eu sou contratualmente obrigada a ler esse livro

e eu quase desisti no primeiro capítulo,,,,, mas to bem satisfeita que eu não desisti.

abrir com a cena de sexo que esse livro abriu me fez pensar que esse seria um livro diferente e que o hook também seria diferente, de um jeito que não é ruim, mas também não seria o tipo de livro que eu queria ler no momento.

eu tava enganada, e que bom que eu tava enganada. a minha vontade de ler um bom arco da redenção ainda não foi totalmente saciada, mas far from neverland foi tipo aquela sensação quando alguém coça as tuas costas pra ti, bem naquela coceirinha que tu não alcanças sozinho.

quatro estrelas quase todas investidas no fato do hook chamar o pan de little star. também investidas na forma que a sombra do pan foi escrita, já vi ela ser colocada como algo negativo antes etc, mas gostei dessa versão.

you know, this is what dark romance should be about. it's STILL romantic, despite, ya know, the kinkier bits.

the banter was very mid, but i absolutely LOVED mordred the chaos gremlin and merlin the grumpy sunshine??? that was just so good???

i also really appreciate how easy it was to picture the characters, that doesn’t always happen for me and it didn’t even need overt descriptions to accomplish it.

also,,, i now know far more about “male intimate piercings” than i did before. as in i didn’t know anything about them and now i do. so there’s that. my search history is a lot of fun now after i tried to figure how would all of that feel (the jacob’s ladder had me so confused about pain tolerance at first, but then i learned what prince albert and apadravya piercings are and i now i have so many more questions).

all in all a very enjoyable read, this is the kinda book that gives dark romance an actual good rep.

does that sound crazy? it’s true, tho.

you know WHAT i just changed this to a five star rating upon reread!!!!!!!

literal insanity, that i’m reading this for the Second Time and it still just made me as excited, that i still want to rush to the next book, and despite knowing what happens next, i’m still soooo looking forward to seeing it unfold.

what is it about these books that just Does It?? is it how earnest and straightforward damen is? how true to his feelings? is it the contrast of that to the hard planes of laurent? is it the fact that laurent, always in control, always hard and calculating, started giving the first signs of the softness within in this book????

i complained about lack of world building in the first book and this one expands so much further, i mean, kinda hard not to when they’re literally always moving around and going to different places. ofc, this is far from the depths of world building in high fantasy, for example, but tbh, i’m not big on historical fiction, so i take me loosely compiled fictional lands over that any day of the week.

and the wait this book ENDS!!! that cliff hanger!!!!! DELICIOUS!????? i can’t imagine having to wait for the next book to be published that would drive me mad.

also like, gosh, i tried to bait my friends into reading this saying it was about gay princes with intrigue and sex thrown in but like. there’s literally a single scene and it’s just so??? romantic???? i got to thinking that this was likely among the most filled with feelings sex scenes i’ve ever read in a book before and it was honestly just a class on nuance and use of restraint and purposeful writing. like, kudos for pacat. why of why can’t they write another adult novel i want mooooore

this book wasn’t… that bad at all??????

i guess i should never listen to irls when it comes to this brand of book, because i heard so many bad things about hazelwood and even this book specifically when in the end it was a pretty enjoyable read.

is it groundbreaking? no. but it was fun, so

[the power of love by huey lewis & the news starts playing in the background]

as all other reviews have already stated, this is a slutty, slutty little book. deliciously so, obviously. and i do know that everyone is saying that the world-building and plot here are sub-par, and that is the reason The Royal Curse didn't warrant five stars from me, but even so, i actually enjoyed the plot points?? i wanted more plot! i enjoy some story in between steamy scenes, thank you very much. plus, the cross-country, on a journey, he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not aspects are also ones i deeply enjoy, the magic as a the plot device... this book actually had a lot going for itself to satisfy me.

also! i think how equally obsessed with each other niko and andreas are was my absolute fave thing about this The Royal Curse, even with the fuck or die plot, the author did manage to make it clear how they wanted each other regardless.

this book made me want to read anything and everything by eliot grayson, if it's all as good as this and i think that says something about it in itself.

this was actually more entertaining than the first, pretty fun book series so far!