Series: The Shepherd King 
Book 1: One Dark Window ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book 2: Two Twisted Crowns ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm sitting in the same place I was when I finished the first book. There are things about it that I loved, but I spent a lot of time bored and finding my mind drifting off to other places. I want to live inside the book I'm reading. Not drift off back to… reality 🫥

Things l loved: 

Elm and Ione. I connected with their romance way more than I did with Ravyn and Elspeth. I loved watching her come back to herself after being in the clutches of the Maiden card for so long. 

The story of the Shepherd King. I needectbis. I loved his history. I loved his story, and he was one of the only characters that I truly did connect with amd care about. He's probably the reason this is a 3 star book instead of 2. 

The magic system. I love the cards, I just feel like I needed more people using the cards. 

The last quarter (maybe less) of the book had a great pace and I was really into it. Things actually started happening and I couldn't stop reading. 

Things I didn't love: 

Most of the characters. I didn't connect with any of them. I didn't even feel a connection between any of them. The relationships felt pretty superficial. I either hated the character or didn't care much about them at all. There was really no in-between. 

The “twist”. It wasn't a twist. The entire story was pretty predictable from the get go. I didn't get that oh my gosh moment I was waiting for, and I was pretty let down because of it. 

The book was slow. So slow. And I was bored through a lot of it, and overall just have a feeling of blah about the whole experience.