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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
This book was cute. The ending was a bit disappointing but overall I liked the story line.
3.25 stars rounded down
I personally feel like my expectations as a reader were not met, given what happened in book one and, more specifically, given how book one ended. The continued focus of the plot was supposed to be breaking Adrius’ curse, but we didn’t get that, which was both jarring and disappointing. Like yes, the first book left a lot of loose threads that needed to be tied up; but those were subplots that shouldn’t have overshadowed the main plot.
Also, while I like the magic system, I feel like it deviated quite a bit from the card-based system was got in the first book. The magic felt a lot softer this time, which isn’t bad per se; I just wasn’t expecting such a big change. And when the card-magic was present, the action scenes felt a bit rushed for my liking, and felt a bit stiffer than I expected.
Lastly, I think I was expecting more from Adrius and Marlowe’s relationship. They obviously had a lot of issues to work through from the last book, but we didn’t really get to see them work through those issues. It was like they just moved on and acted as though it wasn’t a big deal what they were dealing with. So that was disappointing, because we it came to the ending…I like what the author was trying to do, but I didn’t feel emotionally invested in their love story anymore.
But there were bits and pieces (characters and scenes) that I enjoyed on their own (when I ignored the parts that annoyed me or confused me). Thus I enjoyed reading certain parts of this book, and for that it gets a mid-rating from me.
NOTES I TOOK WHILE READING (likely contains spoilers and misspelled names):
- I do love a masquerade ball!
- Okay cmon—it was pretty obviously that Adrius likely was ordered to find a wife (by Vale) and stay away from Marlowe. I’m honestly surprised it took Marlowe that long to realize that—she was very smart in the first book, so I hope it stays that way in this book.
- Oh, I was surprised that Swift wasn’t with the Black Orchid (in a good way, because I’m intrigued—I have faith he’s okay). I love how Silvan is concerned about him though haha.
- The swamp wrestler scene was cool.
- Um, okay so up until we learned Swift was kidnapped by the reapers, I thought Marlowe was one of them?? Or like, protected by them, since she lived in their land to avoid the copperheads?? I think that’s could’ve been made clearer in book1 that she had no connections to them!
- Not gonna lie, it seemed a bit ridiculous that Marlowe would switch the mirrors rather than just moving to her bedroom to get ready.
- Wow okay, I wasn’t expecting the curse to have already been broken. Or for Adrius to willing be looking for a wife (though I understand why—to help Marlowe. I like that.) but it kinda just destroyed the plot a bit? The whole point of the plot was to figure out how to break the curse on Adrius. That’s now been removed within the first third of the book—so what plot is left, really? Like yeah there are little loose ends to tie up here and there, and I’ll continue reading because I like the characters…but I think if this book wasn’t going to be about breaking Adrius’ curse, then it should’ve been broken at the end of book1. Then book2 would be about these other subplots (if you can even call them that), and the reader can go in knowing that. Like I’m sure (hope) that by the end of the book, we’ll learn how Adrius’ curse was broken. But I’m disappointed to say the least, as I feel like the author dropped the ball here.
- Don’t get me wrong—Adrius and Marlowe’s relationship is compelling to read about. But it feels like that’s now the main focus and the plot has become an afterthought, which was not the case with book one.
- Okay so, I’m glad the book Marlowe found in the wall actually served a purpose. But it was far too easy for her and Swift to escape the reapers. I mean seriously—they just walked out the door? After all that? After the promise of threatening crocodiles and the desire to stop the reaper-copperhead war that Marlowe is in the midst of??
- OMG NO DO NOT TELL ME MARLOWE ACTUALLY BROKE THE CURSE BY KISSING ADRIUS! STOP IT RIGHT NOW! That’s so ridiculous, I’m sorry. I also don’t understand what Adrius means? “You took the knife. You told me I could never hurt you. And then you kissed me.” … I don’t get it?
- Ah, so it was true love’s kiss that broke the curse. I just feel like…that’s not what we signed up for with the duology, and I expected the breaking of the curse to take a lot more than that.
- I will say Bianca is a pretty fun character as the leader of the reapers.
- Oh, so in book1, Marlowe sold Orsella “a hidden desire of the heart” in exchange for a spell? I kinda wish we’d known that in book1.
- As much as I love Adrius and Marlowe as a couple, it’s kinda annoying how they’ve been secretly seeing each other off page, and we don’t get to see it. And then Adrius is helping Marlowe with her plan and it’s like they trust each other again all of a sudden. I wanted to see their relationship develop more (especially after the main plot of the book was taken away with the random breaking of Adrius’ curse).
- As much as I like Beatrice, I don’t trust that the Black Orchid won’t try to use this new spell themselves once Fisher finishes making it.
- I will say, between true love’s kiss breaking Adrius’ spell and the list of items they need to collect for the mega spell to break the grimoire, the vibe of this story—and the magic system, more specifically—is taking a weird kinda turn, in my eyes. It’s not bad per se, but I feel like it's a drastic change from the magic system we were introduced to in the first book. It’s almost like the author got bored with using the card spells, and wanted to switch to a more fairytale-esque magic system that was just barely hinted at in book1.
- It’s clear that the author had to rush Adrius and Marlowe forgiving each other in this book because Marlowe is relying one Adrius so much for her plan. (Which I don’t love—she’s such a great curse breaker on her own, that I kinda just wanted her and Swift to handle this.) But I mean, I guess they get to spend time together now? So that’s good to see…
- It might have been more compelling if Adrius and Marlowe were still, slowly, working on their relationship through the book. And then in regards to money and such for her plan, Marlowe had to go to Vale (or even Silvan) for help! It would’ve been so cool to see how she handled such a sticky situation!
- It’s OBVIOUS that the heart’s desire that Marlowe gave to Orsella is her love for Adrius.
- Okay so…I knew from book1 that Cassandra wasn’t dead. But what a plot twist to have Amara be the one who reveals it. (Also damn Amara, why not tell the girl so she knows? Amara really is awful.)
- Hmm I wonder if Vale has/hid the grimoire to protect Cassandra?
- Lol that scene where Marlowe caught Swift and Silvan together was perfect!
- Wait, Swift said to Adrius “if you hurt Marlowe, I’m not the one you have to worry about.” I know it was a joke but… Who is he talking about there? Vale? Marlowe herself?
- Ooh that auction scene was fun!
- Aww the reunion between Adrius and his mother was so touching!
- I gotta be honest. The scene where Marlowe tells Adrius they can’t be together is well written, but I’m not buying the angst of their relationship. Like I know Marlowe sold her desire to Orsella…but like, she has also been seeing him in secret and thinking about him despite that so, I feel like we aren’t really seeing the effect of that deal. And thus I don’t truly believe that the two of them can’t be together.
- Huh, Grandair is evil???? That’s an intriguing twist.
- Okay so… I like that Vale saved Marlowe. Though it seems that he might have just been going for the obsidian blade, and happened to save her in the process. But I will also say that while I think this magic system is cool, I wish I had a better understanding of what happens if both people shoot hexes at each other at the same time? Like Lionitus attacked Vale, but only Vale’s was effective—why? Because it was stronger.
- (Also, aside from Marlowe’s fight with Kido in the first book, if feels like every fight is predictable in terms of who wins—it feels like the author just has the person she wants to win pull a hex card out of their pocket, say some command, and magic colors shoot out. It just feels redundant to be honest, idk how else to describe it.)
- At this point, Vale has just saved Marlowe, and I’m 77% through the audiobook. And since it was revealed that Adrius wasn’t cursed anymore, I feel like we haven’t had a clearly stated main plot since. Like yes they were looking into getting spell ingredients to destroy the grimoire, but that still felt like a side quest to me. And yes, it still bothers me this far into the book that the author throw away the curse plot out of nowhere, and never really replaced with a solid main plot for us to follow. (At this point I’m gonna just finish the book since I’m almost done, and maybe the ending with make for it a bit, but I’m so disappointed in that decision.)
- Ok…so now we’re changing the rules and saying we can just use an ingredient for the spell that has the same “meaning” to them? Really? It feels convoluted.
- I mean, I get that Amara knew that Cassandra was alive, so that might have someone been an in to Adrius finding her. But I would like to know how he found her. And why he didn’t do it sooner? (Or hell, offer it in the first book, in exchange for breaking his curse?). I’m glad Marlowe was reunited with her mother, but it feels out of left field.
- That’s BS—there’s no way Vale is gonna turn himself in! Maybe turn Adrius in, but not himself.
- I know Vale’s a bad dude, but I’m not mad at him being in power (right now anyway). I mean, the guy has killed a lot of people, sure. But not anyone that didn’t deserve it. So on the one hand, I applaud the author for creating an antagonist with understandable reasons for his actions. On the other hand… I wish there was a better reason for Marlowe to be against Vale’s plan than her seeing him melting some Copperheads (who were going to kill her) to death.
- I know there was a lot of chaos in the courtroom, but it feels a bit—unbelievable?—that Vale would let Marlowe and/or Adrius run away freely amongst the chaos. Like I guess we’re just to assume he didn’t see them…but clarity on what Vale was focused on while they made their escape would’ve been helpful.
- That’s a little convenient that this guy wants to protect his book so much, he was buried with it AND thus the Falcrest must have taken his bones with it. I don’t know, it feels like a stretch of an assumption. (But I’m willing to bet that is the solution—which feels far too easy. I mean, I wish instead Marlowe had actually had to do extensive research to figure it out.)
- And yes, Vale wants to get rid of the street gangs, but assuming on the first day of his power, he’s gonna head straight to the Reapers to get rid of them? Again, it feels like an assumption based off nothing. (i.e. if Marlowe does end up finding Vale there, I’m gonna be even more annoyed at this book than I already am.)
- I get that Marlowe gained control of the grimoire by putting her blood in it, but didn’t Vale have that power too? So when she was like don’t move—could he not counter it because he couldn’t speak? (Also, she was like oh no, I can’t heal Adrius unless I turn over the grimoire…and then she got control of it and just healed him with a command? ALSO, it seems a bit too easy that you can heal someone like that—it makes me think why wouldn’t you want the grimoire around if you can magically heal/cure the injured and wounded.)
- I’m so confused! Why did destroying the grimoire not kill Vale, Adrius, and Marlowe? She made it sound like that was what would happen.
- The goodbye between Adrius and Marlowe at the end, was…not as touching as I thought it would be? Like it has all the elements for it, and I get what the author was trying to do here, and both Adrius’ decision to leave and Marlowe’s decision to stay make sense. But I think because their relationship throughout this book felt rushed, like we didn’t get to see the important bits of them building trust again, I didn’t feel as emotionally invested in what happened to them.
- I will say though, I’m glad Silvan and Swift are still together.
- And I will say the epilogue of Adrius coming back to be with Marlowe was cute.
- So, now that I’ve finished, I wouldn’t say I was hate-reading towards the end, but as you can see from my many notes, there were so many story elements that annoyed me and/or made me roll my eyes, because it lacked believability. (And yes I know this is a fantasy story, so it wasn’t in terms of the magic. It was in terms of the characters making assumptions about how to stop Vale.)
I’ll probably pick up more of this author’s books in the future if they sound interesting to me. But it’s such a shame that this second book wasn’t as compelling as the first book.
I personally feel like my expectations as a reader were not met, given what happened in book one and, more specifically, given how book one ended. The continued focus of the plot was supposed to be breaking Adrius’ curse, but we didn’t get that, which was both jarring and disappointing. Like yes, the first book left a lot of loose threads that needed to be tied up; but those were subplots that shouldn’t have overshadowed the main plot.
Also, while I like the magic system, I feel like it deviated quite a bit from the card-based system was got in the first book. The magic felt a lot softer this time, which isn’t bad per se; I just wasn’t expecting such a big change. And when the card-magic was present, the action scenes felt a bit rushed for my liking, and felt a bit stiffer than I expected.
Lastly, I think I was expecting more from Adrius and Marlowe’s relationship. They obviously had a lot of issues to work through from the last book, but we didn’t really get to see them work through those issues. It was like they just moved on and acted as though it wasn’t a big deal what they were dealing with. So that was disappointing, because we it came to the ending…I like what the author was trying to do, but I didn’t feel emotionally invested in their love story anymore.
But there were bits and pieces (characters and scenes) that I enjoyed on their own (when I ignored the parts that annoyed me or confused me). Thus I enjoyed reading certain parts of this book, and for that it gets a mid-rating from me.
NOTES I TOOK WHILE READING (likely contains spoilers and misspelled names):
Spoiler
- Ooh, I like that we’re seemingly going to get some chapters from Adrius’ POV- I do love a masquerade ball!
- Okay cmon—it was pretty obviously that Adrius likely was ordered to find a wife (by Vale) and stay away from Marlowe. I’m honestly surprised it took Marlowe that long to realize that—she was very smart in the first book, so I hope it stays that way in this book.
- Oh, I was surprised that Swift wasn’t with the Black Orchid (in a good way, because I’m intrigued—I have faith he’s okay). I love how Silvan is concerned about him though haha.
- The swamp wrestler scene was cool.
- Um, okay so up until we learned Swift was kidnapped by the reapers, I thought Marlowe was one of them?? Or like, protected by them, since she lived in their land to avoid the copperheads?? I think that’s could’ve been made clearer in book1 that she had no connections to them!
- Not gonna lie, it seemed a bit ridiculous that Marlowe would switch the mirrors rather than just moving to her bedroom to get ready.
- Wow okay, I wasn’t expecting the curse to have already been broken. Or for Adrius to willing be looking for a wife (though I understand why—to help Marlowe. I like that.) but it kinda just destroyed the plot a bit? The whole point of the plot was to figure out how to break the curse on Adrius. That’s now been removed within the first third of the book—so what plot is left, really? Like yeah there are little loose ends to tie up here and there, and I’ll continue reading because I like the characters…but I think if this book wasn’t going to be about breaking Adrius’ curse, then it should’ve been broken at the end of book1. Then book2 would be about these other subplots (if you can even call them that), and the reader can go in knowing that. Like I’m sure (hope) that by the end of the book, we’ll learn how Adrius’ curse was broken. But I’m disappointed to say the least, as I feel like the author dropped the ball here.
- Don’t get me wrong—Adrius and Marlowe’s relationship is compelling to read about. But it feels like that’s now the main focus and the plot has become an afterthought, which was not the case with book one.
- Okay so, I’m glad the book Marlowe found in the wall actually served a purpose. But it was far too easy for her and Swift to escape the reapers. I mean seriously—they just walked out the door? After all that? After the promise of threatening crocodiles and the desire to stop the reaper-copperhead war that Marlowe is in the midst of??
- OMG NO DO NOT TELL ME MARLOWE ACTUALLY BROKE THE CURSE BY KISSING ADRIUS! STOP IT RIGHT NOW! That’s so ridiculous, I’m sorry. I also don’t understand what Adrius means? “You took the knife. You told me I could never hurt you. And then you kissed me.” … I don’t get it?
- Ah, so it was true love’s kiss that broke the curse. I just feel like…that’s not what we signed up for with the duology, and I expected the breaking of the curse to take a lot more than that.
- I will say Bianca is a pretty fun character as the leader of the reapers.
- Oh, so in book1, Marlowe sold Orsella “a hidden desire of the heart” in exchange for a spell? I kinda wish we’d known that in book1.
- As much as I love Adrius and Marlowe as a couple, it’s kinda annoying how they’ve been secretly seeing each other off page, and we don’t get to see it. And then Adrius is helping Marlowe with her plan and it’s like they trust each other again all of a sudden. I wanted to see their relationship develop more (especially after the main plot of the book was taken away with the random breaking of Adrius’ curse).
- As much as I like Beatrice, I don’t trust that the Black Orchid won’t try to use this new spell themselves once Fisher finishes making it.
- I will say, between true love’s kiss breaking Adrius’ spell and the list of items they need to collect for the mega spell to break the grimoire, the vibe of this story—and the magic system, more specifically—is taking a weird kinda turn, in my eyes. It’s not bad per se, but I feel like it's a drastic change from the magic system we were introduced to in the first book. It’s almost like the author got bored with using the card spells, and wanted to switch to a more fairytale-esque magic system that was just barely hinted at in book1.
- It’s clear that the author had to rush Adrius and Marlowe forgiving each other in this book because Marlowe is relying one Adrius so much for her plan. (Which I don’t love—she’s such a great curse breaker on her own, that I kinda just wanted her and Swift to handle this.) But I mean, I guess they get to spend time together now? So that’s good to see…
- It might have been more compelling if Adrius and Marlowe were still, slowly, working on their relationship through the book. And then in regards to money and such for her plan, Marlowe had to go to Vale (or even Silvan) for help! It would’ve been so cool to see how she handled such a sticky situation!
- It’s OBVIOUS that the heart’s desire that Marlowe gave to Orsella is her love for Adrius.
- Okay so…I knew from book1 that Cassandra wasn’t dead. But what a plot twist to have Amara be the one who reveals it. (Also damn Amara, why not tell the girl so she knows? Amara really is awful.)
- Hmm I wonder if Vale has/hid the grimoire to protect Cassandra?
- Lol that scene where Marlowe caught Swift and Silvan together was perfect!
- Wait, Swift said to Adrius “if you hurt Marlowe, I’m not the one you have to worry about.” I know it was a joke but… Who is he talking about there? Vale? Marlowe herself?
- Ooh that auction scene was fun!
- Aww the reunion between Adrius and his mother was so touching!
- I gotta be honest. The scene where Marlowe tells Adrius they can’t be together is well written, but I’m not buying the angst of their relationship. Like I know Marlowe sold her desire to Orsella…but like, she has also been seeing him in secret and thinking about him despite that so, I feel like we aren’t really seeing the effect of that deal. And thus I don’t truly believe that the two of them can’t be together.
- Huh, Grandair is evil???? That’s an intriguing twist.
- Okay so… I like that Vale saved Marlowe. Though it seems that he might have just been going for the obsidian blade, and happened to save her in the process. But I will also say that while I think this magic system is cool, I wish I had a better understanding of what happens if both people shoot hexes at each other at the same time? Like Lionitus attacked Vale, but only Vale’s was effective—why? Because it was stronger.
- (Also, aside from Marlowe’s fight with Kido in the first book, if feels like every fight is predictable in terms of who wins—it feels like the author just has the person she wants to win pull a hex card out of their pocket, say some command, and magic colors shoot out. It just feels redundant to be honest, idk how else to describe it.)
- At this point, Vale has just saved Marlowe, and I’m 77% through the audiobook. And since it was revealed that Adrius wasn’t cursed anymore, I feel like we haven’t had a clearly stated main plot since. Like yes they were looking into getting spell ingredients to destroy the grimoire, but that still felt like a side quest to me. And yes, it still bothers me this far into the book that the author throw away the curse plot out of nowhere, and never really replaced with a solid main plot for us to follow. (At this point I’m gonna just finish the book since I’m almost done, and maybe the ending with make for it a bit, but I’m so disappointed in that decision.)
- Ok…so now we’re changing the rules and saying we can just use an ingredient for the spell that has the same “meaning” to them? Really? It feels convoluted.
- I mean, I get that Amara knew that Cassandra was alive, so that might have someone been an in to Adrius finding her. But I would like to know how he found her. And why he didn’t do it sooner? (Or hell, offer it in the first book, in exchange for breaking his curse?). I’m glad Marlowe was reunited with her mother, but it feels out of left field.
- That’s BS—there’s no way Vale is gonna turn himself in! Maybe turn Adrius in, but not himself.
- I know Vale’s a bad dude, but I’m not mad at him being in power (right now anyway). I mean, the guy has killed a lot of people, sure. But not anyone that didn’t deserve it. So on the one hand, I applaud the author for creating an antagonist with understandable reasons for his actions. On the other hand… I wish there was a better reason for Marlowe to be against Vale’s plan than her seeing him melting some Copperheads (who were going to kill her) to death.
- I know there was a lot of chaos in the courtroom, but it feels a bit—unbelievable?—that Vale would let Marlowe and/or Adrius run away freely amongst the chaos. Like I guess we’re just to assume he didn’t see them…but clarity on what Vale was focused on while they made their escape would’ve been helpful.
- That’s a little convenient that this guy wants to protect his book so much, he was buried with it AND thus the Falcrest must have taken his bones with it. I don’t know, it feels like a stretch of an assumption. (But I’m willing to bet that is the solution—which feels far too easy. I mean, I wish instead Marlowe had actually had to do extensive research to figure it out.)
- And yes, Vale wants to get rid of the street gangs, but assuming on the first day of his power, he’s gonna head straight to the Reapers to get rid of them? Again, it feels like an assumption based off nothing. (i.e. if Marlowe does end up finding Vale there, I’m gonna be even more annoyed at this book than I already am.)
- I get that Marlowe gained control of the grimoire by putting her blood in it, but didn’t Vale have that power too? So when she was like don’t move—could he not counter it because he couldn’t speak? (Also, she was like oh no, I can’t heal Adrius unless I turn over the grimoire…and then she got control of it and just healed him with a command? ALSO, it seems a bit too easy that you can heal someone like that—it makes me think why wouldn’t you want the grimoire around if you can magically heal/cure the injured and wounded.)
- I’m so confused! Why did destroying the grimoire not kill Vale, Adrius, and Marlowe? She made it sound like that was what would happen.
- The goodbye between Adrius and Marlowe at the end, was…not as touching as I thought it would be? Like it has all the elements for it, and I get what the author was trying to do here, and both Adrius’ decision to leave and Marlowe’s decision to stay make sense. But I think because their relationship throughout this book felt rushed, like we didn’t get to see the important bits of them building trust again, I didn’t feel as emotionally invested in what happened to them.
- I will say though, I’m glad Silvan and Swift are still together.
- And I will say the epilogue of Adrius coming back to be with Marlowe was cute.
- So, now that I’ve finished, I wouldn’t say I was hate-reading towards the end, but as you can see from my many notes, there were so many story elements that annoyed me and/or made me roll my eyes, because it lacked believability. (And yes I know this is a fantasy story, so it wasn’t in terms of the magic. It was in terms of the characters making assumptions about how to stop Vale.)
I’ll probably pick up more of this author’s books in the future if they sound interesting to me. But it’s such a shame that this second book wasn’t as compelling as the first book.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a fast paced steampunk fantasy romance with a lot of action, a bit of intrigue, and a boat load of crime.
I started this on book two and was able to piece together what was happening, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read book one first. It was well written and easy to follow along with but I think the emotional highs would have packed more of a punch if I had understood more context around them.
I really enjoyed the moxy of the MC, she had a very Veronica Mars type vibe. Her forbidden love brought angst to the story and snarky best friend balanced it with the perfect amount of levity and seriousness.
This was an ALC from Macmillan Audio and I think they did a great job on it. The production quality was top notch and the narrator was really fun to listen to.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
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:
No
Settling on 4 stars for this one like the first. Tandem read with audio and had to bump up the narration in sped nearly immediately since narrator did constant breathe inhaulations that were way too loud in my ears until I adjusted.
“You could either exploit or be exploited, and even the folks with good hearts knew they’d have to pick a side eventually.”
So this one wasn't as strong as the first BUT I did enjoy it and am happy that the author didn't drag the story out for a third one. There are some problems with the novel to be sure mainly with explanations of things just being glossed over, the constant back and forth that really wasn't moving the plot forward any, and the romance was a bit lacking this time as well. That said, I was thoroughly enjoying just listening to the drama and the tea. I cackled a bunch and sipped both real and imaginary tea throughout. I do think this novel ended up being a "right place, right time" read for me which does give it a higher rating than I think it would if I had read this any other time. Overall though, I am satisfied by the wrap up to this duology.
“You could either exploit or be exploited, and even the folks with good hearts knew they’d have to pick a side eventually.”
So this one wasn't as strong as the first BUT I did enjoy it and am happy that the author didn't drag the story out for a third one. There are some problems with the novel to be sure mainly with explanations of things just being glossed over, the constant back and forth that really wasn't moving the plot forward any, and the romance was a bit lacking this time as well. That said, I was thoroughly enjoying just listening to the drama and the tea. I cackled a bunch and sipped both real and imaginary tea throughout. I do think this novel ended up being a "right place, right time" read for me which does give it a higher rating than I think it would if I had read this any other time. Overall though, I am satisfied by the wrap up to this duology.
