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sjb86's review against another edition
5.0
Book one in new The Crystal Kingdom Sweet and Clean for YA series by Milly Taiden
Kaia, Jen and Avery are a bff and have been for a very long time each was given a piece of jewellery with a unusual weird jem.
Kaia is camping with her bff and suddenly wakes up in a dungeon with a terrified child.
That where she learns about Fae Goblins Trolls and fairies.
Jerrek is Fae king and is struggling with his curse of the Fae king his inner demon called gryphon, it takes over Jerrek and kills people near him but after meeting Kaia Jerrek learns to talk to his demon and they come to an agreement especially when they both agree she there mate.
I absolutely love Milly Taiden especially PDA series but this is different for me because it’s for YA audience but still massively enjoyed the story just as much.
I can not wait for next book in series and find out what’s happened to Jen and Avery.
Kaia, Jen and Avery are a bff and have been for a very long time each was given a piece of jewellery with a unusual weird jem.
Kaia is camping with her bff and suddenly wakes up in a dungeon with a terrified child.
That where she learns about Fae Goblins Trolls and fairies.
Jerrek is Fae king and is struggling with his curse of the Fae king his inner demon called gryphon, it takes over Jerrek and kills people near him but after meeting Kaia Jerrek learns to talk to his demon and they come to an agreement especially when they both agree she there mate.
I absolutely love Milly Taiden especially PDA series but this is different for me because it’s for YA audience but still massively enjoyed the story just as much.
I can not wait for next book in series and find out what’s happened to Jen and Avery.
fairytale42's review
1.0
Did the other readers read the same book? This had so many problems, this review is going to end up being a list. I couldn't even finish this because it was the stupidest thing I've ever read.
For starters, this was most definitely NOT clean by the majority standard. The author mentions sex (not explicit scenes, but still), pokes fun at a naked man, and the dialogue/body language between Jerreck and Kaia is described way too much. They clearly "want" each other, and I would never let a child read this. I'd barely let a teenager read this.
Secondly (and what ticked me off almost as much as the first point), nearly the entirety of what I read was all "telling." There was no subtle handling of anything, really. Neither Jerreck's nor Kaia's actions were meant to stand for themselves. They had to include some form of line indicating how much they hated injustice or wanted to do the right thing. The "curse" that Jerreck suffered through almost got out of this, but Kaia later explained it because she'd read some sort of book about it (although she mentioned that so late that I thought she'd been in some sort of fantasy world before - highly confusing). Everything had to be explicitly explained the reader, making me feel like a child who was being spoon-fed. While writing some things with a more direct explaination can be done well, it wasn't in this case. The author pushed their characters' goodness an the overall plotline in the reader's face, expecting them to take it and appreciate it. There was no literary merit to her writing style, unfortunately.
Thirdly, the dialogue was flat, childish, and full of unnecessary profanity. Kaia's language was the only one that felt somewhat natural. The rest all clearly had some sort of agenda towards the plot, and thus, felt stilted. It never felt natural. It was like watching somewhat write their first-ever draft of a story, only to leave it without any editing. And might I add, the dialogue of the fae and other creatures included human curse words, so not only was it profane, it was inaccurately profane, as I'm assuming the other world and the human world would not share much of the same slang.
Fourthly, the plot felt silly. Jerreck never seemed to have any other duties beyond finding the missing people (never mind that he was the king of an entire country and should have had all sorts of responsibilities especially concerning other nations), and Kaia and her friends magically had the same sort of necklace/bracelet/whatever so they ALL could fit into the plot because of course if they all go to the woods they have to be included. Back to Jerreck's problem, everything included with Kaia's kidnapping and him finding her felt too contrived to even be remotely possible, even though, yes, it's fantasy and of course it's not possible. I will suspend disbelief for as long as I can, but this book found my limits apparently.
Lastly, the formatting felt wrong. The chapters ended without warning or reason, and the switches between Jerreck's and Kaia's chapters happened without any sort of pattern. I also didn't understand why there had to be such switches in the first place - most of the time, the story could stay in one person's perspective without needing the other's, but I guess the reader just HAD to know that the mating bond or whatever thing was going with Jerreck and Kaia both.
Overall, this book is NOT clean, NOT well-written, and most definitely NOT worth your time. I enjoyed what the author started with, and I hope that I can read and enjoy something from her in the future, but this book is not it. M. Taiden, I mean no disrespect towards you personally, but this book was not what I was looking for.
For starters, this was most definitely NOT clean by the majority standard. The author mentions sex (not explicit scenes, but still), pokes fun at a naked man, and the dialogue/body language between Jerreck and Kaia is described way too much. They clearly "want" each other, and I would never let a child read this. I'd barely let a teenager read this.
Secondly (and what ticked me off almost as much as the first point), nearly the entirety of what I read was all "telling." There was no subtle handling of anything, really. Neither Jerreck's nor Kaia's actions were meant to stand for themselves. They had to include some form of line indicating how much they hated injustice or wanted to do the right thing. The "curse" that Jerreck suffered through almost got out of this, but Kaia later explained it because she'd read some sort of book about it (although she mentioned that so late that I thought she'd been in some sort of fantasy world before - highly confusing). Everything had to be explicitly explained the reader, making me feel like a child who was being spoon-fed. While writing some things with a more direct explaination can be done well, it wasn't in this case. The author pushed their characters' goodness an the overall plotline in the reader's face, expecting them to take it and appreciate it. There was no literary merit to her writing style, unfortunately.
Thirdly, the dialogue was flat, childish, and full of unnecessary profanity. Kaia's language was the only one that felt somewhat natural. The rest all clearly had some sort of agenda towards the plot, and thus, felt stilted. It never felt natural. It was like watching somewhat write their first-ever draft of a story, only to leave it without any editing. And might I add, the dialogue of the fae and other creatures included human curse words, so not only was it profane, it was inaccurately profane, as I'm assuming the other world and the human world would not share much of the same slang.
Fourthly, the plot felt silly. Jerreck never seemed to have any other duties beyond finding the missing people (never mind that he was the king of an entire country and should have had all sorts of responsibilities especially concerning other nations), and Kaia and her friends magically had the same sort of necklace/bracelet/whatever so they ALL could fit into the plot because of course if they all go to the woods they have to be included. Back to Jerreck's problem, everything included with Kaia's kidnapping and him finding her felt too contrived to even be remotely possible, even though, yes, it's fantasy and of course it's not possible. I will suspend disbelief for as long as I can, but this book found my limits apparently.
Lastly, the formatting felt wrong. The chapters ended without warning or reason, and the switches between Jerreck's and Kaia's chapters happened without any sort of pattern. I also didn't understand why there had to be such switches in the first place - most of the time, the story could stay in one person's perspective without needing the other's, but I guess the reader just HAD to know that the mating bond or whatever thing was going with Jerreck and Kaia both.
Overall, this book is NOT clean, NOT well-written, and most definitely NOT worth your time. I enjoyed what the author started with, and I hope that I can read and enjoy something from her in the future, but this book is not it. M. Taiden, I mean no disrespect towards you personally, but this book was not what I was looking for.
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