The Weight of Her Gaze Review: Is It Worth Reading?

Updated on October 7, 2026

Verdict: A slow-burn sapphic con-artist romance set in a mythological classical Greece — a thief, a courtesan and a lie at the centre of everything — with too few reader reviews yet for us to score it honestly.

Best for: Readers who want a heist-and-deception romance in an ancient setting, who like a morally ambiguous heroine, and who are happy to be early readers of a small indie series.

Heat level: Open door — the publisher’s own content note lists graphic sex between two women; romance.io has no entry, so we have not given it a number

Rating: Not yet rated (only 2 Goodreads ratings and 1 written review as of October 2026)

Tropes: Slow burn, con artist and mark, thief heroine, courtesan heroine, secret agenda, sunshine and morally grey, rival suitor, classical Greece, myth and magic.

The Weight of Her Gaze is the second book in RJ Martin’s Bonds of Fate series, a self-published sapphic fantasy romance from December 2024 in which Roxane, a thief who has just landed the job of her life, sets out to charm Chloe, the most sought-after courtesan in the city, as a step toward stealing a priceless artifact — and finds the con getting harder to separate from what she actually feels.

We want to be plain about the evidence. As of October 2026 the book has two Goodreads ratings and one written review, no Amazon customer ratings, no romance.io entry and no audiobook. That is not enough to score a book fairly, so this page does not give it a star rating. What it does give you is an accurate account of what the book is, who it is for and what the one detailed reader review says.

A correction: an earlier version of this page described the book as a gorgon story. That was wrong. The publisher’s description and the reader review both make clear it is a romance between a thief and a courtesan; we have rewritten the page to match.

What Is The Weight of Her Gaze About?

It is a slow-burn romance built on a lie. Bonds of Fate is, in the author’s description, an anthology series of slow-burn sapphic romances set in a mythological classical Greece, so each book follows a new couple in the same world. The first, Unchain My Heart, followed a bard and an Amazon at sea. This one moves to the city and to a different kind of danger: commerce, desire and deception.

Roxane is a thief, and the one reader review we found calls her the favourite of the pair precisely because she is morally ambiguous. She first appeared in book one, and this is her story. Chloe is warmer and more open — the same reviewer calls her sunshine-like — and her life is already complicated before Roxane arrives: she is the city’s most celebrated courtesan, and her best friend, Galenos, keeps asking her to marry him.

Book Synopsis

Roxane has been offered the deal she always wanted: one artifact, one theft, and enough reward to change everything. The only way to the prize runs through Chloe, whose position as the city’s most desired courtesan gives her access Roxane cannot get on her own. So Roxane sets out to charm her. It is meant to be one more step in a job.

Chloe is not an easy mark. She is juggling her work, the attention that comes with it and a marriage proposal from a friend she cares about, and a new relationship with a fascinating stranger is one more thing to balance. As Roxane gets closer, the lines she has drawn for herself start to blur. Every true thing she feels has to be hidden inside a performance, and the closer she gets to the artifact, the more there is to lose.

The question the book turns on is whether a relationship that begins as a con can survive the truth, and what Roxane is willing to give up when her past and the future she never planned for collide.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)

Very little, so far. The book has two Goodreads ratings, averaging 4.5, and one written review. Amazon shows no customer ratings for the Kindle edition, romance.io has no page for it, and a search turns up no blog or trade coverage. Book one, Unchain My Heart, is only a little better known, with 11 Goodreads ratings averaging 3.91.

The one review is detailed and positive. That reader enjoyed it more than book one, liked a classical Greek setting that is not about Amazons for once, and singles out Roxane as the reason to read. They found Chloe’s sunshine personality harder to relate to but say the romance balanced it out. They also say the book can be read as a standalone, because what you need from book one is recapped. One voice is not a consensus, and we will update this page when more readers weigh in.

How Spicy Is The Weight of Her Gaze?

It is open door. We know that from the publisher, not from readers: the book’s own content note says it contains graphic sex between two women. romance.io has no entry, and no reader review describes the scenes, so we are not putting a number on it. Because the series is billed as slow burn, expect the build-up to take time.

The same content note is unusually thorough and worth reading before you buy. It lists drug use; discussions of sex work, both forced and voluntary; depictions of abduction, slavery and exploitation; violence, bloodshed and death; trauma and its aftermath; enchantment, mystical coercion and curses; historic gender roles and patriarchy; and a great many lies.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely enjoy it if: you like a romance built on a con, you prefer a morally grey heroine to a perfect one, you want an ancient-world setting with a little myth and magic, and you enjoy being an early reader of a small indie series.

You may want to skip it if: you only buy books with a solid base of reviews, the content note above includes a hard limit for you, you want fast romance rather than slow burn, or you want a confirmed heat rating first.

The Bonds of Fate Series

Bonds of Fate currently has two books, each a standalone romance with its own couple:

• Unchain My Heart (December 2022): Kyra, a bard who has given up on love, and Zoe, an Amazon who does not believe in it, thrown together on a voyage that goes wrong.
• The Weight of Her Gaze (December 2024): Roxane the thief and Chloe the courtesan. Roxane first appears in book one, but the one reader review we found says this book works on its own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is The Weight of Her Gaze about a gorgon?

No. It is a romance between Roxane, a thief, and Chloe, a courtesan, in a mythological classical Greece. An earlier version of this page described it incorrectly.

Do I need to read Unchain My Heart first?

No. Bonds of Fate is an anthology series with a new couple in each book. Roxane first appears in book one, but a reader who read both says this book can be read as a standalone.

How spicy is The Weight of Her Gaze?

It is open door. The publisher’s content note lists graphic sex between two women, but romance.io has no entry, so we have not given it a heat number.

Why doesn’t this review have a star rating?

Because the book has only two Goodreads ratings and one written review. Our ratings are built from reader evidence, and there is not enough of it yet to score fairly.

If You Like the Sound of It, Read These Next

For another sapphic retelling rooted in Greek myth, Daughter of the Hunt reimagines Artemis and Iphigenia. For a heist at the heart of a sapphic fantasy romance, with much more heat, try A Game of Hearts and Heists. For myth, magic and wit in a historical setting, Mortal Follies is a lighter choice. For more, browse our spicy sapphic romantasy list or every title in Book Reviews.

The Bottom Line

The Weight of Her Gaze has a strong premise for readers who like deception in their romance: a thief who has to fall for her mark, a courtesan with her own complications, and an ancient-world setting its one detailed reader enjoyed. What it does not have yet is readers. With one written review, we cannot tell you how well it delivers, only that its one detailed reader was won over by Roxane. If the premise and the content note both suit you, it is a low-risk try. Check The Weight of Her Gaze on Amazon →