Book Review: Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe
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Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe
Published: December 5, 2025
Series: Daggermouth #1
Genres: Adult // Dystopian, Romance
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 🌶️ (Explicit Open Door)
Quick Thoughts: Daggermouth is a story of how resistance, grit, hope, and love can exist in unexpected places. It’s the type of book that will stick with me for a long, long time. Highly recommend for those who want a dystopian romance with a real slow-burn enemies-to-lovers and well-written characters!
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Domestic Abuse
Child Abuse
Gun Violence
Torture
Rape/Sexual Assault
Suicidal Thoughts
Heavy Alcohol Use
Confinement
Misogyny
Classism
Death
Detailed Injury Description
Backstory of Sexual Abuse as a Child
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Fake Marriage
Forced Proximity
Class differences between main characters
Enemies-to-Lovers
Love Triangle
Dangerous, independent FMC
Slow-burn romances
Realistic character growth
Stories about female empowerment & rebellion
Dystopian Settings
Multiple POVs
What is Daggermouth About?
He Is Her Ruin. She Is His Rebellion.
The first thing you’ll learn in New Found Haven is mercy no longer exists. Showing mercy is a weakness, and weakness will get you killed.
The second thing is this—the Veyra are always watching. From the highest glass atrium in the Heart to the windowless slum dens of the Boundary, no movement goes unseen.
The last lesson is the hardest, but you must remember it.
Love outside of your ring is a death sentence.
The city is carved into rings of privilege and poverty, ruled by the masked elite who will do whatever it takes to hold onto power.
Obedience is demanded. Rebellion is crushed.
Greyson Serel has spent his life caught between two worlds. Publicly, he’s the flawless heir to the presidency. Privately, he’s entangled in secrets that could topple the regime. But when he’s forced into a political marriage meant to bind him tighter to the governments brutal laws, he finds himself shackled to a bride who is as lethal as she is unwilling.
Shadera is a mercenary raised to kill, not to wed. Yet when her bullet misses its mark, survival leaves her bound to the very man she was sent to eliminate. Trapped inside the corrupt heart of the city, she becomes both prisoner and wife, her every step watched, her every move tested.
Their union is no love story—It’s a battlefield. As secrets come to light and betrayals fester within the walls of power, Greyson and Shadera must decide between annihilating one another or burning the city to the ground together.
In a world where passion sparks rebellion and loyalty is paid for in blood, their forced bond may be the spark that ignites a revolution. Or the fire that consumes them both.
DAGGERMOUTH is an adult dystopian romance perfect for readers who love true enemies to lovers, The Hunger Games, marriage of inconvenience, The Handmaid's Tale, rise of the oppressed, and political intrigue that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Daggermouth Review
This review was difficult to write because nothing I say will truly capture everything I felt reading Daggermouth. It’s so much more than just good characters, a great romance, and an action-packed plot. It’s a story of how resistance, grit, hope, and love can exist in unexpected places. It’s the type of book that will stick with me for a long, long time.
Before I get too far into this review, as unputdownable as this was, I found myself needing to take breaks while reading, as this book features graphic scenes and plenty of triggers. Definitely check the content warnings before reading.
Daggermouth features truly evil villains, multiple third-person POVs and the twistiest plot that made me giggle, gasp, cry, and reflect on the world we live in. Gosh, I could go on and on because there were so many standout parts to this book, but I’ll focus on my two favorite things: the characters and the romance.
Characters
The characters were really well-developed and nuanced. In addition to our two main characters, we had a handful of side characters from different social statuses and classes. These characters show how harm caused by systems of oppression cuts across wealth and status. In a lot of stories, the relationship between power and wealth or class gets often flattened into rich equals evil, while the poor and working class are victims. The author used the diverse cast of characters to show that everyone is suffering under one despicable despot, and what keeps him in power is them fighting each other instead of him. It's an especially powerful lesson for today's world.
Romance
This same dynamic plays out in the romance as well. At its core, Shadera and Greyson's story is about finding love in a world that is doing everything to pit them against each other. Greyson’s father executed Shadera’s parents and Greyson now plays the role of executioner. Shadera’s Daggermouths killed Greyson’s brother. Throughout the story, they realize they were both just another cog in the machine that keeps Greyson’s father in power. Their relationship often feels like two steps forward, one step back because they are slowly recognizing the humanity in one another and discovering they are more similar than they are different. It's probably the most believable enemies-to-(maybe) lovers I’ve seen and one of my new favorite slow-burn romances.
“Now, the lines were blurring in ways she hadn’t anticipated. Greyson was still her enemy, still represented everything she fought against, but he was becoming a person to her. Complex, contradictory, trapped in his own way.”
As a side note, there's also a love triangle going on, which tees up a lot of incredible tension and the best "my wife" scene I've ever read.
So, Should You Read Daggermouth?
This is the dystopian romance I’ve been waiting for, and perhaps my favorite book of the year. Consider putting this on your TBR if you want a real slow-burn enemies-to-lovers or an unputdownable dystopian story that will leave you guessing the entire time. Highly recommend!
Check out this review on Goodreads or Storygraph.
Happy reading!
Kim
Daggermouth FAQs
Some of the answers may be spoilers if you haven’t read it already. Proceed with caution!
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Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe is the first book in a duology.
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Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe is a 4🌶️ or explicit open door. That means readers are present for spice scenes and they are told in explicit detail.
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The spicy chapters in Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe are:
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 25
Chapter 27
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As of the writing of this post, the second book in the Daggermouth series, Python, will be released on July 1, 2026. Python will be the conclusion of the series.