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siglerbooknook's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
I think this might be my favorite romance I've ever read. This book felt like a mix between Cinderella and Thumbelina.
Katria is an immediately loveable leading lady with a Cinderella feel. Davien is the perfect balance of brooding, powerful, and genuinely good. It was so nice to read a romance with a leading man who is actually romantic and not morally gray and dangerous all the time.
The side characters in this book are absolutely adorable and loveable. Kova perfectly captures the quippy comic relief, the beauty of inner strength, and perseverance despite fear.
I adored that this story didn't rely on miscommunication or selfishness to create conflict. Davien and Katria spend so much of the book truly learning and growing together that it was refreshing to read. Even the spicy scenes weren't over the top. They fit the story and didn't take away from the plot.
Kova did an amazing job keeping her character growth believable. I enjoyed that Davien had been training as a warrior his whole life and Shaye was a trained warrior. I also truly appreciated that Katria didn't lose all of her feminity to find her strength. Her strength enhanced her character.
There are some grammar and spelling errors throughout the book. The plot twists are definitely easy to spot, but the way Kova handled them was incredibly enjoyable. I didn't have it in me to rate this anything less than 5 stars. I haven't loved a new book this much since childhood.
Katria is an immediately loveable leading lady with a Cinderella feel. Davien is the perfect balance of brooding, powerful, and genuinely good. It was so nice to read a romance with a leading man who is actually romantic and not morally gray and dangerous all the time.
The side characters in this book are absolutely adorable and loveable. Kova perfectly captures the quippy comic relief, the beauty of inner strength, and perseverance despite fear.
I adored that this story didn't rely on miscommunication or selfishness to create conflict. Davien and Katria spend so much of the book truly learning and growing together that it was refreshing to read. Even the spicy scenes weren't over the top. They fit the story and didn't take away from the plot.
Kova did an amazing job keeping her character growth believable. I enjoyed that Davien had been training as a warrior his whole life and Shaye was a trained warrior. I also truly appreciated that Katria didn't lose all of her feminity to find her strength. Her strength enhanced her character.
There are some grammar and spelling errors throughout the book. The plot twists are definitely easy to spot, but the way Kova handled them was incredibly enjoyable. I didn't have it in me to rate this anything less than 5 stars. I haven't loved a new book this much since childhood.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, and Abandonment
Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Sexual content
Minor: Confinement, Slavery, Death of parent, Murder, and Physical abuse
parkerkg's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
If you're a fan of Elise Kova's work, you'll enjoy this one, too--though it does struggle a bit more than some of her others do with character logic and plot reveals. There were times where it felt like Katria's emotional backstory/issues reared its head abruptly and others where it seems like it was too easily dismissed to speed up the romance, which made the relationship development feel a bit too jerky. The plot twist could also be seen from a mile away--even before she leaves for Midscape (the scars on her back? The "mysterious" book and Fae songs that came from her mother, who mysteriously dies with little other known detail?). I also wish the reveal on the scene from her youth on the roof had been handled a little more smoothly--there's a lot of hinting toward it throughout the book, but the red herring attempt felt a little flat. Maybe because the idea of cauterizing a deep wound from "falling off the roof" with a ~shovel~ didn't seem to make that much sense until the later reveal comes around?
The ultimate outcome from that scene also hits weird because of the implications it has for her father and his role in what happened in that moment. We don't really get to see her come to terms with her feelings about him (if it changes how she feels about him at all as Katria's written, not quite clear tbh), and if anything, it might have worked better to have this moment as more of a mid-plot reveal to create some space for Katria to process it. This reveal would also give greater depth/meaning to her issues with love and what it can lead seemingly otherwise good people to do to themselves/others. But maybe it's easier to say that in hindsight.
Overall, worth a read if you're into the Married to Magic series and looking for something relatively quick to read. It has all the usual hallmarks --enemies (ish) to lovers, found family, traumatized heroines that dally with Mary Sue tropes, and a HEA.
The ultimate outcome from that scene also hits weird because of the implications it has for her father and his role in what happened in that moment. We don't really get to see her come to terms with her feelings about him (if it changes how she feels about him at all as Katria's written, not quite clear tbh), and if anything, it might have worked better to have this moment as more of a mid-plot reveal to create some space for Katria to process it. This reveal would also give greater depth/meaning to her issues with love and what it can lead seemingly otherwise good people to do to themselves/others. But maybe it's easier to say that in hindsight.
Overall, worth a read if you're into the Married to Magic series and looking for something relatively quick to read. It has all the usual hallmarks --enemies (ish) to lovers, found family, traumatized heroines that dally with Mary Sue tropes, and a HEA.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Child abuse, Abandonment, and Bullying
Bit more visceral descriptions of child abuse in the latter third of the book remembered by the main character from her childhood:abrich's review
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Gaslighting, Murder, and Sexual content
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