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gemmylou87's review
5.0
Oh my word, I was completely sucked in to the world of Esteria and learning all about the Faeries alongside our girl Alys. I also need to find myself an Asher, like, yesterday.
There was everything you could possibly want in this book - curvy FMC, arrogant, alphahole who you can't help but love, mates, Fae, villian, betrayal, beautiful scenes and world building, just everything!
Thank you for the world you have created Dana, I am well and truly excited and patiently impatient for Book 2.
There was everything you could possibly want in this book - curvy FMC, arrogant, alphahole who you can't help but love, mates, Fae, villian, betrayal, beautiful scenes and world building, just everything!
Thank you for the world you have created Dana, I am well and truly excited and patiently impatient for Book 2.
literaryinspired's review
3.0
I saw this book recommended on TikTok for people who love ACOTAR and are struggling with the hangover from Raven Kennedy's Plated Prisoner series, so immediately downloaded it from KU. Now, let me start by saying that I loved this book and will most definitely be reading the next - I am, of course, disappointed that I have to wait, but I knew that going in.
I found myself getting frustrated early on in the book because there were too many elements copied from ACOTAR and I would have preferred if this was marketed as fan-fic. From the wingspan jokes to the bat-wings, dark shadows, high lord of the night court, him knowing they're mates before she does, etc. There were just too many elements for you not to acknowledge that this was inspired by ACOTAR.
The story is extremely fast-paced. Sometimes almost too fast-paced, leaving out details and large gaps of time. Like I would have loved to read more about Em and Wheezy's friendship. I loved how Mav would mother her and Ash - give me more of that! Oh and we just skimmed over her training - how does she go from not knowing anything to suddenly being able to wield swords and daggers. We KNOW that can take a lot of time for an experienced fae, now we have a fae who has grown up in the human realm, suddenly ready to wield an ash dagger?
BUT, all that aside, this was the perfect book to get me out of my slump; there is enemies to lovers and one-bed trope, with a slight hint of found family (which I hope is expanded on in the follow-up, with Em and Ash). I still find myself not completely trusting Ash - but I blame SJM and that ish she pulled with Tamlin.
One thing that I especially loved about this book which I haven't seen done so well, was how Alys doubted her own body - this was something I deeply related to, and got a lump in my throat when he got so upset about it. I loved how she worried about whether the dagger would fit around her thighs because that's something that is so normal and relatable. It was representation at its finest and man, I loved that!
Some of the comments on Good Reads were frustrated that Alys was so accepting of things and at times, I noted that too. But I realised, that's probably how I would have acted. This is not something we often see in books like these, instead, we see the lead stubbornly fighting against her circumstances every step of the way. We see them running away, trying to escape and get back home while they take uncalculated risks and always forget the fae around them are more experienced. But this, this is how I would respond. I would wait, absorb what I can, and only then, take action. I think that was a refreshing take on things.
I found myself getting frustrated early on in the book because there were too many elements copied from ACOTAR and I would have preferred if this was marketed as fan-fic. From the wingspan jokes to the bat-wings, dark shadows, high lord of the night court, him knowing they're mates before she does, etc. There were just too many elements for you not to acknowledge that this was inspired by ACOTAR.
The story is extremely fast-paced. Sometimes almost too fast-paced, leaving out details and large gaps of time. Like I would have loved to read more about Em and Wheezy's friendship. I loved how Mav would mother her and Ash - give me more of that! Oh and we just skimmed over her training - how does she go from not knowing anything to suddenly being able to wield swords and daggers. We KNOW that can take a lot of time for an experienced fae, now we have a fae who has grown up in the human realm, suddenly ready to wield an ash dagger?
BUT, all that aside, this was the perfect book to get me out of my slump; there is enemies to lovers and one-bed trope, with a slight hint of found family (which I hope is expanded on in the follow-up, with Em and Ash). I still find myself not completely trusting Ash - but I blame SJM and that ish she pulled with Tamlin.
One thing that I especially loved about this book which I haven't seen done so well, was how Alys doubted her own body - this was something I deeply related to, and got a lump in my throat when he got so upset about it. I loved how she worried about whether the dagger would fit around her thighs because that's something that is so normal and relatable. It was representation at its finest and man, I loved that!
Some of the comments on Good Reads were frustrated that Alys was so accepting of things and at times, I noted that too. But I realised, that's probably how I would have acted. This is not something we often see in books like these, instead, we see the lead stubbornly fighting against her circumstances every step of the way. We see them running away, trying to escape and get back home while they take uncalculated risks and always forget the fae around them are more experienced. But this, this is how I would respond. I would wait, absorb what I can, and only then, take action. I think that was a refreshing take on things.
jackyslibraryyy's review
4.0
If you miss that Feysand kinda love bestie, read this it’s just ahhh my goodness Asher and Alys have me in love. I love how this is a mix of a few fantasy books i’ve read but with its unique twist. we love the plus size and mental health rep
marygg3's review
2.5
Look, it was nice. I did like it, it's just I couldn't stop thinking about the blatant plagiarism here. I mean, High Lord of the Night Court? Winter Court? Autumn Court ruled by a complete asshole whose name is Beron? Oh, sorry, I meant Theron.
And don't even get me started on Nyxa and the sensitive wings!
How about a MC that can feel other people's emotions and loves her special dagger?
I mean, come on girl!
Don't get me wrong, Asher can bite the fuck out of me whenever he wants, and I can promise you we will have more chemistry than he and Alys do. Serious insta-love happening here.
I did like some things about this book, but Alys managed to screw it up for me. Especially at that last chapter.
I get why she did what she did, but I still think it's stupid. How in the world was she told to "reach for a knife and not a savior" and what she heard was "do some stupid shit and go somewhere dangerous where you won't know what to expect, thinking that will fix everything and save your precious little Asher while breaking his heart"?
Seriously hated that stupid choice.
However, the smut was exquisite and marvelous. And of course I will eat up the next book faster than you can say little duck.
But I'm still mad.
PS. I hate that I loved Emric and now I don't trust him anymore. I need to know what the fuck is going on with that dude. I may be wrong, but Mavka knows shit and when that woman looks at someone that way, you know something's sketchy.
PS2: For fuck's sake, please stop ripping off concepts from other books and get a little creative.
PS3: No, seriously, WTF is wrong with you that you didn't even try to hide the plagiarism? This is downright a fanfic made up of ACOTAR and FBAA, which wouldn't bother me this much if you actually presented it as a fanfic but noooo, you went ahead and published this as your own story in your own book.
For Christ sake, have a little respect for the reader's intelligence and the other authors' efforts.
God! This just makes me so mad that I want to take this down to 2 stars and I'm not sure I want to read the next books anymore.
And don't even get me started on Nyxa and the sensitive wings!
How about a MC that can feel other people's emotions and loves her special dagger?
I mean, come on girl!
Don't get me wrong, Asher can bite the fuck out of me whenever he wants, and I can promise you we will have more chemistry than he and Alys do. Serious insta-love happening here.
I did like some things about this book, but Alys managed to screw it up for me. Especially at that last chapter.
I get why she did what she did, but I still think it's stupid. How in the world was she told to "reach for a knife and not a savior" and what she heard was "do some stupid shit and go somewhere dangerous where you won't know what to expect, thinking that will fix everything and save your precious little Asher while breaking his heart"?
Seriously hated that stupid choice.
However, the smut was exquisite and marvelous. And of course I will eat up the next book faster than you can say little duck.
But I'm still mad.
PS. I hate that I loved Emric and now I don't trust him anymore. I need to know what the fuck is going on with that dude. I may be wrong, but Mavka knows shit and when that woman looks at someone that way, you know something's sketchy.
PS2: For fuck's sake, please stop ripping off concepts from other books and get a little creative.
PS3: No, seriously, WTF is wrong with you that you didn't even try to hide the plagiarism? This is downright a fanfic made up of ACOTAR and FBAA, which wouldn't bother me this much if you actually presented it as a fanfic but noooo, you went ahead and published this as your own story in your own book.
For Christ sake, have a little respect for the reader's intelligence and the other authors' efforts.
God! This just makes me so mad that I want to take this down to 2 stars and I'm not sure I want to read the next books anymore.
lily_gracex's review
1.0
OH MY GOD THIS BOOK IS SO BAD I’M FUMING
I normally attempt to make my reviews insightful (and coherent) but I don’t think that is possible for this book so I apologize in advance.
Every single aspect of this book was torn straight from the pages of another, with absolutely no attempt at hiding it. I can’t wholly complain about this though; I did read it due to its likeness to ACOTAR and FBAA. However, this book crossed the line of inspiration, and I found myself constantly appalled that the author did not use in text citation.
The dialogue was so forced and unnatural, seeming as if its only purpose was info dumping. It felt lazy and poorly written. The narrative was overly specific yet simultaneously hollow, including details that just felt unnecessary (like describing how she threw something in the bin or the size and sturdiness of a table???). Maybe I’m just dumb and completely missed the intellectual integrity of this book, but a lot of it felt juvenile and as if it was simply added to meet a word count. It was just so poorly written, I’m not entirely sure how I managed to finish it.
And the love interest, oh my goodness. I hate him, which is confusing since he is literally (a Walmart version of) Rhysand, Azriel and Casteel (…and Tamlin). And the MC… she’s actually an idiot. There were so many decisions made that just didn’t make sense and were obviously just tools to progress the plot (I use the word plot lightly, since there was NONE).
The end was SO infuriating. The book just randomly ended at the FIRST sign of conflict. I wasted hours of my life and feel like I only read the first quarter of a (very badly written) book. NOTHING HAPPENED. There was no world building or character development, no plot or conflict; I’m genuinely confused how this book is 300 pages.
I want to say DON'T READ THIS, but I think for my own sanity it would be beneficial to discuss this book with someone (maybe a therapist, but I'm not picky).
Read at your own risk!!!
I normally attempt to make my reviews insightful (and coherent) but I don’t think that is possible for this book so I apologize in advance.
Every single aspect of this book was torn straight from the pages of another, with absolutely no attempt at hiding it. I can’t wholly complain about this though; I did read it due to its likeness to ACOTAR and FBAA. However, this book crossed the line of inspiration, and I found myself constantly appalled that the author did not use in text citation.
The dialogue was so forced and unnatural, seeming as if its only purpose was info dumping. It felt lazy and poorly written. The narrative was overly specific yet simultaneously hollow, including details that just felt unnecessary (like describing how she threw something in the bin or the size and sturdiness of a table???). Maybe I’m just dumb and completely missed the intellectual integrity of this book, but a lot of it felt juvenile and as if it was simply added to meet a word count. It was just so poorly written, I’m not entirely sure how I managed to finish it.
And the love interest, oh my goodness. I hate him, which is confusing since he is literally (a Walmart version of) Rhysand, Azriel and Casteel (…and Tamlin). And the MC… she’s actually an idiot. There were so many decisions made that just didn’t make sense and were obviously just tools to progress the plot (I use the word plot lightly, since there was NONE).
The end was SO infuriating. The book just randomly ended at the FIRST sign of conflict. I wasted hours of my life and feel like I only read the first quarter of a (very badly written) book. NOTHING HAPPENED. There was no world building or character development, no plot or conflict; I’m genuinely confused how this book is 300 pages.
I want to say DON'T READ THIS, but I think for my own sanity it would be beneficial to discuss this book with someone (maybe a therapist, but I'm not picky).
Read at your own risk!!!
willinsj's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
It’s just straight up plagiarism and wished it was ACOTAR
jadesreads's review against another edition
1.0
Won’t lie to you, I expected a bit better of this when I saw people say the main guy was essentially a mix of Rhys, Cas and Az.
Oh, how wrong I was for having hope.
The MC, Alys, literally just accepted everything. She didn’t stop to question anything, she always did as she was told and tried to add snarky remarks which just did not hit home. Alys was just such a bland character, no personality, nothing remotely interesting about her at all.
Asher goes from being an asshole who doesn’t care whether he’s hurting her to immediately being affectionate? There was no building whatsoever in my opinion, it felt like it went from one extreme to the other. Again, there was no attachment to this character. There was nothing that made me like nor dislike him, just an average meh.
The writing itself gave me more Wattpad vibes (not in a good way) and it was a struggle to get through. Despite its flaws, I found that I couldn’t just DNF it, I had to see it through to the end.
Oh, how wrong I was for having hope.
The MC, Alys, literally just accepted everything. She didn’t stop to question anything, she always did as she was told and tried to add snarky remarks which just did not hit home. Alys was just such a bland character, no personality, nothing remotely interesting about her at all.
Asher goes from being an asshole who doesn’t care whether he’s hurting her to immediately being affectionate? There was no building whatsoever in my opinion, it felt like it went from one extreme to the other. Again, there was no attachment to this character. There was nothing that made me like nor dislike him, just an average meh.
The writing itself gave me more Wattpad vibes (not in a good way) and it was a struggle to get through. Despite its flaws, I found that I couldn’t just DNF it, I had to see it through to the end.