Ahoy there me mateys! I received this fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So here be me honest musings . . .

I wanted to love this book, I really did. The publisher offered me an e-arc of this book because I adored the bear and the nightingale. And honestly it should have been an awesome read.
The story involves five daughters of a king. A king who happens to have fallen into a deep coma-like slumber. So all of the daughters are drawn to their father’s side to say their goodbyes. But what if it is not illness but a magical spell that holds the king in slumber? The sisters must find out quickly before the kingdom’s peace is torn apart.

I did enjoy the sisters for the most part. They are all named after plants –
- Bluebell – a warrior who is set to be the next king
- Rose – a mother whose unhappy marriage was the price for peace
- Ash – a student of magic who may possess magic she never asked for
- Ivy – a young girl who just wants admiration from everyone
- Willow – a zealot of a new religion who wants the world to convert

So I had two problems with this book. The first is that the plot was just plodding at parts. It took me forever to get into this book and I didn’t really get engrossed in the story until after the 60% mark. It could have been trimmed. There was too much time where nothing interesting happened and the characters were waiting around.

Which leads to the second problem. While the characters were waiting around, all of them were confused, upset, and could be annoying. The sisters seemed to never use their intelligence and instead made extremely rash choices that were a) stupid, b) completely emotionally based, and c) the worst possible choice. I thought it was ridiculous that all of them couldn’t seem to use logic and reasoning. I could sort-of accept it for Willow due to her particular set of problems but not for the others. Ultimately I didn’t totally like any of the sisters and found it hard to wish for success for any of them.

The one really fun note for me was the bad guy, Wylm. He is a step-brother by marriage. While his bad-guy motivation was rather lame (having the throne for the sake of being important) I did like that the author had him make some choices that took me completely by surprise. While most of his actions are caused by his cowardice and need to stay alive, he did have others that led to excellent plot lines and he actually used his brain. He could be crafty even if his underlying reasons were illogical. I also enjoyed how his portion of the story resolved in the first book.

Ultimately I would consider this an okay read. I found Bluebell and Ash’s sections to be very engaging at times. I did enjoy the magical system and would like to see that explored further. I am not adverse to reading the next book but I think I would wait for reviews from me crew before making the choice to continue the series.

So lastly . . .
Thank you Random House!

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