Jumping right in where Lady Thief ended, Lion Heart continues this beloved Robin Hood tale. As we discovered in Lady Thief, Scarlet is incapable of giving up. No matter the circumstances, even though often bleak, she has stamina like no other. Her resilience reminded me a bit of Celaena from Sarah Maas’s Throne of Glass series. Many of the characters from the first two books are in this as well but the focus shifts to new supporting characters so we get to know some of those characters better. A.C. Gaughen’s character development is absolutely fantastic. You’ll love the good guys, and the bad guys like Prince John and his lackeys who continue to be as horrible as one would expect. Those who enjoy the Robin Hood tale or pine for an epic love story won’t be able to put this down. Lady Thief was my favorite of the three books, an excellent wrap up of the Scarlet trilogy!

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  27 religious exclamations; 37 mild obscenities; 2 religious profanities; 11 derogatory names; 4 anatomical terms.

Violence/Gore: Many (40) brief incidents including character has dirt thrown at him; verbal threats; characters think another is dead; metaphor–“sliced into belly”; talking about hanging; secondhand reports of murder and planning murder; war stories; reference to character getting fingers cut-off; second hand report that character had face cut; riots mentioned; reference to a city and residents getting burned; charred bodies found; secondhand report of torture; reference to fight; character’s father hit her resulting in no injury; character cut hands on rope; characters fighting with little resulting injury; riots; character kneed in private parts; characters getting whipped; character throws and breaks chair; attempted murder; murder; accidental death; attempted rape(non-detailed).

Sex/Nudity: Many (45) incidents including hugging; kissing; holding hands; cuddling; arm around; character thinks about touching another; reference to character cheating on another character; reference to attempted rape; song about kissing; innuendo; female character remembers sleeping next to male character; female touched male character’s chest; attempted rape (non-detailed); implied sex (adults).

Mature Subject Matter:

Attempted rape, murder, war.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Character makes reference to getting drunk; characters drink alcohol with dinner; character gets drunk.