Take a photo of a barcode or cover
itadakinasu 's review for:
For Crown and Kingdom
by Grace Draven, Jeffe Kennedy
My rating takes into account both stories.
I don't understand why these stories were published together, as they: aren't part of the same world, don't have any of the same characters, have totally different writing styles, and are written by different authors. They should have been published separately for the sake of not confusing readers who don't know Kennedy's world/series (which has already been established, hence my confusion).
Review for The Crown of the Queen by Jeffe Kennedy:
1 star. I couldn’t read more than a few pages.
From the very first paragraph, names were lobbed at me one after another with no context. I tried to piece together who is related to whom and what these kingdoms/cities are, but after being introduced to a clearly unimportant character (the ex-queen, who has no immediate relevance to the story) through passing commentary on top of the 15 other names and places I was expected to remember, I felt my patience slipping.
Maybe it’s petty, but I also didn’t like the names of characters/places. Especially place names felt cheesy. They were impossible to pronounce and looked like they were created in a D&D fantasy name generator.
I was constantly confused as to who was speaking and what relationship they had with the protagonist. I had to refer to notes in my Kindle to remind myself who the characters were and why they were important. Not a good look for such a short story.
The stakes were high starting in chapter 3, but without any idea as to who the involved characters are, I already didn’t care.
Review for The Undying King by Grace Draven:
I'm a simple human: I see something by Grace Draven, and I buy it. Despite how short and smutty this was, I was a total hoe for it and ate that shit up.
Draven does a few things well in each of her writings:
1) Building attraction.
2) Maintaining chemistry after the first kiss / first time sleeping together.
3) Sex positive, assertive female characters.
4) Sex positive male characters who appreciate women's sexual agency.
5) Writing in plenty of sex scenes without making it the main focus of the relationship.
6) Doing retellings and tropes well.
My only real issue with The Undying King was how needy/clingy Imogen was. It wasn't cute, and I'm not a fan of that type of character just in general. Still loved this story overall though.
I don't understand why these stories were published together, as they: aren't part of the same world, don't have any of the same characters, have totally different writing styles, and are written by different authors. They should have been published separately for the sake of not confusing readers who don't know Kennedy's world/series (which has already been established, hence my confusion).
Review for The Crown of the Queen by Jeffe Kennedy:
1 star. I couldn’t read more than a few pages.
From the very first paragraph, names were lobbed at me one after another with no context. I tried to piece together who is related to whom and what these kingdoms/cities are, but after being introduced to a clearly unimportant character (the ex-queen, who has no immediate relevance to the story) through passing commentary on top of the 15 other names and places I was expected to remember, I felt my patience slipping.
Maybe it’s petty, but I also didn’t like the names of characters/places. Especially place names felt cheesy. They were impossible to pronounce and looked like they were created in a D&D fantasy name generator.
I was constantly confused as to who was speaking and what relationship they had with the protagonist. I had to refer to notes in my Kindle to remind myself who the characters were and why they were important. Not a good look for such a short story.
The stakes were high starting in chapter 3, but without any idea as to who the involved characters are, I already didn’t care.
Review for The Undying King by Grace Draven:
I'm a simple human: I see something by Grace Draven, and I buy it. Despite how short and smutty this was, I was a total hoe for it and ate that shit up.
Draven does a few things well in each of her writings:
1) Building attraction.
2) Maintaining chemistry after the first kiss / first time sleeping together.
3) Sex positive, assertive female characters.
4) Sex positive male characters who appreciate women's sexual agency.
5) Writing in plenty of sex scenes without making it the main focus of the relationship.
6) Doing retellings and tropes well.
My only real issue with The Undying King was how needy/clingy Imogen was. It wasn't cute, and I'm not a fan of that type of character just in general. Still loved this story overall though.