This book had everything I love; Smart, capable badass fmcs, politics, espionage. All of it. I should have swooned. I should have been over the moon in love with this book, but I just wasn't. I can't even tell you why. There was nothing I inherently disliked about it. I enjoyed all of the characters. They all had such unique personalities that I had no issue keeping them all straight; I never confused one person for another. It was well done.

There were just never any fireworks for me. It felt a little bit immature. The sisters were raised to be these canoeing girls that are stealing three thrones, but really, they're just kids with some messy seduction and the ability to code secret messages to each other. 

I also felt like I kind of knew where the story was going. At no point was I sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the other shoe to drop. For me, the plot just moved along at the same pace from start to finish without any huge heart-wrenching moments. That's probably where I struggled the most. While I liked the characters and the plot, there was no love. I was never emotionally involved with this story, and so I kind of just moved through it until it was over.

This fell short for me in so many ways. 

Here's the thing. I asked for more politics. And yeah, the author delivered. I got more politics, and I was so dang excited for it. BUT. We spend the majority of the book going from counselor to counselor having the exact same conversations trying to get people over to their side. I got bored after number two. Like, come on. I will say, Asea was pretty great rigging everything up to go exactly her way, and I love her for it. Honestly, her character is the best part of this duology. And this (quite) boring book. 

Rhone has zero personality and is as boring as boring comes. There's hardly even a point of him being in this book. And the romance, if you can even call it that, is a joke. At what point do these two even get to know each other? What even is there to.know.about Rhone? He's literally got zero dimension to him. 

Here's my biggest gripe of all. I read two books waiting for the shoe to drop and for Rhone to figure out Asea's true identity, and there was WAY more emphasis on Seyin finding out who she really was than there.was with the King finding out. She was all “I'm tired of telling this story” by the time she got to Rhone. It RUINED this series for me. I wanted this huge explosion of emotion and love and honestly and… ANYTHING. All I got was a “why am I not dead?”. Ugh. The biggest letdown ever. Honestly. 


Book 2, way better than book 1. But still, just not for me. 

This book started off so strong. So strong. I loved it. I dived in head first, and I love, love, loved Victoria. The whole idea of a reverse little mermaid retelling was also all the way up my alley. It just didn't end up there 100%. 

While we started off super strong, it tapered off for me somewhere around the 50% mark. The plot kind of stopped moving for a while and there was a bigger emphasis on the growing relationship between Victoria and Ilryth, which is fine and dandy, but out of the 4 books so far, the romance was, quite honestly, the most flat in this one. I just didn't feel the sparks between the two. I wanted to! I tried to! It didn't just happen for me. The connection just wasn't there. 

This one just moved so dreadfully slow, and I didn't feel like there was anything to look forward to. There was a bit of a build-up, and it got me all jazzed, but the end ended up being pretty… meh. I got all excited for it to just fizzle out, and then it was over. 

That first half, though, so good. 

I am intrigued by the mistaken identity and kidnapping and pretty much nothing else. 

All of the characters are pretty one dimensional and boring. Considering Asea has literally been kidnapped, I really expected tensions and emotions to be high, but everyone just continues functioning as if it's a completely normal occurrence. Asea isn't even mad; she makes a few kinda really bad attempts at escape, but really, it feels like she's just waiting around for Daddy to come save her. 

It's pretty obvious to me (and probably everyone) where this story is going, and I'm not really excited about it. 

I like what little politics have been pulled into this one. If this book had a bit more focus on that, and maybe if it was a little longer with a little more depth, it really could have worked for me. 

This one was not my favorite of this series - BUT - I don't dig the whole Vampire thing, so take my review with a grain of salt here. 

Blood gives me the icks. So, naturally, I try not to get too wrapped up in the whole vampire thing. I can't think too hard about drinking blood and what not without entirely detaching from a book, so that probably stopped me from enjoying this book as much as the prior two in the series. 

You might be asking why I bothered with this one? Well, obviously, I can't skip book three in a series! (Idc if it's a series of standalone, shhh!) 

I loved that this one had a major plot to it. It felt less about the romance (although, that was still very front and center) and more about the history of the two races and the creation of the tensions and animosity between the two. I really, really enjoyed that part of this book. 

The end was wonderful. It didn't lead me down the path I expected to go down, and I do love when I ended up somewhere I didn't really expect at the end of a book.

The supporting characters felt much more up front and center in this installment than the prior, and they were so well done that I was also super happy to see this. 

Now, with the romance between our two characters. I don't know if it's because I'm reading this series pretty back to back, or if it's because I already wasn't loving the nature of this book, but, the push and pull between love interests and the will they won't they is starting to feel repetitive and kind of… dare I say identical, as the series goes on. 

All things considered here, the deck was pretty stacked against this book, and I still came out the other side, having enjoyed it, so that really says something. 

I should really just copy and paste my review from book 2. 

This book tried to have a plot, at least. But the way that we absolutely zoomed through it just left a ton of plot holes… and let's be honest. This whole series was kind of cringe. 

There are so many mates but yet zero personality to any of the characters. Zero relationship building. Very minimal world building. The dialogue was so fake. So, so, fake. No one talks like anyone in this book. 

I couldn't connect with the characters or the plot. I was really just waiting for this whole experience to end. 

Well. I got what I asked for. There's actually a plot in this one… Too bad it's completely shoved to the back burner in order to make way for ANOTHER insta love crap mate. 

Honestly, I could go for a little wooing. A little bit of character and relationship development. There's so little personality to any of her “mates” that I actually can't keep any of them straight because they all feel like the same freaking person. 

There are so many holes in the plot that I'm having a hard time even bothering. 

I'll read the third, but purely because these books are so short I can get through it quickly (*and I love to torture myself*). 

I really liked this book. Like a lot. 

Right off the bat, I fell head over heels for Davien. The rules of the house kind of threw me off, but it was so flipping cute them gett8ng to know each other when she couldn't even lay eyes on him. Maybe that's just me, though. 

Things kind of dropped off for me once we hit the road, though. I got a little bored of Katria's “I refuse to fall in love” bit, as it was extremely repetitive and overdone. I also got bored of the push and pull between her and Davien. I'm not sure when, but at some point, I started rolling my eyes at the “will they, won't they”, because obviously they will. 

The twist is actually pretty obvious… glaring obvious, but necessary, so forgivable. 

I loved the found family. I loved the musicians. I loved that this one had more of the politics upfront, instead of hidden in the back like the first. 

And even though I didn't love Katria, I loved Davien, and that made it all better. 

This book is so cute and so much fun. 

Luella is my favorite kind of fmc. She's smart, headstrong, and she is fully independent without being an obnoxious “not like other girls” kind of girl. 

I loved the development of her and Eldas’ relationship. And the development of her relationship with her magic. It all just worked so well together and weaved such a beautiful love story. 

I think, though, that I could have used a bit more action. Closer to the end, things really picked up in a great way, but I think I would have enjoyed the story more if there had been a bit more of the political issues sprinkled throughout the book, rather than such a focus on sitting on the throne and reading through the past queens journals. 

Special shout out to Hook and Willow ❤️

This was a pretty decent read for me. I didn't read the synopsis before jumping in, so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a historical novel with Gothic/ghosty vibes.

 To be quite honest, I could have used a little bit more of those ghosty vibes because they didn't entirely feel like they fit. I mean, sure, they go along just fine with the mysterious man whose personality changes at the flip of a switch, but the ghost aspect didn't entirely fit the rest of the story. I think it could have worked just as well without it and the inclusion of the diary. 

I figured out the twist pretty early on, and from that point, I was just waiting for the reveal. I wasn't entirely disappointed, and I truly believe that the last 75 pages of the book were the best. This is lost likely due to the fact that I found the lacing of this book to be quite slow and a little tedious, and by the last 75 pages, things were really on a roll. 

Everyone was keeping all of the secrets in this book. It got repetitive, Eliza begging everyone for answers all the time, and it got quite frustrating continuously being put off. The plot kind of gee stagnant at points because of this. 

I really did enjoy the atmosphere of this book. It was beautifully created and really well done. My favorite thing about this book was the feeling like I was truly experiencing the Gothic nature of the Havenwood home.