Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Courting of Bristol Keats by Mary E. Pearson

12 reviews

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous dark emotional 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: Complicated

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bookedandbusy's profile picture

bookedandbusy's review

4.5
adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I loved this book! The world building was simple yet atmospheric, and I loved the characters! It was adventurous and tense and I love Bri!! I can’t wait to see what happens next! 

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

tl;dr
Court politics, fae intrigue, magical school, and parents with secrets all converge, with a romance that moves way faster than the rest of the plot.

Thoughts
I'm going to have to split this into two parts, because the plot and the romance both did entirely different things for me.

We'll start with the main plot, which feels a bit like a magical potpourri of ideas. There's fae court intrigue and all sorts of political machinations. There might be a war on the horizon! There's a missing parent with a dark past. And also, there's a magical school that Bristol only sometimes attends. It's a lot to fit together, but it does seem to work for the most part. The school section gets the short end of this, with Bristol's fellow classmates painted as interesting, but largely non-present in the rest of the threads. The separate threads weave together by the end of the book into a fairly focused storyline.  There are enough original takes in here that the story feels fresh, without straying too far from what makes faerie court intrigue as popular as it is. Some of the reveals in the second half especially look like they'll be setting up some cool things in the next book.

The romance is where I find myself struggling. I like a good enemies-to-lovers, and the story certainly opens up as if we're going to get there with some nice slow burn. But they say time passes differently in the faerie world, and time must also pass differently in this book, because these characters fell in love WAY faster than I expected. There was some bickering, and then suddenly there wasn't, like a switch had been flipped. It's not quite instalove, but it certainly comes close. If you enjoy sudden and searing passion in your romances, this will probably land well with you. But for fellow fans of a relationship that has to marinate a little longer, you may feel a bit of whiplash at how quickly the first declaration of love appears.

Thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for a review copy! All thoughts in this review are my own.

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Praised as the new queen of Faerie, I was curious to read my first book written by Mary E. Pearson.

Getting into the story was easy and soon I was absorbed into what happened with the main character Bristol Keats, and how she eventually agrees to go on a mission into faerie.

Discovering the land and the court of the fae was intriguing at first, but then the world development stopped, and it all got romantic and somewhat unconvincing.

There are twists and turns aplenty as Bristol discovers and unravels more and more of her and her parent's history.

Having finished the book it is to say, that there are many fae tropes brought into the story that have been done over and over, sometimes with a twist I have not yet encountered before, sometimes following well trodden paths. 

What kept me reading was the main character Bristol Keats, who seems at the beginning so unassuming and clueless and yet holds the makings of a heroine within herself. The character development of her is very well done and a joy to read. In comparison the pacing, the tropeiness and the romance failed to truly convince.

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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

This book feels choppy at times, but the plot is enjoyable and the main characters are engaging. The romance feels natural and not rushed. The web of secrets and deceit is just complicated enough, while not being too much to keep track of.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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: No

I could not put this down. Devoured in 48 hours.

What I LOVED:
▫️FMC has actual problems to solve and the overall dilemma that she faces is HARD. It’s not surface level or issues just created to increase page count.
▫️I’ve seen reviews complaining about the writing style being confusing, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the shorter chapters with lots of POVs.
▫️Pearson’s flowery descriptions are my jam.
▫️I was interested in all side characters and her family. They all had their own personalities, but yeah, there was a lot of them. I personally don’t mind that!
▫️Magic was magic-ing!
▫️MMC is a true depiction of ‘If he wanted to, he would.’
▫️NO miscommunication issues between FMC and MMC. I wasn’t sitting around yelling “Why don’t they just talk to eachother?!”
▫️The twists and turns.
▫️FMC’s relationships with her sisters and friends.
▫️I loved the length, although I did think it was a standalone until the very end. It allowed for character development and a build up.
▫️I also loved how it ended. I wasn’t expecting it at all, but I think it was great and even though I thought it was a standalone I’m so happy there’s another book. There’s a lot going on and I need a lot more pages to figure out what the hell everyone is gonna do.

I love a lot more about it but I think that’s enough for now. It was SO good! Next book 11/11/25!

What I didn’t like (because I have to say something 😂):
▫️I didn’t like that the
MMC’s journey to get the Lumessa wasn’t covered, he left and next chapter he was back.

▫️There were a couple times that I read something and had to go back and reread a sentence or two for clarity.

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bookcaptivated's profile picture

bookcaptivated's review

4.25
adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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