Super interesting and unique premise of a couple of characters in Queen Esther's court during and mostly after her time recorded in the Book of Esther. 

I had gone into it thinking it would just be sort of simultaneous to the story of Esther, but instead the book more fleshed out Esther as a queen and told more of a fictional story of afterwards. I really enjoyed it - it was unique, felt like it gave me more of a rounded concept of Esther, even though she was more peripheral than anything, and had some really great concepts of forgiveness, bravery, and trust. 

I thought the characters of Aiden and Roxanna were fleshed out well, and were written in a way that felt relatable and endearing. It wasn't a simple concept of everything easily working out for Roxanna, but showed great character growth in her learning how to deal with her fears and confidence. 

I also loved that it continued the story past the book of Esther. It gave me more of a feel for what could have happened and the landscape the Jews were in after the fact, as well as Esther and Xerxes. 

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this audiobook. All opinions are mine.