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annarella's review against another edition
5.0
When I start a new Kerrylyin Sparks book I know that I will have a lot of fun, will read a well crafted story set in an interesting world.
This is a compelling and highly entertaining story, great characters and world building.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
This is a compelling and highly entertaining story, great characters and world building.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
bitchqueenhsgirl's review
2.0
When a princess proposes
Netgalley provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
If you have read my reviews till this moment, you know that I don't kiss asses, even if those asses gave me a free book.
I have read other books by this author, so I know her work. And the previous times I enjoyed it. This was not the case now.
Firstly, I have to admit that I haven't read other books from this series, so the experience wasn't full, however, the author made sure the reader knew the story.
Our characters in this book are Princess Evienne, and one of the kingdom's guards- Quentin. The personages know each other from before, and while Evie didn't notice the existence of Quentin, Quen was madly in love with her for 6 years.
After a humiliating moment at one of the kingdom's balls, Evie makes Quen preposition, which he declines. But after a surprise attack against the princess, the guard needs to reconsider his choice, cause both of them, along with friends, go on an adventure - seeking the person who caused the attack.
The book can be described with one word - frustrating. The whole experience of reading it was like torture. And the reason is simple - nothing happens. I felt like the book tried to bore me to hell. No spice (surprise, surprise), no romance (til like 50% of the book).
Don't get me wrong, the writing was wonderful, but the story was way too slow, and at times I wanted to skim over parts (which I never do)
The characters were mostly interesting and I liked reading about Quen, Olana, and Bran (these three were my favourites).
Evie - Jesus, this girl was so innocent and naive, it physically hurt my eyes to read her parts. I think her main treats were innocence and stubbornness. That's it. I can't believe she fell in love with Quen for less than a week.
Quen aka "The blasted man" - I actually liked his character. He was probably one of the most realistic and sane male characters (in a way of thinking) in the genre. He realised she found him attractive, and he knew she liked the sexual tension between them. And I think at the end the author did dirty to him - cause
Honourable mention to Bran - which story I would like to read, cause I found him really interesting.
The other characters in the books can be described with one word - confused. Cause every second word, coming out of their mouths was "what".
The sexual tension in the second part of the book was really hot, but the spicy scenes were underwhelming and disappointing.
I didn't like the end, and I was screaming at the book when. And the end felt too rushed when the other part of the book felt too slow.
So in the end, I am willing to give it 2 stars - one for Quen, and one for Bran, cause they truly got my heart.
Netgalley provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
If you have read my reviews till this moment, you know that I don't kiss asses, even if those asses gave me a free book.
I have read other books by this author, so I know her work. And the previous times I enjoyed it. This was not the case now.
Firstly, I have to admit that I haven't read other books from this series, so the experience wasn't full, however, the author made sure the reader knew the story.
Our characters in this book are Princess Evienne, and one of the kingdom's guards- Quentin. The personages know each other from before, and while Evie didn't notice the existence of Quentin, Quen was madly in love with her for 6 years.
After a humiliating moment at one of the kingdom's balls, Evie makes Quen preposition, which he declines. But after a surprise attack against the princess, the guard needs to reconsider his choice, cause both of them, along with friends, go on an adventure - seeking the person who caused the attack.
The book can be described with one word - frustrating. The whole experience of reading it was like torture. And the reason is simple - nothing happens. I felt like the book tried to bore me to hell. No spice (surprise, surprise), no romance (til like 50% of the book).
Don't get me wrong, the writing was wonderful, but the story was way too slow, and at times I wanted to skim over parts (which I never do)
The characters were mostly interesting and I liked reading about Quen, Olana, and Bran (these three were my favourites).
Evie - Jesus, this girl was so innocent and naive, it physically hurt my eyes to read her parts. I think her main treats were innocence and stubbornness. That's it. I can't believe she fell in love with Quen for less than a week.
Quen aka "The blasted man" - I actually liked his character. He was probably one of the most realistic and sane male characters (in a way of thinking) in the genre. He realised she found him attractive, and he knew she liked the sexual tension between them. And I think at the end the author did dirty to him - cause
Spoiler
their marriage was way too fast, and he acted way too desperately to have herHonourable mention to Bran - which story I would like to read, cause I found him really interesting.
Spoiler
And I was rooting for him and his brothers, so the end broke my heartThe other characters in the books can be described with one word - confused. Cause every second word, coming out of their mouths was "what".
The sexual tension in the second part of the book was really hot, but the spicy scenes were underwhelming and disappointing.
I didn't like the end, and I was screaming at the book when
Spoiler
The dumb bitch Eviana was caught in Bran's trap.So in the end, I am willing to give it 2 stars - one for Quen, and one for Bran, cause they truly got my heart.
ebgracie77's review against another edition
I’ll just say I make a terrible reviewer for advanced reader copies. These days, I only wanna read books that really appeal to me. And this book just was boring. Plus, Insta lust is almost never my thing.. I’m sure this book is fine for plenty of folks but it just didn’t grab my attention and I just don’t want to finish it. With so many great books in the world, this just isn’t worth my time. I made it about 40% in before stopping and now I’m going to stop trying to read avanced reader copies of books for authors I don’t know already.
loverofromance's review against another edition
4.0
This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance
This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.
First Impressions
I felt so blessed to be able to have been gifted this ARC from the publisher on this one here, I was so thrilled to see that Sparks decided to continue the series, and I didn’t know if she would or not, as there has been a long length of time since the last one in the series “The Siren and the Deep Blue Sea” What we get with this one though, is a continuation of the series that features the children of the couples in the first five books of the Embraced series. I was really fascinated by this one here though, and I adored the cover of this one here too. This was quite an interesting story though, and even though I didn’t quite love it like some of the previous books, it was still a solid story. And it features some fun tropes such as “road trip adventure” and “unrequited love” which are two of my favorites. I don’t get a chance to read road trip adventures too often, but I was in love with the way that this one was written and seeing this romance blossom.
Summary
Princess Eviana has always felt like the black sheep where her gift is concerned. She is the daughter of Luciana and Leo, but her gift is dangerous and many fear what she would do with it. Even her family has kept her shielded and locked away. But now she is of age to marry and is now able to venture out in the world, Then enters our hero, Quentin, who is valuable but he is also low born and has loved Eviana for years but has stayed in the shadows, yearning for a woman he can never have. But when he reaches out to protect her and reveals the true intents of her suitors at a ball, secrets of the royal family are revealed but becomes a turning point for Eviana to be herself and find the freedom to fly her wings from her overprotective family. When there are suspicious deaths happening and the princess is almost taken captive, Eviana and Quentin begin a journey together in discovering the true intent of the villain, and they discover their enemy wishes to destroy all fo the embraced. That the peace that has been cultivated for years, could be lost. But will Quentin’s secret be revealed in trying to protect her here? Will his love be revealed and when it does will Eviana fight for the man who deserves a HEA just as she does?
What I Loved
There were so many things to this story that I was all the way in for. I was so stunned by the way that this author wrote this unrequited love. I absolutely adore unrequited love and it was done so well here. And I really respected that Sparks didn’t drag it all the way out. Eviana learns of it and even though there is this forbidden love, with their class difference, Eviana becomes such a fighter for the relationship. She knows what they have together is powerful and worth fighting for. Seeing Eviana go about attempting to court Quentin, was beyond adorable. I understood where Quentin was coming from though. I understand why he didn’t feel he was worthy of her, but Eviana doesn’t see it that way. Quentin has protected her for years and sees who she really is when her own family doesn’t see the power and passion she is capable of and what a leader she is. Quentin understands Eviana and only wants her to break free and show what she is capable of and doesn’t stand in her way when it matters to her. The plot of the story was well done and we do get a POV from the villain so that was really interesting. I was intrigued by the way this story was built and what was hinted at for future books. The romance between Quentin and Eviana was beautiful, and so many sweet and sexy moments were built. The chemistry was well done, but it is more slowly built due to the forbidden nature of the relationship and Quentin being so resistant to them being together. But seeing their HEA and how they achieve it …well it was just BEAUTIFUL IN EVERY WAY!
What I Struggled With
I will say that the pacing is the only real aspect to this story that could have been improved upon. It’s what kept it from a five-star read for me, it just didn’t quite engage me quite as much as I was expecting considering the last book in the series completely I couldn’t put down.
Overall View
When A Princess Proposes was a magnificent read, that combines themes that are built within this fantastical world that Sparks has grown so beautifully. It’s a story of adventure, hidden love, and embracing one’s self!
This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.
First Impressions
I felt so blessed to be able to have been gifted this ARC from the publisher on this one here, I was so thrilled to see that Sparks decided to continue the series, and I didn’t know if she would or not, as there has been a long length of time since the last one in the series “The Siren and the Deep Blue Sea” What we get with this one though, is a continuation of the series that features the children of the couples in the first five books of the Embraced series. I was really fascinated by this one here though, and I adored the cover of this one here too. This was quite an interesting story though, and even though I didn’t quite love it like some of the previous books, it was still a solid story. And it features some fun tropes such as “road trip adventure” and “unrequited love” which are two of my favorites. I don’t get a chance to read road trip adventures too often, but I was in love with the way that this one was written and seeing this romance blossom.
Summary
Princess Eviana has always felt like the black sheep where her gift is concerned. She is the daughter of Luciana and Leo, but her gift is dangerous and many fear what she would do with it. Even her family has kept her shielded and locked away. But now she is of age to marry and is now able to venture out in the world, Then enters our hero, Quentin, who is valuable but he is also low born and has loved Eviana for years but has stayed in the shadows, yearning for a woman he can never have. But when he reaches out to protect her and reveals the true intents of her suitors at a ball, secrets of the royal family are revealed but becomes a turning point for Eviana to be herself and find the freedom to fly her wings from her overprotective family. When there are suspicious deaths happening and the princess is almost taken captive, Eviana and Quentin begin a journey together in discovering the true intent of the villain, and they discover their enemy wishes to destroy all fo the embraced. That the peace that has been cultivated for years, could be lost. But will Quentin’s secret be revealed in trying to protect her here? Will his love be revealed and when it does will Eviana fight for the man who deserves a HEA just as she does?
What I Loved
There were so many things to this story that I was all the way in for. I was so stunned by the way that this author wrote this unrequited love. I absolutely adore unrequited love and it was done so well here. And I really respected that Sparks didn’t drag it all the way out. Eviana learns of it and even though there is this forbidden love, with their class difference, Eviana becomes such a fighter for the relationship. She knows what they have together is powerful and worth fighting for. Seeing Eviana go about attempting to court Quentin, was beyond adorable. I understood where Quentin was coming from though. I understand why he didn’t feel he was worthy of her, but Eviana doesn’t see it that way. Quentin has protected her for years and sees who she really is when her own family doesn’t see the power and passion she is capable of and what a leader she is. Quentin understands Eviana and only wants her to break free and show what she is capable of and doesn’t stand in her way when it matters to her. The plot of the story was well done and we do get a POV from the villain so that was really interesting. I was intrigued by the way this story was built and what was hinted at for future books. The romance between Quentin and Eviana was beautiful, and so many sweet and sexy moments were built. The chemistry was well done, but it is more slowly built due to the forbidden nature of the relationship and Quentin being so resistant to them being together. But seeing their HEA and how they achieve it …well it was just BEAUTIFUL IN EVERY WAY!
What I Struggled With
I will say that the pacing is the only real aspect to this story that could have been improved upon. It’s what kept it from a five-star read for me, it just didn’t quite engage me quite as much as I was expecting considering the last book in the series completely I couldn’t put down.
Overall View
When A Princess Proposes was a magnificent read, that combines themes that are built within this fantastical world that Sparks has grown so beautifully. It’s a story of adventure, hidden love, and embracing one’s self!
tanyad74's review
3.0
This review was originally posted at Rantings of a Reading Addict
When a Princess Proposes jumps 20 years and features the children of the original 5 "sisters" and some of the children rescued from the Isle of Secrets. This book features Eviana, Luciana and Leo's daughter. She has been very protected and basically hidden away in the castle. Evie's parents have been having balls, trying to introduce her to suitors. The one thing that must stay hidden is Evie's powers.
Quentin is one of those children that was rescued from the Isle and now uses his skill of changing into a bird to be a spy for the different countries. He feels beneath the others, set apart from the families as if he were lower class. He is in love with Evie, but believes he will never have her because he is not worthy of a princess.
Despite the Seer's first prediction that the Aerthlan would be safe for many years, she is now seeing a dark, dangerous cloud coming. It starts out with some Embraced disappearing in small towns in ways that no one would really expect it was because they were Embraced, but Quentin puts it together and starts an investigation. Then Princess Eviana is attacked on her trip to Norveshka to visit her aunt. To save the barge and the men aboard, she decides she can't hide her power any longer. Her power knocks everyone within range out. However, it also knocks out the men on the barge, so she jumps into the water to try and get away from the attackers before they wake.
This starts the adventure to find out who is killing the Embraced as well as who was trying to take Eviana. She refuses to be left out and thinks she can use the time to win over Quentin.
I enjoyed the adventure the group was on. The plan didn't always go as planned and needed to be adjusted a few times. The Brotherhood had spies everywhere and no one knew who they could trust. The spies they had were all Embraced so it was hard to know who to trust. There were a lot of surprises and that aspect of the story kept me reading.
The whole storyline of Evie and Quentin was just a bit too immature and silly for me. It took away from the adventure and had many cringey moments. I admit I skimmed some of those scenes. It did get to a happy ending, but I was more impressed with the way everyone conquered the Brotherhood versus the resolution of the romance portion. I don't see it classified as such, but I would more likely put this in a new adult category.
However, if you just want a fluffy, easy read, this could definitely work. It does skimp a bit on world-building, but not badly. It is to be expected when it is book six in a series. But since it is generation skip, you can definitely get by without the previous books.
When a Princess Proposes jumps 20 years and features the children of the original 5 "sisters" and some of the children rescued from the Isle of Secrets. This book features Eviana, Luciana and Leo's daughter. She has been very protected and basically hidden away in the castle. Evie's parents have been having balls, trying to introduce her to suitors. The one thing that must stay hidden is Evie's powers.
Quentin is one of those children that was rescued from the Isle and now uses his skill of changing into a bird to be a spy for the different countries. He feels beneath the others, set apart from the families as if he were lower class. He is in love with Evie, but believes he will never have her because he is not worthy of a princess.
Despite the Seer's first prediction that the Aerthlan would be safe for many years, she is now seeing a dark, dangerous cloud coming. It starts out with some Embraced disappearing in small towns in ways that no one would really expect it was because they were Embraced, but Quentin puts it together and starts an investigation. Then Princess Eviana is attacked on her trip to Norveshka to visit her aunt. To save the barge and the men aboard, she decides she can't hide her power any longer. Her power knocks everyone within range out. However, it also knocks out the men on the barge, so she jumps into the water to try and get away from the attackers before they wake.
This starts the adventure to find out who is killing the Embraced as well as who was trying to take Eviana. She refuses to be left out and thinks she can use the time to win over Quentin.
I enjoyed the adventure the group was on. The plan didn't always go as planned and needed to be adjusted a few times. The Brotherhood had spies everywhere and no one knew who they could trust. The spies they had were all Embraced so it was hard to know who to trust. There were a lot of surprises and that aspect of the story kept me reading.
The whole storyline of Evie and Quentin was just a bit too immature and silly for me. It took away from the adventure and had many cringey moments. I admit I skimmed some of those scenes. It did get to a happy ending, but I was more impressed with the way everyone conquered the Brotherhood versus the resolution of the romance portion. I don't see it classified as such, but I would more likely put this in a new adult category.
However, if you just want a fluffy, easy read, this could definitely work. It does skimp a bit on world-building, but not badly. It is to be expected when it is book six in a series. But since it is generation skip, you can definitely get by without the previous books.
ladymeowmix's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed When a Princess Proposes - as I do all of Sparks' books - right up until the end.
It was going really good with the plot, the pacing and then the ending just felt kind of rushed? We went from the Brotherhood having these grand plans, to capturing the Queen - okay, good move. But the rescue of the Queen and how literally Evie has gone her entire *life* with her powers being deemed 'dangerous' to suddenly daddy supports it, use it? And two, three pages and suddenly everything is "over" and happily ever after??? That was kind of disappointing to me. I wish there had been a bit more to it - a little more of a struggle, or even more of an argument over the use of her powers to help save her mother. Something!
Otherwise, enjoyable, quick read as always!
It was going really good with the plot, the pacing and then the ending just felt kind of rushed? We went from the Brotherhood having these grand plans, to capturing the Queen - okay, good move. But the rescue of the Queen and how literally Evie has gone her entire *life* with her powers being deemed 'dangerous' to suddenly daddy supports it, use it? And two, three pages and suddenly everything is "over" and happily ever after??? That was kind of disappointing to me. I wish there had been a bit more to it - a little more of a struggle, or even more of an argument over the use of her powers to help save her mother. Something!
Otherwise, enjoyable, quick read as always!
ceng1018's review
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Slow story. I wanted to slap the main characters for their thinking. Not a book I would recommend
yoko's review
4.0
I was fascinated by the fairytale like world build in the novel. I quickly feel in love and couldn’t wait to see how Quentin and Eviana relationship would develop. We got the right amount on misunderstanding, cheesy lines to swoon over, and a dash o spicy to to make this romance complete.
This fast passed novel was truly a delight, even after discovering mid-reading that this is part of a series. Must have slipped when was perusing what to read. Most importantly my reading and understanding of the story was not altered, probably those that have read would be glad to see characters they know already. However, it can be read as a standalone easily.
I also found refreshing that we have author that understand characters are people! I mean that go to the toilet, eat, sleep. Makes their journey from place to place more real. As real as a book with gifted people that can shift to animal, trip you or confess your most guarded secret could get.
Copy provided by NetGalley.
This fast passed novel was truly a delight, even after discovering mid-reading that this is part of a series. Must have slipped when was perusing what to read. Most importantly my reading and understanding of the story was not altered, probably those that have read would be glad to see characters they know already. However, it can be read as a standalone easily.
I also found refreshing that we have author that understand characters are people! I mean that go to the toilet, eat, sleep. Makes their journey from place to place more real. As real as a book with gifted people that can shift to animal, trip you or confess your most guarded secret could get.
Copy provided by NetGalley.
sanctuary's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0