3.5 stars, maybe?
Ok – this isn’t a genre romance, ends on a cliffhanger, and it takes at least half the book for the lead & LI to even talk to each other. The plot is both boring and not really there. (Take off your human skin!)
Knowing that going in, this was decent. Definitely was expecting maybe a bit more from Mayne, having enjoyed her other romances, but once this started moving, it was entertaining.
The first quarter of the book was so slow. Nothing going on, the plot is just ‘look at this fae world and all the people inside it’ which, being someone who also like SFF without romance, was dry but fine. I can see how this would be a super frustrating book for a romance reader checking it out after loving the Monstrous series. This does go from the leads not speaking to each other to endless bl*wjobs and f*cking, which was a big 180, lol.
I don’t know if I liked this because of the actual story, or because it felt like an actual fantasy genre book with a solid romantic subplot, where the romance is also fleshed out and there is steam (something that gets old in the SFF genre is that it’ll be closed door or maybe one open door/vaguely sexy scene). Not sure if I’m making sense, but this book fits in between the gap of genres and I appreciated that element a lot.
It’s not a book that’s reinventing the wheel in the fae shenanigans world, but it was entertaining once the MCs actually started interacting. Assassin prince + kidnapped halfling, there’s some cottage core cuteness sprinkled in along with the court politics and fae happenings. Some domestic bread baking and cuddling with a cat and wolf. Some mystery of figuring out intentions. Fae can’t lie so you are reading in between the lines of things being said, yada yada yada.
Yes, I’m going to read the next book since apparently there’s a HFN and I want to see the redemption arc and whatnot, still not sure if this is a book I’m loving, or just one that has a solid narration and is entertaining enough to go on with.
Be prepared for so many bl*wjobs though, and the classic using “nuts” for balls/testicles (it broke me in Soul Eater, lol).