OHHHHHHHH MAN. THIS WAS A ROLLERCOASTER

*edit* Alright, so two days later and I'm back to elaborate and type through my feelings about this book. So I started this because I needed an audiobook to listen to on my drives to work, it was available in the library, and because I'd seen the cover pop up on so many rec things on tumblr I decided, why not?

First off, I've listened to about 5 books on audio and I've found it to be difficult for me to focus and I tend to zone out a bit. NOT FOR THIS. I was left thinking about things that happened in this book for HOURS afterwards and it made me excited for my drives to work because it would mean I would get to listen to it.

So ya, I know. Mare is a special snowflake and the premise is something I've read about SO many times, but this book has made me realize how much I LOVE a royalty trope. A lot of my favorite books have royalty involved somewhere in them so I guess I just usually drift towards those and enjoy them.

I actually like Mare and don't really find her annoying like some other reviewers do. I was REALLY conflicted about the ships in this book because obv I started shipping Mare with Cal but then Maven showed up and I was like- oh. So THEN it was like, OK I really want to like Maven but I K N O W that he's gonna pull some shady shit but I'm gonna root for him anyway while also simultaneously freaking out every time Mare and Cal have the slightest bit of interaction? So yeah. This book had me in my emotions.

There's a good amount of cheesy and cliché things that happened in this, but not enough to bother me enough that it would ruin the book or series for me. Some twists I expected and others I REALLY REALLY DID NOT so I was kept entertained. I'm on the second book now!