4.5/5 stars!

THIS WAS SO GOOD! I preferred it to Crown Duel, mostly because I love court politics and seeing the inner workings of running a kingdom.

I loved every second of it – from the beginning when Nee was introduced and seeing Bran so happy, to seeing Mel learning about court behaviour and then adapting to court life. And the letters between her and the Unknown and just everything else! It was so cute and perfect and just gave me the right amount of feels.

About half way through the book I was convinced that Mel is demisexual and that made me like 10x more happy and excited to be reading this book! I don't know if its confirmed or anything, but it seemed likely to me, though I could be wrong. I'm going to pretend I'm right though cause I loved how everything was done so well.

The only thing I wish this book had was a map. It kind of made things difficult to picture, and I'm the kind of reader who loves to flip back to maps to see where things are. A map would have definitely helped with the first book.

Overall, I really, really recommend this duology! This will definitely be a book that I'll reread over and over again!