THE FUTURE QUEEN'S CAPTIVE Book Review

The Future Queen's Captive (book 1 in Hope & Home Duology) by M.A. Lakewood, eBook, 433 pages

Synopsis from Goodreads: She took him captive. Now he’s sleeping in her bed. When Princess George abducts a foreign earl, keeping him close seems safest—until her brilliant plan backfires and she falls for the charming prisoner who won’t stop making her laugh. Lord Isahn knows he should be afraid. Instead, he’s captivated by the fierce woman hiding behind magical disguises, scheming against her tyrannical father while protecting everyone around her. She’s demanding, impulsive, and absolutely magnificent.

When he volunteers to join her rebellion, she installs him in her apartments as her fake personal aide. Proximity turns to passion—and passion into a love they’re loath to lose. George has never trusted anyone like this. But the rebellion is reaching its breaking point, and the ancient magic binding the capital threatens to erase Isahn's memories, and with them, everything they've built together.

BOOK REVIEW: Back in Duhra for round 3 (I'll have the previous book reviews from this world in the related posts section). The author continues to build this world with such great detail and continues to give mention to old characters and introduce us to new characters. We've briefly met Isahn in The Chaosweaver's Daughter so it was a wonderful surprise to find that he was our lead male in this story line. In addition to our new characters, we are also introduced to new types of magic and I'm a sucker for some magic and travel throughout the land. We even get a little love triangle and a mage that puts some very explicit images in other's heads. I think this might be filled with the most spicy scenes out of all of this author's work...in my opinion...and I'm here for it! I know that might sound weird to come from me but on a scale of 1-5 (1 being no spice even mentioned to 5 being my version of hard core) this is a 4 on the spicy meter! As always she does an amazing job describing her scenes that none of it was unimaginable or harmful. Does it add anything or take anything away from the story? No...but it does give us a glimpse into how both George and Isahn feel because we get both narrations.

This is a 5 star read for me. The author continues to push herself and her characters in this world and has consistently given us more and more. Again, her world building is wonderful and her characters are great! I still wish that author's who create these amazing worlds and characters would give us a QR code or YouTube link to take us to a video to give us the pronunciations of everything and everyone. She does include a guide that was at the end of the book that should be at the beginning but that's a me thing and not something to dock the story for. This book just released on 2.26.2026 and as of this review, the book is part of the KU member library. Do you need to have read the books from the first duology to follow along in this story? No. The characters mentioned from the previous books in this world are mentioned but their story is in their own books and not needed to follow along!

5/5 Stars

2026 Reading Challenge: 11/55 complete