Reviews with content warning for Drug use - A Deal with the Elf King

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A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova

32 reviews

katharina90's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Everything--worldbuilding, plot, characters, relationships, you name it--was really underdeveloped, the pace dragged, and the writing was mediocre at best. I liked the herbalism and the wolf, but not much else.

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tguccione's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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

4.25

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druzyquartz's review

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emotional hopeful 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? Yes

3.75

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annick's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.75

Oof. I wanted to like this. I don’t recommend.

I found this so disappointing. This had promise. I got bored again and again. I struggled to feel interest or engagement with the characters.

And was skimming from 40% and again from 70%. Too much padded inner narrative and reflection. The writing of plot, dialogue and inner POV narrative - each struggled to keep my interest. I only wondered if it started as fanfic. It would have been better as a short story or novella of 1/5 this le gtg. And The spice was veiled.

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shadereads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

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itsnotalakeitsanocean's review

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I'm surprised I ended up liking this as much as I did considering I'm not normally one to reach for romantic fantasy books. It's by no means anything groundbreaking but if you're looking to get into the genre it's a solid pick. Now, as usual, here's a list of things that made me rate it so lowly if I supposedly liked it:

I felt the book itself could have been a bit longer to develop the romance slightly more. It feels a bit rushed to the point I managed to predict when the main couple would kiss 3 pages before it actually happened.
The magic system is very vague and apart from "oh x species can do y magic" I don't really know how it works. Also this is a personal gripe but I feel like the fae and elf magic types should have been swapped around seeing how
rituamancy is the magic that ends up saving the day
.
The use of modern day idioms and such took me out. Specifically Willow and some of the other characters calling Hook "the goodest boy".
Everyone needs to stop chuckling and smirking so much in response to anything mildly amusing!

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spaghettii's review

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adventurous emotional lighthearted 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? It's complicated

3.0

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katanai's review

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emotional funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.75

listen... i enjoyed it all. i found myself turning page after page & not wanting to put it down. i loved it i'm so srs. i loved that our mc wasn't some damsel in distress that's a pushover. mc was determined & i love that for her. i loved the pace too! not too fast, but not slow... just perfect. the sorta enemies to lovers... <33 loved it. i think it was everything i needed from a romance book & i'm glad it's the first romance book i've read after a break. loved the world building - like it wasn't too much or overwhelming & it's just wonderful. i loved it. ya.

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beckyyreadss's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book has been on my TBR for a while, and it was on my wishlist so it was bought for me for my birthday this week. This book was all over the book community when it was released, and I was looking forward to reading it. For a first book, it was a bit weak, and I was wanting more.

This book is based on Luella, she thought she’d known everything about her life and herself, but it is all a lie. Three thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young moan from Luella’s village to be their Human Queen. To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the local townsfolk. Luella has dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town’s only healer, but now the Elf King unexpectedly arrives for her. Luella is forced to be the new queen to a cold yet blisteringly handsome Elf King. Once there, she learns about a dying world that only she can save. The magical land of Midscape pulls on one corner of her heart, her home and people on another . . . but what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted.

This book had such potential to be amazing and it just fell flat in some areas. I know that this was the first novel in the series, but that is supposed to get you hooked and keep you hooked. This book had something in it which I'm blaming entirely on wanting to know these brothers more – Eldas, Harrow and the other brother who only appeared to more the story along. The brothers are the reason I read to the end. Harrow was all dark and mysterious and broken which is what we girls love to love. Eldas was a typical broken male who had a heart of gold in the middle. I will admit I was rooting that Lucella would fall in love with Harrow rather than Eldas, but the love story was the main concentration and to save the Lucella from dying. Luke was a complete asshole and I'm glad he wasn’t the focus of this story.

The world building didn’t feel complete, and it could have been done over the 300 pages. I enjoyed the enemies to lovers with the forced marriage aspect, but also felt could have been more. I feel like if there was dual POV, this could have been the thing to solve this. I felt like it went from Eldas treating her as property to loving her within a couple of chapters, what changed? He saw her as more than the human queen, I don’t know.

I loved the aspect of retelling beauty and the beast, and I will probably read the next one in the series, but I just wanted more from this book.

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bookcheshirecat's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

“The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death.”

➽ Elise Kova writes great, steamy Fantasy Romances! A Deal with the Elf King is about Luella, a healer who is dedicated to her town, but finds out that she is the Chosen Bride of the Elf King. She's got powerful life magic in her veins that she didn't know about, so in order to fulfil the treaty with the elves, she has no choice but to go to their homeland. Eldas, the handsome Elf King is dark and brooding, but Luella isn't about to submit so easily. I liked her determination and love for healing others, even when things are difficult! Meanwhile, Eldas seems like a cold-hearted, merciless king, but there is more to him than meets the eye. I liked their slowburn romance, this was a great Hades and Persephone retelling!

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