Sonnets and Serpents is a sequel to Casters and Crowns. It involves different people in a different place, so you could get away with reading this one without reading the first. But I think you'll understand the world and its magic better if you read them in order.

Eliza, the sister of Aria, the princess of Loegria who featured in the first novel, has taken a ship to Pravusat to follow Henry, the young man she loves, who'd said he'd court her, but then got exiled. Silas Bennett was also exiled - and was asked by Aria to find her sister, make sure she was safe, and send her home. Silas was happy to be in exile from Loegria, a place where his status as an Animal Affiliate - who can take the shape of a snake and communicate with other snakes - is not appreciated.

But when Eliza arrives in Pravusat, they tell her that Henry's ship sank, and there were no survivors. She refuses to believe it, and determines to continue to search for him. Since she can't understand the language, she buys a charm from a Stone Caster to understand it better. But she asked for the charm in a language she didn't understand - and it turns out that when she snaps one bracelet on herself and the other on Silas's wrist, they are stuck. Yes, she can now understand the local language as well as Silas can. But they are not able to go far apart from each other. They can be in the next room, but the physical distance can't be too great.

So they have to make a deal. On alternate days, Eliza searches for Henry and Silas attempts to do magical research to land a professorship at the university in Pravusat where he had previously been a student.

And it so happens, they uncover a plot and get into big trouble. And the banter between them as this happens is a whole lot of fun.

As the book started, I thought Eliza was a bit annoying. She was impulsive and silly and not very good at making plans. She's in love with the idea of love and hardly even knows Henry, but now insists he's alive despite evidence. But Eliza grew on me, and her character grew on the page.

There were things about the plot I didn't like. It walked the line just barely on the side of believable. Little things like she evaded the secret police in the marketplace and they seemingly just stopped searching for her. Or that they'd decide it was a reasonable plan to go into a prison to search. Or even the coincidence about stumbling into a major plot in the first place.

But the slow-burn romance was so much fun to watch, I was less picky about details like that. This is a no sex, plenty of kissing kind of romance and the enemies-to-lovers plot did feel believable as proximity forces the two to get to know each other.

The government in Pravusat is left in not the greatest shape, making me wonder if there are more adventures to come. (No more princesses, though!)