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anatrnd's review against another edition
5.0
історія в серденько насправді. багато політики (все як я люблю) і просто неймовірна любовна лінія (їхня хімія >>>>). тут якраз енеміс-ту-лаверс, the epitome of this trope, тому що вони не принижують і не знущаються (як в The Cruel Prince), але справді ненавидять одне одного і ненавидять самих себе, тому що закохані у людину, яку ненавидять. а ще це частково ретеллінг "Красуні і чудовиська". і продовження, на жаль, не буде, авторка вирішила зробити історією одиночкою, АЛЕ в мене є чудова новина для вас, бо тут загалом нормальний фінал і читати можна і так. максимально раджу, чесно.
jull1980's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
lavdisy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.75
It's written as a retelling-inspired, and honestly, quite good for a debut novel. I picked this up because I was curious about the blurb, which promised interesting stuff. Firstly, while the plot revolves around a prince and princess with ballroom scenes and fairy tale twists, the political problems and fantasy elements like witches and beasts are overshadowed by romance. Despite being part of a series, the depth of detail for these elements is easy to forget. It feels like the focus is more on the romantic aspect rather than the fantasy elements that should guide the story. Secondly, regarding the romance, I must admit I LIKED IT. Their chemistry and passion deeply immersed me, with clandestine meetings and longing stares that were beautifully written. Lastly, the characters, while not all my favorites, had some standout moments, like Dante, who I expected to be an eye-catcher but was barely mentioned. Others lacked detail, and I struggled to remember their names after finishing the book.
So, I enjoyed the book, but up until the ending, I was kind of disliking how the story ends for only book 1. There is so much potential for plot and character detail, and that political intrigue should be delved into more to set up the next book. As for the witch, curses, and some dark powers, I feel like there's not even a little hint to put in, which makes it hard for me to understand them more. Despite all that, I'm still curious about the second book and hope there will be a lot of development. Overall, it was a really fun read to spend my time on.
So, I enjoyed the book, but up until the ending, I was kind of disliking how the story ends for only book 1. There is so much potential for plot and character detail, and that political intrigue should be delved into more to set up the next book. As for the witch, curses, and some dark powers, I feel like there's not even a little hint to put in, which makes it hard for me to understand them more. Despite all that, I'm still curious about the second book and hope there will be a lot of development. Overall, it was a really fun read to spend my time on.
peppervaughn's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
noirverse's review against another edition
2.0
I was looking forward to this book, but it fell woefully short of meeting my expectations. It had all the elements for being an entertaining read, but none of it felt like it had any weight to it in the narrative. Shocking twists are glossed over in the matter of a few paragraphs, and we're told a countless number of things about the fantasy world and the relationships above being shown anything. The worldbuilding only feels relevant when the plot demands it to be so. The enemies to lovers dynamic being presented sounded great, but in practice, it was a lot of childish bickering until they start making out with little to no warning. The biggest problem with this book isn't that the ideas in it are bad. It's the fact that the ideas weren't developed nearly enough to feel grounded to a cohesive story.
crosswarrior7's review against another edition
2.0
❧ Violet Lune is a Seer, a human gifted Sight by the Fates, this world’s version of the gods. Each of the kingdoms within this world has one Seer. Violet is the Seer for Auveny, and she has learned quickly that lying and saying what others—especially the king—want her to say is the best way to thrive. But a prophecy spoken by the prior Seer hangs over her as well as Cyrus, the prince of Auveny, whose heart the prophecy claims will save or condemn the kingdom. With the prophecy suddenly beginning to unravel, Violet will have to do all she can to help Cyrus find his true love to break the curse, but that’s hard to do when they both hate each other. Or can the flame that burns between them be something else?
❧ I will start with the good about this book. First, I fell for the concept. This wasn’t quite a retelling, but it was more greatly inspired by fairy tales, the strongest of which was definitely Cinderella. You had your Prince Charming and fairy godmother (heavy emphasis on ‘god’ here...), but these felt more like small pieces of an overall much larger fairy-tale-esque story.
So the setting and concept just had my heart with this book. There’s also fairies that they keep around by basically offering this nectar or something that gets them drunk, and the fairies do magic for them because of it. It’s hilarious. There’s also a Fairy Forest thing that’s not fully expanded upon but has a lot of intrigue around it, and there’s a sequel that will hopefully expand upon it.
❧ I liked the concept of Violet. She’s not morally grey like the book keeps trying to stress. She’s still a good character morally, but she’s less pure good than a lot of YA protagonists, doing more of what she has to do to survive, which makes her have to lie and scheme and rely on cunning. Basically, she’s more a Slytherin type protagonist, less of a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. Which I appreciate, but I think the book tried to act like she was edgier than she was at times.
❧ Apart from that... Things were decent? A lot of things could have used more building upon. Like I mentioned with the Fairy Forest. I’ve said before that I acknowledge soft magic systems are a thing and I could just personally prefer more building than it, but I’ve been fine with some soft magic systems. I think those ones usually feel intentional. This one just... didn’t feel enough?
This could be from the gods to the Seer powers to the politics. Like, there was some stuff there, yes, and like I said, things were decent. They just weren’t great, and they left me wanting more as to why things were how they were. Maybe these things are meant to be expanded upon in a sequel? But...
❧ I don’t know if I enjoyed this enough to read the sequel, and that’s because as much as I absolutely adored the fairy tale vibes and liked what the author was going for with Violet... I despised the romance and there were moments Violet really annoyed me, primarily the parts involving the aforementioned romance.
I didn’t understand really why Violet liked the prince, mostly because I didn’t understand the prince. He would be one person one moment, another the next, depending on if it was supposed to be a hate or love moment between him and Violet. The book was going for this enemies-to-lovers BUT ALSO enemies-and-lovers vibe and just... It didn’t work. I sensed no chemistry. They just wanted to have sex while at the same time hating each other. Yet the book wanted to claim it was this intense, fairy tale worthy love.
And because of that, Violet would make “I’m a Slytherin in love” type of choices that just frustrated me. Mostly because I was just so busy rolling my eyes at the ship.
I’ve had a lot of gripes about romance in YA books, especially enemies-to-lovers, and this book just exuded all the issues I have with it. I mean, it compared itself to Serpent and Dove, another book I despise for similar issues, so maybe I should have expected it? It also, like S&D, should very much be NA and not YA with all the stuff it shows on the page.
❧ Overall, it’s very frustrating, because there’s aspects I loved, and aspects I was willing to read on to see expanded upon, and I was intrigued to see where it’d go on from with the ending, but oh my gosh, I hated the romance aspect. This was actually originally a 3 star for me, but I think I’m bumping it down to a 2.5 rounded down to a 2 star because I’m busy being angry at the romance again. Maybe I’ll someday read on and let go of some of my annoyance, but if I’m writing this review months later and simmering this much over the book’s ship... I must have really not liked it.
But hey! If unlike me, you loved Serpent & Dove, you’ll probably love this! I can give it that much :D
❧ I will start with the good about this book. First, I fell for the concept. This wasn’t quite a retelling, but it was more greatly inspired by fairy tales, the strongest of which was definitely Cinderella. You had your Prince Charming and fairy godmother (heavy emphasis on ‘god’ here...), but these felt more like small pieces of an overall much larger fairy-tale-esque story.
So the setting and concept just had my heart with this book. There’s also fairies that they keep around by basically offering this nectar or something that gets them drunk, and the fairies do magic for them because of it. It’s hilarious. There’s also a Fairy Forest thing that’s not fully expanded upon but has a lot of intrigue around it, and there’s a sequel that will hopefully expand upon it.
❧ I liked the concept of Violet. She’s not morally grey like the book keeps trying to stress. She’s still a good character morally, but she’s less pure good than a lot of YA protagonists, doing more of what she has to do to survive, which makes her have to lie and scheme and rely on cunning. Basically, she’s more a Slytherin type protagonist, less of a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. Which I appreciate, but I think the book tried to act like she was edgier than she was at times.
❧ Apart from that... Things were decent? A lot of things could have used more building upon. Like I mentioned with the Fairy Forest. I’ve said before that I acknowledge soft magic systems are a thing and I could just personally prefer more building than it, but I’ve been fine with some soft magic systems. I think those ones usually feel intentional. This one just... didn’t feel enough?
This could be from the gods to the Seer powers to the politics. Like, there was some stuff there, yes, and like I said, things were decent. They just weren’t great, and they left me wanting more as to why things were how they were. Maybe these things are meant to be expanded upon in a sequel? But...
❧ I don’t know if I enjoyed this enough to read the sequel, and that’s because as much as I absolutely adored the fairy tale vibes and liked what the author was going for with Violet... I despised the romance and there were moments Violet really annoyed me, primarily the parts involving the aforementioned romance.
I didn’t understand really why Violet liked the prince, mostly because I didn’t understand the prince. He would be one person one moment, another the next, depending on if it was supposed to be a hate or love moment between him and Violet. The book was going for this enemies-to-lovers BUT ALSO enemies-and-lovers vibe and just... It didn’t work. I sensed no chemistry. They just wanted to have sex while at the same time hating each other. Yet the book wanted to claim it was this intense, fairy tale worthy love.
And because of that, Violet would make “I’m a Slytherin in love” type of choices that just frustrated me. Mostly because I was just so busy rolling my eyes at the ship.
I’ve had a lot of gripes about romance in YA books, especially enemies-to-lovers, and this book just exuded all the issues I have with it. I mean, it compared itself to Serpent and Dove, another book I despise for similar issues, so maybe I should have expected it? It also, like S&D, should very much be NA and not YA with all the stuff it shows on the page.
❧ Overall, it’s very frustrating, because there’s aspects I loved, and aspects I was willing to read on to see expanded upon, and I was intrigued to see where it’d go on from with the ending, but oh my gosh, I hated the romance aspect. This was actually originally a 3 star for me, but I think I’m bumping it down to a 2.5 rounded down to a 2 star because I’m busy being angry at the romance again. Maybe I’ll someday read on and let go of some of my annoyance, but if I’m writing this review months later and simmering this much over the book’s ship... I must have really not liked it.
But hey! If unlike me, you loved Serpent & Dove, you’ll probably love this! I can give it that much :D
jadenreads99's review against another edition
Boring, characters were not likeable. I was like 1/4 of the way through and nothing was happening