I didn’t know about this book until Orbit put it on my radar. I looked up the blurb and thought it sounded very interesting. I buddy read this with Julie and I’m so glad we did. I think buddy reads are just the way to go about reading.

Anyways, this was something different, and I enjoyed it. It’s a fairytale/Regency/fantasy romance. There’s kind of a lot going on but it’s not hard to follow at all. In my opinion, it reads more like a YA than an adult. The romance is also very clean but an enemies-to-lovers. Although, I think that Elias took it a bit too far at times. It does turn very quickly and then you kind of fall in love with him. Once you start to delve into his character more, his behavior becomes a bit more understandable. There’s a lot going on there and I love where his heart is.

Dora was a character that I’m still not sure I completely connected to. It kind of makes sense since she’s missing the emotional side of her soul. On the other hand, her comebacks and snark are top-notch. The way she doesn’t Elias get away with anything was very entertaining. The romance was very sweet, and I think a lot of people will enjoy that.

The friendships are the stars of the book. We have two close friendships between Dora and Vanessa and Elias and Albert. I loved how much they took care of each other and championed each other. They do hit some snags but the way they make each other better is great to see. I think that’s a great friendship when you can challenge each other and grow. There are many social issues that this book focuses on too.

Speaking of Albert, he still might be my favorite. That’s all.

The plot of this book was a bit disappointing for me. We start this book off great and it’s moving at a fast pace. When we get about halfway is when I started to get more YA vibes. The last 1/3 of the book was too fast and the story was rushed. We get almost no world-building and things just happen too quickly. It was kind of like whiplash. It’s very undeveloped and it would have probably been a five-star read for me, if not for that.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and the characters. I think the plot needed some work, especially that last chunk of the book. I did like it enough to keep going with the series. I love how different it was, and the enemies-to-lovers aspect was done really well.

Many thanks to Orbit for providing me with an e-arc via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own!