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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
It’s finally time to bring vampires back and honestly, I am soooo ready.
I was actually recommended this book by Jess(@metalheadreader) and I took a leap of faith and purchased a copy. I’m super glad I did, as I was actually super impressed! Since this book was published by an not well-known publishing house, there were a few typography issues but it didn’t change any of the meaning. It only bugged me a little as I’m taking classes about how to form and layout books!
This book was *chef kisses*. The writing was so pretty and it flowed so well throughout the novel that it had a romantic folklore vibe to it and I think that was the goal. The way Sugalski described places and people had my heart grow in my chest. The story takes place mostly in the Brocèliande forest and all the imagery of the scenery and the denizens of it were so phenomenal that I had to stop and reread because it was so beautifully written!
Now the characters were also super realistic which made the whole experience that much more immersive. The dialogue was written in a more formal way but it made sense since it was 1400’s Brittany. The banter between Lilac and Garin was so fun but it also didn’t seem forced. The way Lilac talked with other characters, too, was also very smooth and the conversation was fluid. Even when Lilac was talking with Sinclair with her ‘damsel-in-distress’ voice, the stuff she said worked and I think that’s such an amazing accomplishment to achieve.
The author didn’t quite explain certain magic very well but it could have been because the narrator, Lilac, didn’t even know how it worked. Even when we thought her Darkling tongue was a curse, it might not actually have been. It seems that the creatures of the forest have their own form of magic but I hope Sugalski covers it more in the sequel!
The romance was very fun and rewarding and was somewhat of a slow burn. It was an enemies to lovers love story and the witty banter was so enjoyable and Lilac and Garin had something other book couples lack; chemistry. There was a definite connection which had me rooting for them the whole time and when it finally did, it was so sweet and well worth the wait! I’m excited with where they will go in the next book considering the ending.
I found the idea of Darklings as their own community an interesting take on the creatures of the forest. I liked how it wasn’t just limited to one fantastical species but multiple living in respectfully in the same area. I loved how they had their own language and Lilac was the only mortal to be able to speak it. It created a clear divide and prejudice between the mortals and the Darklings.
This ties into the politics of this book splendidly as it does play a big part of the book. Lilac isn’t the most liked princess of Brittany but she is the sole heir. To win the favor of her people, she tries to get rid of her cursed Darkling tongue. The book covers a bound-to-happen arranged marriage and how he would have more power than her even though she’d be queen. It’s complex with old laws from dead Kings about the forest dwellers and Lilac becomes progressive in trying to vie for both sides. It’s super interesting to see the author’s take on a historical monarchy with a fantasy twist to it.
Overall, I thought the plot was a fun twist on folklore themes but I felt like it was a little much. I felt like we were constantly doing things, going from this place to the next. It felt a bit rushed and I wished I could have had more flow between each key point. I also found the ending with the witch a little wild. It made sense but I was hoping that it would have turned out differently.
The goods definitely outweigh the bads and I’m really looking forward to the sequeal! Like I said, it was super fun, super romantic, and I highly recommend if you like vampires, folklore, and fantasy!
I was actually recommended this book by Jess(@metalheadreader) and I took a leap of faith and purchased a copy. I’m super glad I did, as I was actually super impressed! Since this book was published by an not well-known publishing house, there were a few typography issues but it didn’t change any of the meaning. It only bugged me a little as I’m taking classes about how to form and layout books!
This book was *chef kisses*. The writing was so pretty and it flowed so well throughout the novel that it had a romantic folklore vibe to it and I think that was the goal. The way Sugalski described places and people had my heart grow in my chest. The story takes place mostly in the Brocèliande forest and all the imagery of the scenery and the denizens of it were so phenomenal that I had to stop and reread because it was so beautifully written!
Now the characters were also super realistic which made the whole experience that much more immersive. The dialogue was written in a more formal way but it made sense since it was 1400’s Brittany. The banter between Lilac and Garin was so fun but it also didn’t seem forced. The way Lilac talked with other characters, too, was also very smooth and the conversation was fluid. Even when Lilac was talking with Sinclair with her ‘damsel-in-distress’ voice, the stuff she said worked and I think that’s such an amazing accomplishment to achieve.
The author didn’t quite explain certain magic very well but it could have been because the narrator, Lilac, didn’t even know how it worked. Even when we thought her Darkling tongue was a curse, it might not actually have been. It seems that the creatures of the forest have their own form of magic but I hope Sugalski covers it more in the sequel!
The romance was very fun and rewarding and was somewhat of a slow burn. It was an enemies to lovers love story and the witty banter was so enjoyable and Lilac and Garin had something other book couples lack; chemistry. There was a definite connection which had me rooting for them the whole time and when it finally did, it was so sweet and well worth the wait! I’m excited with where they will go in the next book considering the ending.
I found the idea of Darklings as their own community an interesting take on the creatures of the forest. I liked how it wasn’t just limited to one fantastical species but multiple living in respectfully in the same area. I loved how they had their own language and Lilac was the only mortal to be able to speak it. It created a clear divide and prejudice between the mortals and the Darklings.
This ties into the politics of this book splendidly as it does play a big part of the book. Lilac isn’t the most liked princess of Brittany but she is the sole heir. To win the favor of her people, she tries to get rid of her cursed Darkling tongue. The book covers a bound-to-happen arranged marriage and how he would have more power than her even though she’d be queen. It’s complex with old laws from dead Kings about the forest dwellers and Lilac becomes progressive in trying to vie for both sides. It’s super interesting to see the author’s take on a historical monarchy with a fantasy twist to it.
Overall, I thought the plot was a fun twist on folklore themes but I felt like it was a little much. I felt like we were constantly doing things, going from this place to the next. It felt a bit rushed and I wished I could have had more flow between each key point. I also found the ending with the witch a little wild. It made sense but I was hoping that it would have turned out differently.
The goods definitely outweigh the bads and I’m really looking forward to the sequeal! Like I said, it was super fun, super romantic, and I highly recommend if you like vampires, folklore, and fantasy!
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
3.0⭐️
I was kind of disappointed by this book, simply because I think it was badly managed, especially for a second attempt at the same story; I have not read the first version of the book, so I have no way to make a comparison between the two, but I expected a bit more.
To start off, I think that the writing style is very good: it’s clear, it’s evocative, and the way the linguistic register changes according to the character is refreshingly realistic; had this not been the case I would have probably dnf’d and I’ll explain why.
The plot is really bland. Main character has to go from place A to place C, travelling through place B. She meets other characters, she gets sidetracked in her journey, and her preconceptions are proved wrong. It’s the basic fantasy plot, and it’s fine, as I said the writing style did a lot in terms of keeping the reader’s attention and the story is good enough for the average reader (including myself). What’s not fine is how this basic plot it’s been dragged and dragged, making this an almost 500 pages book while it could have perfectly fitted in mere 300. I’m not complaining about the length of the book, I’m complaining about the length of a book with such a simple and straightforward plot; the scenes are too long and mostly do not convey that much plot wise, it really feels like they’ve purposely been dragged to make the book longer. Unfortunately this is only bound to make the book not only boring, but underwhelming at the very end, where the very basic plot ends in a very basic way. If those additional pages had been repurposed into a better involvement of the subplots into the main one, I’d say that the reading time would be worth the read.
I didn’t really like the characters either. Garin was probably the most confusing one after Lilac, mostly due to their mutual attraction: why do they fall for each other?How does she go from loathing him to wanting him to claim her in the span of a couple of days? How does a centuries old vampire fall for a 19 years old girl that has never set foot outside her castle? (I thought we were past old men falling for teenagers but alas, we are not). I mean, a convenient kidnapping and a bit of forced proximity with a dashing vampire would be enough to make my knees weak, but still. The secondary characters mostly work as a boring background, except for Ophelia, the most interesting character of the book and whose potential is unfortunately wasted. The villain is so plain and forgettable that his mother was much more intriguing despite her rare appearances and again, wasted potential: from the very start of the book I was led to believe that she was going to be the villain, and I was actually very intrigued by her charisma, but then she just…disappears. She then reappears at the end of the book, with empty threats and disappointing lack of character.
Overall it’s not a bad book, but I think its potential has not been exploited to its fullest extent, and the contents have been badly managed. It’s quite a low stakes book, so I would recommend it to whoever wants a light effortless read, even though I don’t think it’s worth the amount of time it takes to read it.
I was kind of disappointed by this book, simply because I think it was badly managed, especially for a second attempt at the same story; I have not read the first version of the book, so I have no way to make a comparison between the two, but I expected a bit more.
To start off, I think that the writing style is very good: it’s clear, it’s evocative, and the way the linguistic register changes according to the character is refreshingly realistic; had this not been the case I would have probably dnf’d and I’ll explain why.
The plot is really bland. Main character has to go from place A to place C, travelling through place B. She meets other characters, she gets sidetracked in her journey, and her preconceptions are proved wrong. It’s the basic fantasy plot, and it’s fine, as I said the writing style did a lot in terms of keeping the reader’s attention and the story is good enough for the average reader (including myself). What’s not fine is how this basic plot it’s been dragged and dragged, making this an almost 500 pages book while it could have perfectly fitted in mere 300. I’m not complaining about the length of the book, I’m complaining about the length of a book with such a simple and straightforward plot; the scenes are too long and mostly do not convey that much plot wise, it really feels like they’ve purposely been dragged to make the book longer. Unfortunately this is only bound to make the book not only boring, but underwhelming at the very end, where the very basic plot ends in a very basic way. If those additional pages had been repurposed into a better involvement of the subplots into the main one, I’d say that the reading time would be worth the read.
I didn’t really like the characters either. Garin was probably the most confusing one after Lilac, mostly due to their mutual attraction: why do they fall for each other?
Overall it’s not a bad book, but I think its potential has not been exploited to its fullest extent, and the contents have been badly managed. It’s quite a low stakes book, so I would recommend it to whoever wants a light effortless read, even though I don’t think it’s worth the amount of time it takes to read it.
I received an eARC of the book from the author and this represents my honest opinion.
YA fantasy can be a little hit or miss for me, but I really enjoyed this! I thought the main character, Lilac, had an interesting arc, I really liked the world-building, and the slow burn romance worked for me (it had just the right amount of angst and tension). Some of the dialogue between characters felt a little choppy at times, but I could still follow-along easily. I hope Lilac continues to grow in maturity (and magical abilities?) in future books, excited to see where the series goes.
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
YA fantasy can be a little hit or miss for me, but I really enjoyed this! I thought the main character, Lilac, had an interesting arc, I really liked the world-building, and the slow burn romance worked for me (it had just the right amount of angst and tension). Some of the dialogue between characters felt a little choppy at times, but I could still follow-along easily. I hope Lilac continues to grow in maturity (and magical abilities?) in future books, excited to see where the series goes.
I received this E Book From Parliament Press in return for a review.
Background
Lilac is a prisoner in her own castle after events unfold at her 10th birthday ball.
As her coronation fast approaches years later, there many hellbent on stealing the crown that is rightfully hers. But as she beings to lose all hope of claiming her right to the throne, a letter arrives from he Witch of Lupine Grotto with a proposition to cure her darkness forever, but at what cost?
My Thoughts
This book was actually a positive surprise! I found myself very encased by the writing and really wanting to keep reading!
Firstly the characters are so easy to love! I felt the development was a bit slow in the beginning but by the mid point, I was very emotionally invested in their individual stories and wanting their happily ever after. My personal favourites included the one and only Bastion. If you like your book boyfriends dark, brooding and slightly crazy, then this is your next love. He gave me very big Darkling vibes so we be perfect for those hoping for very similar character styles, even in the side characters.
I'm actually surprised this book isn't as hyped up as many other releases on the scene currently. I really hope a box subscription company picks this up as it would really be a piece that a lot of readers would fall in love with.
The only issue I had with this novel is I felt the main love story was a bit slow paced for my taste. I actually found myself drawn to the side plots and characters a lot more than the actual main plot line. I hope in the next instalment, it focuses more on these underlying pieces and really gives the world the author has built so well an extra dimension to engross ourselves with.
Background
Lilac is a prisoner in her own castle after events unfold at her 10th birthday ball.
As her coronation fast approaches years later, there many hellbent on stealing the crown that is rightfully hers. But as she beings to lose all hope of claiming her right to the throne, a letter arrives from he Witch of Lupine Grotto with a proposition to cure her darkness forever, but at what cost?
My Thoughts
This book was actually a positive surprise! I found myself very encased by the writing and really wanting to keep reading!
Firstly the characters are so easy to love! I felt the development was a bit slow in the beginning but by the mid point, I was very emotionally invested in their individual stories and wanting their happily ever after. My personal favourites included the one and only Bastion. If you like your book boyfriends dark, brooding and slightly crazy, then this is your next love. He gave me very big Darkling vibes so we be perfect for those hoping for very similar character styles, even in the side characters.
I'm actually surprised this book isn't as hyped up as many other releases on the scene currently. I really hope a box subscription company picks this up as it would really be a piece that a lot of readers would fall in love with.
The only issue I had with this novel is I felt the main love story was a bit slow paced for my taste. I actually found myself drawn to the side plots and characters a lot more than the actual main plot line. I hope in the next instalment, it focuses more on these underlying pieces and really gives the world the author has built so well an extra dimension to engross ourselves with.
I am a simple lady. I read about a dude who is described as "striking," who is also clearly frustrated by how into the heroine he is and is capable of snarky banter with the aforementioned heroine and I am into it. Like, both the character and the book. So what I am saying is that I was into both Garin and Disenchanted.
Plus, look at him on that cover.
Yeah, ok.
Points to Lilac for being able to hold her own with the banter, too. It would have been easy for her to spend most of the book whining (and she did whine, but, in acceptable amounts) so I appreciated that, for the most part, she went toe to toe and didn't do much cowering. Impressive, since it'd been, like, a decade since she'd interacted with anyone, really.
Plus! The magic was cool. The world building was legit. Having a forest full of so-called Darklings right next to a quasi-historical kingdom was different than anything I've read recently and the political implications were a good jumping off point story-wise. There were some instances where it was a little confusing as to what was happening, but that was more a result of some strange text formatting and editing than anything else. Whoever edited this book did not seem to realize that you need another quotation mark at the start of a new paragraph when splitting up dialogue. So, occasionally I'd be reading, someone would be talking, they'd still be talking, but there was no sign that they were doing that.
(Also, the random switched perspective was...weird? Decidedly random? I'm not sure it really added much to the overall book because I still had questions even after reading the chapter from the perspective of the character it was happening to?)
I was admittedly expecting a bit more out of Lilac's ability and the ending all felt a bit rushed, with most of Garin's issues just totally glossed over, but those were little things to set up what I am assuming is a sequel, and, really, my biggest issue with the whole story was the pacing of it. Everything happened so quickly! How many hours were in each of these days?! They'd known each other for what? Two days and were kissing? I honestly could not tell how much time had passed. Sometimes I was exhausted just reading about all of it!
Still, I'm psyched that there will be more to this world and more to Lilac and Garin and hopefully they will discuss that sometimes glaring age difference and then both of them get to sit down occasionally.
Plus, look at him on that cover.
Yeah, ok.
Points to Lilac for being able to hold her own with the banter, too. It would have been easy for her to spend most of the book whining (and she did whine, but, in acceptable amounts) so I appreciated that, for the most part, she went toe to toe and didn't do much cowering. Impressive, since it'd been, like, a decade since she'd interacted with anyone, really.
Plus! The magic was cool. The world building was legit. Having a forest full of so-called Darklings right next to a quasi-historical kingdom was different than anything I've read recently and the political implications were a good jumping off point story-wise. There were some instances where it was a little confusing as to what was happening, but that was more a result of some strange text formatting and editing than anything else. Whoever edited this book did not seem to realize that you need another quotation mark at the start of a new paragraph when splitting up dialogue. So, occasionally I'd be reading, someone would be talking, they'd still be talking, but there was no sign that they were doing that.
(Also, the random switched perspective was...weird? Decidedly random? I'm not sure it really added much to the overall book because I still had questions even after reading the chapter from the perspective of the character it was happening to?)
I was admittedly expecting a bit more out of Lilac's ability and the ending all felt a bit rushed, with most of Garin's issues just totally glossed over, but those were little things to set up what I am assuming is a sequel, and, really, my biggest issue with the whole story was the pacing of it. Everything happened so quickly! How many hours were in each of these days?! They'd known each other for what? Two days and were kissing? I honestly could not tell how much time had passed. Sometimes I was exhausted just reading about all of it!
Still, I'm psyched that there will be more to this world and more to Lilac and Garin and hopefully they will discuss that sometimes glaring age difference and then both of them get to sit down occasionally.
A good story, and a fun, easy read. the bit with the mad fae king was my favourite. i'm desperately curious about what was in the letter he sent to Lilac.
Not sure if it was just my attention span but the middle seemed a bit choppy, and some of the passages were a little confusing, especially when Garin was telling his story.
Garin is surprisingly vicious yet still likeable, though not without his inconsistencies. He and Lilac were fairly one-dimensional, though I suppose if anyone went through some personal growth it was she and Ophelia, strangely enough.
Not sure if it was just my attention span but the middle seemed a bit choppy, and some of the passages were a little confusing, especially when Garin was telling his story.
Garin is surprisingly vicious yet still likeable, though not without his inconsistencies. He and Lilac were fairly one-dimensional, though I suppose if anyone went through some personal growth it was she and Ophelia, strangely enough.
I received this as an eARC to read for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to Brianna Sugalski and The Parliament House for giving me access.
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