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roadtripreader 's review for:

A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova
3.75
adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

 Saved by the Second Act

I am an annotator.  There, it feels better to say out loud.  I can't help making notes as I read and I sit there with my journal and doodle and get worked up about one character and swoon over another.  Boy if you saw the notes on the first 8 chapters you'd be sure this was going to be a DNF. I'm trying to limit my DNF to 10 per year.  I ended up in the sweet spot and that's thanks largely to the worldbuilding.  I am a damned sucker for an immersive world and immerse I did.  Sometimes the FMC threw me off with her "Not Like Other Queens" schtick and I was this close to telling her to sod off - but I persevered and look at me now, loving Luella and Eldas almost a fraction as much as I love Brishen and Ildiko  or Valroy and Abigail.  That is a whole lot of love.


Spice level: 🌶🌶 and 🍭

Plot/Storyline: you know I LOVE the idea of this book.  Kudos to Elise Kova. I love the idea of a Human Queen and an Elf King and somehow they balance out life and death

Characters:-1 I grew to tolerate Saraphina/Luella.  She was a cross between a childish teen pretending to be "deep" "not like other girls" and a grown woman  coming into her element. I wanted her to be more.  Eldas was such a hot Grouch but I did like him a whole lot more than his Human Queen.

dialogue wins/losses: -1 good dialogue but at times it had a very 21st Century lilt to it that took me right out of The Fade and smack bam in my room.

Favorite scene/quote: “If you’re always walking above people you risk walking on them, Eldas. And that’s how you make enemies.  (Luella/Saraphina on Mutual respect after Eldas used Knowing magic to control her)