Take a photo of a barcode or cover
elle1991 's review for:
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to Liesl West and her team for the opportunity to read an advance copy of Of Rime and Ruin! This was my first ARC—and what an incredible one to start with.
This is a dark, wintery retelling of Beauty and the Beast—but with mermaids, frost kingdoms, and a beast who’s more Jekyll and Hyde than Disney prince. (Yes, they act independently of each other. Yes, it’s as cool and chaotic as it sounds.)
Nahlani escapes an arranged marriage and flees her kingdom, only to find herself trapped in the icy waters of the Frost Kingdom. There, she encounters a terrifying beast who locks her away. But of course, the beast is actually King Aethan—a ruler who has cut himself off from everything he loves, even going so far as to ban his people from using the sea. The ocean changes him, and every time he touches it, he becomes something uncontrollable… something monstrous.
That’s the setup—and I was hooked. I absolutely adored the characters and the rich emotional layers in this story. There’s found family, enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine dynamics, and a twist that kept me glued to the pages. I couldn’t stop smiling through most of it, and the atmosphere made it the perfect winter read.