I absolutely adored this book and I was sure from almost the start that it was going to be an unquestionable 5 stars, but I started to get less sure about 80% of the way in when there was quite a big shift in the tone of the book. It definitely wasn't unprecedented and there were hints that it was coming but considering most of the book was a fairly light-toned romance it just took me by surprise slightly.

Having said that, it definitely didn't ruin the book, I just think more of the political and warfare could have been built into the book at an earlier stage. I thought the character development was great and I loved all the different friendships throughout but I especially loved Gwen and Art's enemies-to-friends arc. The romantic relationships between Art and Gabriel and Gwen and Bridget were also really well developed and I was rooting for the them to succeed and be happy the whole way through (as well as smiling giddly at the pages every time Gwen and Bridget kissed).

A book that I will definitely be recommending to a lot of people!!