Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by ria_mhrj
Shadow's Claim by Kresley Cole
3.0
I swore off Kresley Cole a while back, as I didn't like how bloody mean her couples were to each other. However, I was persuaded to pick this one up from the library as Felicia Day's Vaginal Fantasy Book Club had reviewed it, and I wanted to read it first before watching on YouTube. And the blurb was insane but fun sounding.
And insane but fun nicely sums up this book. The tournament for Bettina's hand is a fiendishly clever framing device. What surprised me was quite how bloody, violent and troubling the whole experience was. Bettina has some downright disgusting suitors to fear and as there can be only one survivor and she has two people she cares for contending, the tournament served to really drive the narrative (between the naught scenes) and helped build the tension (a different kind of tension from the naughty scenes). The Lady's Choice round in particular had me super anxious, even though logic would dictate how the final round of the tournament would be setup.
In terms of the romance, I quite liked Bettina and Trehan (even if her name kept reminding me of Miss Piggy's daughter in The Muppet's Christmas Carol). They weren't excessively cruel to each other, feelings were honestly explored and the element of the triangle with Caspion was nicely done, as Bettina is a 22 year old after all.
All in all, a fun read.
And insane but fun nicely sums up this book. The tournament for Bettina's hand is a fiendishly clever framing device. What surprised me was quite how bloody, violent and troubling the whole experience was. Bettina has some downright disgusting suitors to fear and as there can be only one survivor and she has two people she cares for contending, the tournament served to really drive the narrative (between the naught scenes) and helped build the tension (a different kind of tension from the naughty scenes). The Lady's Choice round in particular had me super anxious, even though logic would dictate how the final round of the tournament would be setup.
In terms of the romance, I quite liked Bettina and Trehan (even if her name kept reminding me of Miss Piggy's daughter in The Muppet's Christmas Carol). They weren't excessively cruel to each other, feelings were honestly explored and the element of the triangle with Caspion was nicely done, as Bettina is a 22 year old after all.
All in all, a fun read.