First Impression Friday | 3-27-20 – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

How is everyone holding up so far? It’s raining today and supposedly for the rest of the week, so that will help everyone with social distancing and staying at home. I’ve pretty much been home except for going to the grocery store and this morning I had to pick up schoolwork for my son. It leaves a lot of time to read though and I’ve even let my sister borrow a bunch of books from my personal library! Yay 😍 – she hasn’t read in some time but I think this shutdown is directing people to activities they haven’t done in awhile like reading or crafting. Now we actually have the time and not rush.

First Impression Friday is hosted by J.W. Martin.

It’s where you give the first impression of the book you are currently reading, no matter how far along you are in the book, even if it’s just a few pages. Then you are going to try and predict how you will feel about the book once you are done.

It is definitely a book I borrowed from the library mostly because the cover is so pretty. But the book blurb sounds intriguing too:

Across the Aramtesh Empire, scent is everything. Prayers only reach heaven on sacred incense, and perfumes are prized status symbols. 17-year-old Rakel has an uncanny ability with fragrances, but her skills aren’t enough to buy her dying father more time.

Ash bears the tattoos of an imperial bodyguard. When his prince, Nisai, insists on a diplomatic mission to an outer province, Ash is duty-bound to join the caravan. It’s a nightmare protecting Nisai on the road. But it’s even harder for Ash to conceal a secret that could see him exiled or executed.

Rakel and Ash have nothing in common until smoke draws them to a field of the Empire’s rarest flower. Nisai’s been poisoned, flames devour the priceless blooms, and the pair have “suspect” clinging to them like a bad stench. Their futures depend on them working together to decipher clues, defy dangers and defeat their own demons in a race to source an antidote . . . before the imperial army hunts them down.