Actual Rating 3

After mulling this over and reading some other reviews, I’ve changed my initial rating of this book. It just doesn’t give me that YA feel, it feels like an adult fantasy book trapped inside of these pages. I feel like it would’ve been better suited in a different genre that wouldn’t have restricted the author. By that I mean with the ~ Romantic ~ scenes were very choppy in some areas and I feel like that took away from the plot itself.

The first half of this book was excellent, it was in the second half that things got kinda messy for me. The Goblin King reminds me of Rhysand from A Court of Mist and Fury and the love interest from Cruel Beauty (Ignifex?), so yeah not my ideal suitor. I just wasn’t a huge fan of him, and the relationship he has with Liesl. They both seem to use each other, and the character development in Liesl to Elisabeth due to their relationship was frustrating.

Overall, I did like the idea of this book and the plot, I just craved more from it. Though I will be picking up the sequel–I’m curious to see how the plot is resolved