There just wasn't enough to this book to keep me all that interested. 

The flashbacks to the wedding were boring and uneventful. Current day was also boring and uneventful. Literally nothing happens in this book. There's a moment there where someone might be following her around, but… that's as far as we get into any kind of suspense. Oh, that and some drama with Colbie's sister that seemed out of place and pointless. 

We didn't dive deep enough into the whole mess with Paige, which, in my opinion, should have been where some of those flashbacks came from. I needed more about Phil and his sketchy past. The way that it was, we were given so little information about him that I really didn't care much about his death. 

Once the truth was all laid out at the end, it just felt like facts were being presented to me. This is what happened, this is why, and that is that. I had no emotional connection to the characters or to their relationships with one another. 

Then we're made to accept the facts and poof, the book is over. No real closure or conclusion. Here's what happened. The end. 

I can't recommend this book. 

I like that these books can be read in one go. My daughter and I sat down tonight and we read this book together in less than an hour. It's a quick, easy and fun read. Although, I will say that because of this, we seem to be a lot less invested in the characters as we have been in our past reading adventures. 

My eight year old likes the twins, she has twin siblings and really loves that her and Mallory have that in common. 

I love all the wicked little Fey creatures. 

These books are cute fun, with spooky and creepy vibes mixed in. We both love the illustrations. Can we take a second to shudder at that troll? 

4 stars. 

This was okay. I was happy to see that the plot kind of changed from the first two books. I was honestly worried this series was just going to be four of the exact same books tweaked here and there. But this one was new! 

It was new, but it wasn't great. All of the characters feel so hollow in this book, we don't really delve into anyone's history or get to know anyone. Considering Terra is one of our main characters, pieces of her history that I think we really should have known from the beginning just kept popping up out of nowhere. 

It felt to me as if the author couldn't decide where she wanted the book to go and just kept adding in additional information as she decided on plot points to include. In the beginning of the book, she hates Rian and believed in his guilt. By the time we make it to the halfway mark, she's claiming she always believed in his innocence and was taking care of his dying mom? It doesn't work for me. 

I'm also getting tired of Bianca. She went from being cute and quirky in the first book to being rather annoying in the third. I'm tired of hearing her same shpeel about fated mates and true love to all of the fmcs in this series. It's awfully repetitive, and I could really go for another supporting character. 

Last bit of rant. Why does the good fae goddess always pop up AFTER all the shit goes down. If bad fae goddess can show up for the battles, why can't she? Rude.

This was a really great ending to Orin and Sahira’s story. 

It was probably the only end that would have made any sense, and for the most part, it went exactly how I assumed it would. No twists and no turns, just a perfect conclusion all wrapped up in a nice little box. 

I loved the growth that Orin and Sahira went through together in this one. And that they finally had a together instead of fighting it constantly; I was absolutely more than ready for the dynamic to change between them. 

I liked the cursed realm. I liked the villains. They were the perfect villains. The storyline and plot in these three books of the series really had me, and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

I will say again that the side characters were all pretty boring and bland. I didn't care much for any of them, and to be honest from time to time I completely forgot about them, so I was disappointed in that, considering the side characters in the first six books were almost better than the main characters. 

Other than that, this was a great installment to the series, and I'm really excited to read Brokk’s story. 

I'm reading this series to my eight year old daughter. We have two very different opinions so I'll relay them both. 

K: I love this! I love faeries, this is so fun! I'm sad Jared's family doesn't believe him. Boggarts are SO cool. 5 STARS!! I want to see more fey! 

Me: This is just the beginning of a book. I'm a bit confused as to where the rest of it is and why the series is broken up this way. It's a fun introduction into the world of the Fey. It's got a spooky vibe to it that I like. It's pretty good.
As a mother, I can't see myself talking to my kids the way their mom talks to Jared. I'm just saying. I'm interested in seeing what other Fey we’re going to be introduced to. 3 stars. 

We'll meet in the middle and call it 4 stars. 

Uhm, Deja vu anyone? 

This book was the story, the plot AND the characters from book 1 rewritten with new names and different powers and called book 2.

Reluctantly falling in love? Check. 

Hard upbringing so they left as soon as they could? Check. 

Purchased their own “home” that's not a home but is a mobile “escape” they can call their own (aka van/boat)? Check. 

Secret powers? Check. 

Surprising parentage they didn't know about? Check. 

Fae Princess? Yuuuup. 

Our supporting characters are even the exact same people from book 1. 

Also, to end this rant (read: review), the way Torin speaks is so ridiculous, cheesy and fake that I found it hard to like his character. I most definitely rolled my eyes a whole bunch at the nonsensical romantic garbage he was spewing. 

I said in my review for book 1 that Bianca was the best part of the book, and I loved her as comedic relief. But I feel like I can't even say that for this one because I've already been there and done that, and to do it again? She just didn't feel genuine this time around.

While I love this realm and the overall storyline that this book is taking, I have to say I found this installment to be quite tedious and repetitive. Sahira and friends spent most of the book (all of the book) trekking across wide open spaces, without a hope or a plan, being attacked by random creatures every so often. 

I love Sahira and I love Orin. I love their banter and their relationship and watching them fall more and more in love but refusing to accept it. But, it doesn't go further than that in this book unfortunately. 

The supporting characters in this part of the series are lacking, they're all pretty bland and hollow. No one really has too much personality, they're all just along for the ride hanging out in the background. 

I love the trapped in the realm idea of this one, but there was no real plot here, and so this one didn't hit like the last.

I really enjoyed this one. I really wasn't sure what to expect coming out of Lexi and Coles story, especially because everything in that world was kind of settling, so entering this cursed realm was exactly what the story needed. 

The premise of the whole realm trapping people there is great, and I love it. I have so many questions, but so do Sahira and Orin, so I know answers are coming. 

I love their relationship, I have since the first moment they were put into a room together and as ridiculous as it might be, I'm so glad that it hasn't changed much. Orin is still obnoxiously (read: adorably, hilariously) awful. I'm also really loving getting to know Sahira as more than Lexi's aunt. The way she was portrayed in the previous books had me imagining her as some old aunt, so this has been great at getting me to reimagine her. 

I'm loving this so far, and I'm really excited to see what the next one brings. I'm so curious to know who's pulling the strings behind this realm. 

This was pretty good, bordering on just okay. The story was decent. The characters, though a little shallow, were fun, and I enjoyed the banter with them all. 
BUT: I have some issues. 

This book reads like it's the second or third book of a series, not the first. We're thrown into this story, and all of the characters seem to have this history that we were supposed to know about. They talk about their relationships and battles as if I should know what's going on. I realized after doing some digging that this series is set in the same world as another, so it's possible these characters stem from there? I'm really not sure. I wasn't lost, I was still able to follow the plot, but it really did feel like I was missing something, or there were things going on that I wasn't totally grasping. 

The pacing felt off as well. There were parts of the book that a bunch of time was spent on, that felt like it lagged, and we probably didn't need so much page time. Then we get to these battles, and these parts where huge plot bombs are dropped and those parts get three or four pages whereas there are literal CHAPTERS of them traveling across the sea. It really didn't work for me. 

The romance didn't click for me either. I assume I was supposed to get the reluctant to fall in love but can't help it vibes, but that didn't come through. They went from maaaybe turning into friends to “the love of my life” in one chapter. I didn't get the warm and fuzzies from them… at all. 

Honestly, her friendship with Bianca was the best part of this book. She was absolutely adorable. 

As an addition to this series, this book was fine. Not my favorite, but it was interesting enough. The arboretum was really neat, and the Series Of Unfortunate Events making an entrance was fun. 

Now. 

As the FINAL book in this series, this was the WORST. The absolute worst. I was expecting answers, reunions, and an ending. I got NONE of these things! Zero! 

No Quagmires. No Baudelaire parent that survived the fire. No closure! I'm so frustrated!! I don't think any ending of any series has ever made me so bad. I have so many questions left, and no hope of ever getting answers. 

This series created question after question, its not right that the author had zero intention of answering any of them. 

Even my daughter is upset. We both spent an hour after finishing this book creating our own ending and cursing this series over and over again.