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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was one I couldn't put down. It definitely got me out of a slump. And while I feel like technically it was a little obvious in its "twists" it was not supposed to be some kind of over the top Machaivellian masterpiece. It was exactly what I think it was meant to be: fun, inspiring, fantastical, romantic and a little bit smutty. It got me out of a slump and into a frenzy. I was laughing, smirking, smacking my forehead and groaning in disbelief. My family is convinced I'm crazy, but this book was just that good.
Elma was fantastic and while Rune outshown her on occasion, she flew high on her own, kicked butt and saved the day. We gotta love a woman who knows what she wants, and while it takes her a little bit to figure it out, when she does, she takes it.
Something that I really enjoyed was what felt like an accurate (to my experience with mental health) depiction of depression, lonelines, and suicidal thoughts. I am so glad that the author was thoughtful enough to include a trigger warnings section in her book. It helped me mentally prepare.
Overall, I loved this. It will easily be in my top 5 favourites for a long while.
5 ๐ (stars)
3 ๐ถ (spicy peppers)
Elma was fantastic and while Rune outshown her on occasion, she flew high on her own, kicked butt and saved the day. We gotta love a woman who knows what she wants, and while it takes her a little bit to figure it out, when she does, she takes it.
Something that I really enjoyed was what felt like an accurate (to my experience with mental health) depiction of depression, lonelines, and suicidal thoughts. I am so glad that the author was thoughtful enough to include a trigger warnings section in her book. It helped me mentally prepare.
Overall, I loved this. It will easily be in my top 5 favourites for a long while.
5 ๐ (stars)
3 ๐ถ (spicy peppers)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death of parent, War
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Absolutely loved this book, itโs a standalone romantasy.
This standalone Enemies to Lovers romance was such a breath of fresh air compared to all the fantasy romance Iโve read so far! Itโs a true enemies to lovers, as in Rune the MMC, is from the enemy kingdom and assigned to dispose of the future Queen Elma. However things happen and an alliance between these two is formed.
I loved the plot, as there is a bit of a conspiracy lurking in Rothen which turns out to be quite the danger for Elma and not everything is as it seems. So naturally sheโs out to get the people who betray her, find out the truth and make some long due changes to her kingdom, much to the dismay of some of her court. Her new found ally, who wants her dead, now has the job to protect and help her. Nothing could go wrong with that now, could it?
The pacing was also great, despite being a standalone the progression of the plot and romance didnโt feel rushed.
I also really enjoyed the writing style, it punted the realm so well and conveyed the feeling of this frozen kingdom and the atmosphere perfectly. The dialogues and banter were so fun ~ Iโm a BIG fan of banter and this was some great, quotable banter!!
The tension, the banter and the intimate scenes were so hot and fun!!
Our Queen has a bit of a thirst for blood, it quite literally makes her feel a type of way, and Rune the gentleman he is, lets her explore this side of her!
This standalone Enemies to Lovers romance was such a breath of fresh air compared to all the fantasy romance Iโve read so far! Itโs a true enemies to lovers, as in Rune the MMC, is from the enemy kingdom and assigned to dispose of the future Queen Elma. However things happen and an alliance between these two is formed.
I loved the plot, as there is a bit of a conspiracy lurking in Rothen which turns out to be quite the danger for Elma and not everything is as it seems. So naturally sheโs out to get the people who betray her, find out the truth and make some long due changes to her kingdom, much to the dismay of some of her court. Her new found ally, who wants her dead, now has the job to protect and help her. Nothing could go wrong with that now, could it?
The pacing was also great, despite being a standalone the progression of the plot and romance didnโt feel rushed.
I also really enjoyed the writing style, it punted the realm so well and conveyed the feeling of this frozen kingdom and the atmosphere perfectly. The dialogues and banter were so fun ~ Iโm a BIG fan of banter and this was some great, quotable banter!!
The tension, the banter and the intimate scenes were so hot and fun!!
Our Queen has a bit of a thirst for blood, it quite literally makes her feel a type of way, and Rune the gentleman he is, lets her explore this side of her!
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If I could give this more than 5 stars, I absolutely would. I loved this book so much, and I waited SO long for it.
First of all, Meg is such a beautiful writer. The flow of the story, the metaphors, the way she simple describes the scene, the syntax: it's like poetry. Each sentence flows into each other seamlessly. The way that each character speaks, the words they use, keeps you wanting more.
I was never ever bored. I really couldn't put it down. It was well paced, nothing ever lead nowhere. The politics/complications of being queen felt real and believable.
TRUE enemies to lovers. I LOVED the way they absolutely hated each other in the beginning, it made the end so sweet.
There is knife and blood play and, goddamn, it was just... ๐คญ the spice itself is so sweet and sexy lmaooo okay Meg, you knew what you were doing.
Elma is an incredibly loveable character. She's headstrong and stubborn. She's got a streak of kindness that she's fought to hold onto from her childhood. When she's witty, she made me cackle. She's incredibly cunning. I love the intimacy of knowing, from the readers perspective, that a character's scared, although she won't let others see it.
More importantly, she's incredibly believable and consistent. Watching her warm up to Rune held me so tight, the subtle, steady way she slowly opens up to him. I freaking loved it.
"Don't call me little queen," Elma said. "I'm taller than you."
Girl, this is the man who JUST tried to kill you.
Rune is, of course, so easy to love. He's witty and charming, even when he's being an asshole. I couldn't hate him if I tried ๐. He feels a lot more transparent than Elma, which is clearly by design. He wears his heart on his sleeve and articulates when he's impressed and proud of Elma. The sweet, romantic words that come out of his mouth are ridiculous ๐
His gaze held hers like a gentle embrace. โI already have,โ he said.
Out of context but I love how openly he speaks his feelings ๐ญ
Watching them fall in love and be vulnerable with each other was so much fun. It was steady all the way through, it was so easy to believe. Even closer to the end, when something is revealed about Rune, watching Elma fight her feelings and succumb to them had me so freaking happy ๐
The plot itself is simple and flows well. There's only so many things you can surprise people with when writing romantasy, so SOME things were slightly predictable, but despite that, they weren't written in a cliche way. I loved the twists that arose, the end had me so nervous and on edge!
Anyway...
Thanks StoryGraph for the lack of word limit, I wrote a short essay ๐
I COULD WRITE SO MUCH MORE. But I won't. This book is amazing and probably one of my favourites forever, now.
First of all, Meg is such a beautiful writer. The flow of the story, the metaphors, the way she simple describes the scene, the syntax: it's like poetry. Each sentence flows into each other seamlessly. The way that each character speaks, the words they use, keeps you wanting more.
I was never ever bored. I really couldn't put it down. It was well paced, nothing ever lead nowhere. The politics/complications of being queen felt real and believable.
TRUE enemies to lovers. I LOVED the way they absolutely hated each other in the beginning, it made the end so sweet.
There is knife and blood play and, goddamn, it was just... ๐คญ the spice itself is so sweet and sexy lmaooo okay Meg, you knew what you were doing.
Elma is an incredibly loveable character. She's headstrong and stubborn. She's got a streak of kindness that she's fought to hold onto from her childhood. When she's witty, she made me cackle. She's incredibly cunning. I love the intimacy of knowing, from the readers perspective, that a character's scared, although she won't let others see it.
More importantly, she's incredibly believable and consistent. Watching her warm up to Rune held me so tight, the subtle, steady way she slowly opens up to him. I freaking loved it.
"Don't call me little queen," Elma said. "I'm taller than you."
Girl, this is the man who JUST tried to kill you.
Rune is, of course, so easy to love. He's witty and charming, even when he's being an asshole. I couldn't hate him if I tried ๐. He feels a lot more transparent than Elma, which is clearly by design. He wears his heart on his sleeve and articulates when he's impressed and proud of Elma. The sweet, romantic words that come out of his mouth are ridiculous ๐
His gaze held hers like a gentle embrace. โI already have,โ he said.
Out of context but I love how openly he speaks his feelings ๐ญ
Watching them fall in love and be vulnerable with each other was so much fun. It was steady all the way through, it was so easy to believe. Even closer to the end, when something is revealed about Rune, watching Elma fight her feelings and succumb to them had me so freaking happy ๐
The plot itself is simple and flows well. There's only so many things you can surprise people with when writing romantasy, so SOME things were slightly predictable, but despite that, they weren't written in a cliche way. I loved the twists that arose, the end had me so nervous and on edge!
Anyway...
Thanks StoryGraph for the lack of word limit, I wrote a short essay ๐
I COULD WRITE SO MUCH MORE. But I won't. This book is amazing and probably one of my favourites forever, now.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book brought me to tears, and it's been awhile since a book has done that. Their banter and hate-love is everything. I had inkling of the true villain from early on in the book. The mystery around the assassinations was done really well. I love how he always really saw her and was willing to share his kingdom with her. I also love that he teaches her their kingdom's history and trying to rewrite/fill-in what wasn't taught to her.
The world building and character development was done well. This story has you gripped to the very last page. I can't wait for book 2 in the duet.
The world building and character development was done well. This story has you gripped to the very last page. I can't wait for book 2 in the duet.