A review by thereadinghammock
Courtship's Conquest by Abigail Kelly

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Courtship's Conquest picks up concurrently with the closing chapters of Consort's Glory (highly highly recommend reading that one first because obviously--spoilers) at the Elvish Summit. Camille and Viktor's relationship is steeped in "right place, wrong time" and a plethora of what if's of a teenage romance gone sour with miscommunication that is a hallmark of teenage love. 

Both Vik and Cam grew a lot in their 20 years apart. Vik becoming a competent and reliable alpha for his pack; Cam as a determined and independent woman taking her destiny into her own hands. But their love, loyalty, and need for each other never really changed--just whether or not they were able to properly express it or not.

Abigail loves a good fated mate moment, and elves and shifters both have STRONG mating instincts/imperatives. Add in a healthy dollop of second chance romance, an assassination plot, and a dash of political machinations to an already wonderful story of strong familial bonds, and you've got the recipe for an excellent story! Watching Cam thaw to Viktor's pursuit, elegantly slipping himself through every loophole she tried to catch him with was just so sweet. When they finally threw open their proverbial curtains with each other and laid it all out and finally had a "...wait you too? All this time?? No way!" they slotted into each others lives almost seamlessly. Almost.

While every new (or new again) relationship has some growing pains, in this new matehood, Cam and Vik grow together with pretty decent communication and trust. Cam's biggest issue being an adjustment to pack life from the relative isolation/small family units of elvish community. Seeing Cam reel a bit and grow in her new role as alpha with Vik was wonderful and I look forward to seeing glimpses of them and visits from the pack as they continue to settle in.

The section with the assassination attempt on the beach, where they sealed their fates as consort & mate almost out of necessity for safety, ooof. That whole scene hit me SO HARD IN THE FEELS. It brought me straight back to when my husband had appendicitis last spring and I had to continue on about my day going to work while he was in the hospital just waiting to go into surgery. And the feeling of relief when I saw him after his surgery and the flood of emotions that came over me as I sobbed into his shoulder (while he was still pretty groggy from anesthesia to boot) from all the worry about "what if something goes wrong?? What if I lose him??" just rushing out of my system. After I read those chapters (and knew Vik was REALLY OK) I just crawled into his lap for a good long snug about it.
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