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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
medium-paced
First, I would like to thank Harper Voyager and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of this book. I found myself conflicted while rating it. I really enjoyed the characters and their development, as well as the representation throughout the story. However, I felt that the plot fell a bit flat for me.
The book follows Princess Clía, who enrolls in a military academy to win back her betrothal and secure her kingdom’s future after her engagement is broken off. At the same academy, Warrior Ronan is trying to stay focused but is often distracted by Princess Clía. While the premise of the plot sounded exciting, I think the pacing throughout the book ultimately diminished my enjoyment. There were moments when the story was engaging, but there were also times when it felt slow, with repetitive situations occurring.
If you enjoy character-driven stories with great world-building, along with queer and disability representation, you will likely appreciate this narrative. The story offers a new and refreshing perspective.
Thank you again to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-ARC of this book!
please buckle in for a heaping serving of mixed signals, direct from my thoughts to your screen! i had an incredibly hard time rating this book for a multitude of reasons – it was a decent read overall, but i had incredibly high expectations that weren’t met, it’s marketed as adult but i feel like it reads more as YA – you get the gist. there’s a lot at play here! that doesn’t even get into the fact that i, myself, am a certified legally blonde superfan. so much so that my girlfriend made fun of me for quoting lines multiple times before characters even uttered them. needless to say, this book felt like it should be made for me.
i do want to start off by saying that i think this is a unique narrative with well-rounded worldbuilding. i really appreciated seeing autistic & chronic pain rep in a queernormative world – i thought these were really well done! the representation was lovingly woven into the story and characters without feeling clunky or overwrought, which isn’t always easy to do. unfortunately, for me personally, the age of the characters in this story is where they really started to lose me.
as this is categorized and marketed as an adult book (and judging based on the appearance of the characters on the cover), i assumed that these characters would probably be in their twenties. this is especially true if we consider the legally blonde connection, which has been heavily referenced time and time again (including its former title, medievally blonde), in which the main characters are either in law school (elle, warner, vivian, etc.) or practicing lawyers (emmett). imagine my surprise when ronan said that he’s nineteen!!! nineteen. omg. this is where the mixed signals really come in – this isn’t necessarily a bad choice, if that’s the book you want to write. but it’s not the choice i want to see. i was hoping for a slightly more adult narrative, but it absolutely read as YA instead – the way things magically fell into clía’s lap over and over, the way it flowed very smoothly into the typical beats of a YA fantasy narrative (one character made a comment early in the book and i immediately clocked a betrayal plot twist that came true later on). i could see the bones of the legally blonde narrative guiding the structure underneath, and while i did enjoy clía’s warrior journey to prove herself, it didn’t shine quite as bright as the original. and that’s okay! it just wasn’t the one for me.
if you’re looking for something that skews on the young/new adult fantasy line, i think you’ll enjoy this a lot. there’s excellent worldbuilding, great queer & disability rep, and a fun narrative that feels fresh. i really do hope this book finds its audience!
thank you to netgalley & the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
adventurous
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
A really fun meet-cute between celtic mythology and legally blonde! I had a lot of fun reading this adventure, and I thought it had a great balance between romance, fantasy, and military strategy lol. This book has so many fun ideas and the way all the legally blonde references were able to be seamlessly wound in with celtic fantasy and magic, it was honestly very impressive and I was absolutely hooked! Cait Jacobs did a phenomenal job with this and I found myself hooked on every character and how the story would play out. I liked how long it was, most the time fantasy romances are too short, and not enough time is spent on the world building, but this book had a great mix of slowly introducing the romance while the world building and fantasy elements really got to shine and round out the characters! The romance was also very very well done, I found myself rooting and swooning for them throughout the whole story.
This was an absolute delight of a book! Highly highly recommend!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager/Avon for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was an absolute delight of a book! Highly highly recommend!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager/Avon for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
You're always be Medievally Blonde to me.
This was a delight! I really liked all these characters, the clear callbacks to Legally Blonde (the musical), the worldbuilding, the romance. I know that Cait Jacobs has mentioned a potential spinoff centred around Niamh, and I would love if that happened because this was just really great.
Also I really can't overstate how sad I am that the title was changed. Medievally Blonde was the perfect title for this book.
This was a delight! I really liked all these characters, the clear callbacks to Legally Blonde (the musical), the worldbuilding, the romance. I know that Cait Jacobs has mentioned a potential spinoff centred around Niamh, and I would love if that happened because this was just really great.
Also I really can't overstate how sad I am that the title was changed. Medievally Blonde was the perfect title for this book.
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
Celtic mythology meets Legally Blonde by way of a military fantasy adventure, with a unique balance of heart, grit, and camp in this lovable debut by Cait Jacobs.
I had the privilege of reading an early draft of this book back in 2022, and it captured my heart. This book holds combines a fascinating collection of ideas (Legally Blonde but make it a gritty military romantasy with knights, and also make it kind of a retelling of Celtic folklore?) that you wouldn't expect to go together, but Cait has poured so much care into the conversation of all of these elements from the silly musical references to the complex disability representation, and it really pays off in this heartfelt adventurous tale.
If you like diverse casts, fantasy adventures, women with swords (who also wear gorgeous dresses), found family, court politics, gritty action scenes, feet-kicking romance, and Legally Blonde (of course), I think you'll adore this book as much as I did.
I had the privilege of reading an early draft of this book back in 2022, and it captured my heart. This book holds combines a fascinating collection of ideas (Legally Blonde but make it a gritty military romantasy with knights, and also make it kind of a retelling of Celtic folklore?) that you wouldn't expect to go together, but Cait has poured so much care into the conversation of all of these elements from the silly musical references to the complex disability representation, and it really pays off in this heartfelt adventurous tale.
If you like diverse casts, fantasy adventures, women with swords (who also wear gorgeous dresses), found family, court politics, gritty action scenes, feet-kicking romance, and Legally Blonde (of course), I think you'll adore this book as much as I did.