it. But if you just want a lot of passionate, carnal scenes with a sprinkling of danger and a light heist, then this will scratch your itch. I’ll be honest; I came to this book specifically for the spice, so I shouldn’t be as bothered by the lack of strong world building as I am, and yet… I guess I was expecting more after all the glowing reviews and the comparison to "Six of Crows", so maybe this was just another victim of the hype train in that regard. Quinn and Scarlet are fine as main characters, even if their angry personalities could feel a bit too similar at times. Yet their biggest issue is that they simply lack chemistry when together. Their relationship seems to center on that passionate desire to rip each others clothes off and... not much else? Which is ok, but I always prefer when the romance goes deeper than just a lustful desire to have the other person, so to speak. Perhaps because they were already having hate sexy time, a lot of the tension that I expected with enemies-to-lovers wasn’t there, at least to me. But who knows. regardless, something just felt like it was missing throughout the duration of the story. All in all, this was a super easy and fast book to knock out in a weekend. The romance scenes are hot, and I like that each book is its own self-contained story within the series, where each new book focuses on a new couple. However, that does mean I have no real desire to continue, either, and that is because the world these characters occupy is just not interesting enough for me to stick around, though I did like Stirling a lot. I just think the romantic plot of Stirling’s book sounds too similar to Scarlet’s for it to be appealing, at least for now. The ease of the story and the spice is what makes this a 3 star read for me, because, unfortunately, the rest is rather mediocre. ["
May 21, 2024 Verified Purchase
