A book that was high on my tbr for this year that I finally managed to get to!

This was a pretty good read. I honestly don't have much to say about this book besides that I really enjoyed the writing style. It flowed very well and was quick and easy to read. The book reminded me a lot of The Lunar Chronicles, though it is quite different. The Queen with the veil thing really did it for me. The plot itself is quite unique and I found the world building to be interesting. The representation in this book was also nice to see. I did mostly add this book to my tbr because of the aroace rep, and I'm really happy with how it was done.

As for the characters, I was kind of meh about them by the end. I didn't really fall in love with any of them. Anna kind of annoyed me a lot, especially because of how clueless she is and how rashly she acts. She's quite self-focused, and while she does learn and develop as a character, I feel like we could have gotten more development.

The pacing in this book really threw me off. Things go from a relatively normal pace, to everything happening all at once in a span of a couple days. This book is a standalone, so it makes sense for the plot to be tied up at the end, but this was kind of the main thing that turned me off this book. The romance was also super rushed, and literally both characters had major feelings for each other in the span of a day. I prefer more slow-burn if there is any romance, so I wasn't a huge fan.

Eliza was an okay character. I did find it odd that she realizes that Nathaniel wanting to please his father is just like her wanting to please the Queen, then promptly forgets she thought this and goes on to betray Anna, and then come to the realization that she can be true to herself and happy and have Anna, rather than listen to the Queen and blindly follow her. I mean...the journey it took for her to get there felt roundabout, but I guess it made sense for the plot.

Nathaniel was my favourite out of the characters. He is a bit whiny and doesn't believe in himself, even at the end there, but I did pick up this book because of him. I feel like it's rare to have aroace characters who are male? At least, I haven't read any books besides this one where the guy was aroace, so that was pretty cool. I did understand his character the best, especially considering everything he's been through and what his father did to him. I understood how hard it was to stand up for himself and voice his opinions. It was sad but also super relatable.

Overall, a pretty good read.