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Book Club Night Kit
The Emperor's Enemy

The Emperor's Enemy

Jasmine Mas
Cozy night

A hunter pulled into a war finds herself trapped in close quarters with a man whose obsession with her never wavers, making for a tense, high-heat fantasy romance that is surprisingly tender underneath. It is the kind of book everyone wants to debrief about the second they close it.

Close Quarters and Warm Mugs

Come curl up with us for a night on The Emperor's Enemy: hunter's stew, hot cider, and zero pressure to have opinions that sound smart. Bring slippers and your most unhinged feelings about a certain obsessed man.

Reading level: Easy

Best for: A club that loves romantasy, reads fast, and is happy to giggle and overshare in equal measure

Discussion

Warm-up

  1. 1.Where were you when you read this, and did you need a blanket, a fan, or both?
  2. 2.Be honest: did you pick this up for the fantasy war or for the man who cannot look away from her?

Digging in

  1. 1.Zora is skilled, capable, and used to surviving alone. Did her self-sufficiency feel comforting to you, or a little lonely?
  2. 2.Forced proximity is cozy and claustrophobic at once. What is the smallest moment of shared quiet between them that stuck with you?
  3. 3.This book sits obsession right next to devotion. Which scenes made you feel cared for, and which made you want to crack a window?
  4. 4.War is the backdrop, but so much happens in close rooms. Did the intimacy of those spaces soothe you or wind you up?

Going deep

  1. 1.By the end of your reading, had your feelings about his intensity softened, hardened, or just gotten more complicated? Walk us through where you shifted.
  2. 2.Zora spends the book deciding how much of herself to hand over to someone. Thinking about your own life, what made her choices feel understandable to you?

On the table & to sip

To eat

Hunter's stew with crusty bread
Game-y, slow-simmered, and exactly what you want after a long day of tracking. Serve in mugs so everyone can curl up on the couch.
Rosemary skillet flatbreads
Torn and shared warm from the pan, like something cooked over a campfire between marches. Low effort, big payoff.
Honey-drizzled spiced cake
A little indulgent and a little dangerous, same as the book's softer moments. One pan, one knife, done.

To sip

Mulled red wine with orange and clove
Warm, dark, and heady, for the long nights in close quarters.
Spiced honey cider (served hot) (no alcohol)
The non-alcoholic anchor of the night. Sweet, steaming, and endlessly refillable.
Blackberry brandy toddy
Foraged-fruit sweetness with a slow burn, for the readers who want their comfort with teeth.

Run of show

7:00
Doors open, grab a mug
Stew in mugs and cider on the stove. No seating chart, just blankets and floor cushions.
7:20
Warm-up circle
Go around with the two warm-up questions. Keep it light and let people interrupt each other.
7:45
Cake and trivia
Cut the spiced cake and run trivia as a shared, no-stakes group guess rather than teams.
8:05
Theme questions
Pull from the four theme cards. Skip any that the group has already wandered into on its own.
8:40
Deep end
Refill drinks first, dim the lights, then open the two deeper questions. Let silences sit.
9:10
Scorecards and soft landing
Fill out scorecards, read a few out loud, hand out bookmarks, and let people linger.

Host tips

  • Make the stew the day before. It tastes better and you will actually get to sit down.
  • Say out loud at the start that nobody has to defend their rating or their feelings about the love interest. It keeps the room generous.
  • Keep a basket of spare blankets and socks by the door. It sounds silly and it changes the whole temperature of the night.

Playlist

Low, smoldering folk and strings over a crackling fire, warm enough to nap to and tense enough to remind you there is a war on

  1. 01 Work Song - Hozier
  2. 02 To Build a Home - The Cinematic Orchestra
  3. 03 Devil Like Me - Rainbow Kitten Surprise
  4. 04 Bloodflood - alt-J
  5. 05 My Tears Ricochet - Taylor Swift
  6. 06 Oh No - Marina and the Diamonds
  7. 07 I Found - Amber Run
  8. 08 Wolves - Phosphorescent

Trivia

  1. 1.Who wrote The Emperor's Enemy? (Jasmine Mas.)
  2. 2.What is the name of the hunter at the center of the story? (Zora Ravenal.)
  3. 3.What genre does this book sit in? (Fantasy romance, often called romantasy, on the high-heat end.)
  4. 4.Which romance trope drives most of the tension: forced proximity, second chance, or fake dating? (Forced proximity.)
  5. 5.What is the large-scale conflict that the main character gets caught up in? (A war.)
  6. 6.Jasmine Mas is best known for writing in which lane of fantasy romance: cozy low-stakes, or dark and high-heat? (Dark and high-heat.)
  7. 7.The title refers to being the enemy of which figure? (An emperor.)
  8. 8.What is the main character's profession or skill set? (She is a skilled hunter.)

Bookmarks

Print, cut, and tuck one at every seat, a small keepsake from the night.

The Emperor's Enemy

“Winter outside, war outside, and one warm room between us.”

The Emperor's Enemy
Jasmine Mas
bookclubnight.com
The Emperor's Enemy

“She hunted alone until someone refused to let her.”

The Emperor's Enemy
Jasmine Mas
bookclubnight.com
The Emperor's Enemy

“Keep the stew hot. This chapter is going to take a while.”

The Emperor's Enemy
Jasmine Mas
bookclubnight.com

Rate the book

Comfort factor☆☆☆☆☆
Butterflies☆☆☆☆☆
Coziest scene☆☆☆☆☆
Tension level☆☆☆☆☆
Would reread under a blanket☆☆☆☆☆
One word for how this book left me feeling: ______________________
The moment I had to put the book down and breathe: ______________________
Who in this club I am recommending it to next: ______________________
That's a wrap
Thank you for coming

We hope the company was good and the conversation even better. Until the next chapter.