I'm half asleep as I write this, so I hope it makes sense.
This is a tough book for me to review. There were things I really liked about it and things that kept taking me out of the story that really tried to ruin it for me.

The romance was the most successful aspect of this book in my opinion. This is a true enemies-to-lovers type romance. Too often books will be marketed as such but then not execute it well at all. Usually they 'hate' each other for about one chapter (usually due to a situation where one or the other of them didn't use their words) and then they flip a switch and can't stop thinking about the other person. It's ridiculous. This book takes places over the course of some time and these characters actually HATE each other at first. Many of their interactions for the first third of the book are completely antagonistic, to the point that I was wondering when or if we'd see a turn in their relationship. I honestly still think it's a tad bit fast and wish there had been a longer stretch of them actually being friendly with each other before get lovey dovey, but even after they've fallen for each other we get a good dose of angst, so it doesn't have time to get stale.

Now, if the book had been satisfied with being a fun fantasy standalone romance, I think this gets four stars, easily. But for some reason, the author felt the need to stretch this out into multiple books and add a lot of convoluted obstacles for our characters. There are so many characters to keep track of in this book that I found myself slightly confused at times trying to remember who is who.

Also, I had a really hard time with the world building in this book. It's obvious that the author is using France as inspiration for her fantasy world, which is fine when it's well done. But aside from some of the language the characters use, there really isn't much else that supports that inspiration. Some references to food, fashion, music, or art would've solidified that French feel a little. My bigger issue, however, was the inclusion, in a FANTASY WORLD, of Christianity. So am I supposed to believe that in this fantastical, NOT EARTH world, the bible and Christianity is a thing? I'm not saying that there is no place in fantasy for religion. Many fantasies use religion to build their world and the culture of their people. But this book's characters quote scripture from the Christian bible. It just took me out of the story every time it happened. She could have still used religion and faith to inform her characters motivations without it being something so bound to our reality.

My last gripe is that this book felt like it didn't know what it wanted to be, especially with regard to the target age demographic. This book is being marketed as a YA fantasy, but as is the case with Sarah J. Maas, I really think this book is more New Adult than Young Adult. The main protagonists are over 18 and there is a lot of adult content in here. Lots of swearing and graphic references to sex, including one graphic sex scene. I'm not a prude...really. I like sex scenes in books, and I even think they can work in YA books with a little subtlety. Maybe that's the real problem. This book lacks subtlety.

All that negative said, I still enjoyed the romance enough that this book gets three stars. I don't think that I will continue with the series, because I got what I wanted from the romance and I don't really want to stick around for the obstacles that are sure to be coming in subsequent books. This was fun, but only time will tell if it will be memorable.