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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
i played a cruel trick on my favourite person (me) by reading this. absolutely very much not my thing. thought it would be -- seemed silly fun. instead it's ridiculously obvious, rather boring, and tbh you can call this at about 10% in. romantasy gets a bad rep from ruth....and it deserves it
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
This was a decent book. I liked the writing and the story was enjoyable. I did not care for the romance between the two main characters. After three days, they were saying how deeply in love they were. There was no chemistry between the characters at all. I also didn't like how predictable everything was. As the reader, you know who the antagonist is from the get-go. But it was fast-paced and I liked it for what it was.
This one’s for the My Lady Jane fans who are upset that Amazon cancelled the show after its first season (me).
A surprisingly good time. Funny, lots of horse puns, and some of my fav tropes. Surprisingly well written (ok vocabulary!), everything plot wise wrapped up very well. I perhaps could have done with a little bit more pining and build up with the romance (pacing felt a little rushed given a 6 day timeline to go from enemies to lovers) but sometimes you know what you’re getting into and you just have to accept it.
A surprisingly good time. Funny, lots of horse puns, and some of my fav tropes. Surprisingly well written (ok vocabulary!), everything plot wise wrapped up very well. I perhaps could have done with a little bit more pining and build up with the romance (pacing felt a little rushed given a 6 day timeline to go from enemies to lovers) but sometimes you know what you’re getting into and you just have to accept it.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
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
4.75 ⭐ for how much fun I had with this one!
I’ve been excited for Behooved since I read the summary of this book earlier this year. I was so ready for this Shrek adjacent fairytale with Swan Lake + Beauty and the Beast elements. I was hoping it would be an unserious, yet still fun and romantic adventure… and it ✨DELIVERED✨. Behooved was exactly what I expected: absolutely silly, with a decent plotline, really fun characters, and a cute romance—it was such a palate cleanser after reading one too many broody enemies-to-lovers romantasy books lately.
The humor in this worked well for me, but I think it may not work for everyone. It has the type of humor I’ve been craving from a book. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and when situations turn too tense, some type of near comical development will occur. This doesn’t happen for EVERY serious scene, but more for scenes that would have felt out of place staying tense for too long—such as violent scenes, or conflicts involving multiple characters. The main couple still get their serious moments, and get to explore their relationship and clear up misunderstandings with the care that those scenes deserve.
I loved the chronic illness rep—it’s very much needed in more fantasy titles!
Onto some of the things that weren’t my favorite:
The magic system felt a bit vague to me. Even now, I’m a bit unsure whether the magic system is the same between countries and just used + interpreted differently by the opposing culture? Those from Gildenheim view magic as wild/cyclical/an exchange of sorts, while Damarian Adept magic is used for technology such as weapons. However—while cool if this was just different interpretations of the same magic, this also made the parameters of their abilities even more confusing for a reader, since nobody could agree on what magic was. And blood magic, while part of Gildenheim’s practices, felt like a third magic system thrown in at times.
The mystery plot is pretty predictable in this. However, this didn’t impede my enjoyment of the book, since the mystery isn’t why I picked it up. Spoilers—The author stresses through the character's thoughts/narration that the perpetrator could be person A, B, C or D… but outright ignores the possibility that it could be person E, F, or G (etcetera etcetera). While this could be because Bianca is a good person and isn’t willing to consider certain people as suspects, I think it would have been better to fairly consider everyone as a suspect. Ignoring certain characters made them stand out more. Especially when it came to people Bianca had NO REASON to trust. Like, that one guy outright tells Marya, “I’ve been sending out sensitive messages since before you could talk” and we’re supposed to trust him … why? He’s saying right to your face he’s been sending encrypted conversations to your country this whole time... Bianca... Girl... 😭
The assassin beingJulieta was fine; the problem I had was that she was easily accepted back into Bianca’s service, without letting Aric be part of that decision. Wouldn’t he be the one to have final say? It was his life she was after, no matter the intentions, lol. This instance was one of the only occasions I wished the plot was a bit more serious at times, but all is well.
One final thing—as a preorder bonus, the epilogue (taking place one year after the events of the book) was sent via email. The epilogue was fine, but this exclusive tidbit was the only part of text to acknowledge that Bianca was suffering fromher diet outside of the authors’ note. I wish this was fact was acknowledged somewhere within the text of the main book, as there’s plot points that discuss her “poisoning herself” leading the reader to believe that she and Aric could find out what was wrong with her together… and then it just doesn’t happen in the main text of the standalone novel.
Tldr; despite my criticisms, I had a wonderful time with this book—it’s lighthearted, funny, romantic, and also a quick read! I would happily read a sequel to Behooved, or anything else this author puts out after this book.
I’ve been excited for Behooved since I read the summary of this book earlier this year. I was so ready for this Shrek adjacent fairytale with Swan Lake + Beauty and the Beast elements. I was hoping it would be an unserious, yet still fun and romantic adventure… and it ✨DELIVERED✨. Behooved was exactly what I expected: absolutely silly, with a decent plotline, really fun characters, and a cute romance—it was such a palate cleanser after reading one too many broody enemies-to-lovers romantasy books lately.
The humor in this worked well for me, but I think it may not work for everyone. It has the type of humor I’ve been craving from a book. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and when situations turn too tense, some type of near comical development will occur. This doesn’t happen for EVERY serious scene, but more for scenes that would have felt out of place staying tense for too long—such as violent scenes, or conflicts involving multiple characters. The main couple still get their serious moments, and get to explore their relationship and clear up misunderstandings with the care that those scenes deserve.
I loved the chronic illness rep—it’s very much needed in more fantasy titles!
Onto some of the things that weren’t my favorite:
The magic system felt a bit vague to me. Even now, I’m a bit unsure whether the magic system is the same between countries and just used + interpreted differently by the opposing culture? Those from Gildenheim view magic as wild/cyclical/an exchange of sorts, while Damarian Adept magic is used for technology such as weapons. However—while cool if this was just different interpretations of the same magic, this also made the parameters of their abilities even more confusing for a reader, since nobody could agree on what magic was. And blood magic, while part of Gildenheim’s practices, felt like a third magic system thrown in at times.
The mystery plot is pretty predictable in this. However, this didn’t impede my enjoyment of the book, since the mystery isn’t why I picked it up. Spoilers—
The assassin being
One final thing—as a preorder bonus, the epilogue (taking place one year after the events of the book) was sent via email. The epilogue was fine, but this exclusive tidbit was the only part of text to acknowledge that Bianca was suffering from
Tldr; despite my criticisms, I had a wonderful time with this book—it’s lighthearted, funny, romantic, and also a quick read! I would happily read a sequel to Behooved, or anything else this author puts out after this book.
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
I knew the basic premise going into this one, but I was most definitely not prepared for how good it was! The writing is absolutely lovely--snappy, witty, rich in worldbuilding. The magic system was so interesting (and I usually don't give a hoot about magic systems). And the horse puns. HILARIOUS. Fantastic rep with Bianca's chronic illness. And we get queer rep, with both Bianca and her sister! If you've been thinking about picking this one up, please do--I need to scream about it with somebody!
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
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