Reviews with content warning for War - Bow Before the Elf Queen

You get pulled into the book right from the first page.
Strong Enemies to Lovers Energy. I am sick of the Mate Tropes BUT…. this gets a pass. It’s done so well & you don’t hear mate 100x or more. Just trust me on it . If you feel that with mates too. Don’t let it detour you and you will thank me just take a leap. The different personalities between the characters are perfect. It is a very original story. We get so many creatures gnomes, sprites, dragons, trolls and more. They are brought into the story naturally and it’s not all shoved in. The world building was done well. I did not feel like there were any slow parts to the book. It was all very entertaining. I enjoyed the banter between the characters. I found a few heart felt moments that made my eyes tear up. 4 stars because I only give 5 to books that steal my heart and I can read them over and over again. I look forward to jumping into the second book. It set itself up well going into being a series.

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shinyfox's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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koistyfishy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

This was a surprising delight wrapped up in a perfect little bow of what I love in a book.

I didn’t know what to expect when starting this. None of the usual people who’s reviews I follow for a “taste test” had read this, I couldn’t even remember how it even ended up on my TBR…

All I can say is I am *absolutely* flipping happy that this book was there! I couldn’t put it down and when I had to (for work) couldn’t stop thinking of the next moment I could pick this up.

I saw a few reviews mention this is like The Cruel Prince… to me this is what The Cruel Prince should have been…

Let’s go over the tropes I loved!

Enemies to lovers (duh probably the best trope in this book)
Fated Mates
One horse (almost as good as the one bed :p)
Found family
Arranged marriage
He falls first
Kidnapping
Morally grey
Strong female MC who can kick ass and knows her way with a sword!

These are my perfect formula in a book! I loved the way JMK played with my emotions from start to Finish. From not liking Thane at the start to growing to really care for him by the end as Layala develops her feelings. The turn from enemies to lovers felt natural and gradual… it wasn’t that “one day I hate you and the next I love you”. They displayed a mature relationship and I really liked that at times they were able to trust and talk to each other about aspects that they were concerned about. Very often in books (especially YA) “conflict” is created due to miscommunication and I felt that very little of the conflict in this was due to the characters not listening (which is a big plus) - this might be cause they were a little older that this would be more intro into Adult but kept the content PG13.

This is very action packed with high stake situations and aspects move fast but the book is very easy to read and understand in these scenes!

I do think this is one of the most underrated books I have ever read but if this is the quality of JMK’s writing, she just became of my favourite authors… I am instantly putting her other books on my TBR and am so thankful I do not have to wait long for the sequel (which releases in a few days) because a long wait would have been absolutely torture!

I haven’t even touched on the glorious world building this book had. I can’t believe this is indie published because the quality of writing and level of detail was magnificent!

You would do yourself a disservice not reading this especially if you love Fae Enemies to Lovers books!

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calleina's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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gabi_in_real_life's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted 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? It's complicated

3.0

Although the book in it's whole is enjoyable, the plot is predictable, the writing is not very good and most of it sounds like a rewrite of Shadow and Bone coupled with a wanna-be Feyre and Rhysand.

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