4.25

Look. This was entertaining. But it is a love triangle right from the start which is not my jam. And our main girl just keeps ping ponging between the two sides. She tells the rebels how to infiltrate the keep, and then when they do and kill everyone she’s like “omg no don’t kill them, I have to save them!” She is all over the place.
Intrigued enough to read the second and hopefully the love triangle can die. ( )

This was a solidly written book, and it was well executed to boot. It was gripping from the very start, and it continued its choke-hold on my attention straight through! The writing was seamless. The background detail was rich, AND the characters...

The characters were easily the stars of the show (as it should be). The FMC, Diem, was an incredibly strong personality with an equally strong/stubborn streak plus a suped up added advantage (one that's sloooowly revealed). She is (beautifully) humanly flawed and extremely easy to root for. Witnessing her struggling Coming of Age journey was the main attraction... for me. I also enjoyed the enemies --> lovers aspect (even though there was a touch of the ever loathsome Love Triangle trope) as well as the unique magic system. Her (boy)friend (??), Henri, was a sweet (??), doting, safe romantic prospect but the sloooow yearning for the bad(?!?) boy was much more appealing... again, to me. You, of course, are welcome to your own opinion, but you just might find yourself waffling after experiencing this duo's chemistry. But hey, I was a Leigh Bardugo Darkling fan sooo make of that what you will. Either way, I am excited to hear/read/explore your views on the matter because I definitely recommend this read to all who love Magically Realistic enemies to lovers- sloooow burn tales. Even if you don't fall squarely in that category, I highly suggest giving this a try, it was worth it!

Overall:
This checked most of the boxes in the Trifecta of Awesomeness (Trifecta of Awesomeness = Quality of the Writing + Background Detail + How Robust the Chatacters Are- with a notable mention for plot/premise).

I was up 'til the weeist of hours, egged on by my overzealous curiosity and a blatant disregard for how well I'll fair tomorrow with little to no sleep... spoiler alert... I'm going to be a mess but HEY, I can always sleep tomorrow night... hehehehe, yeah, right... daytime nap it is!

Anyway, I HAVE to mention THAT ENDING!!?!? It was a wild curve ball... a(n) (almost) completely unforeseen twisty turn in the crazy train tracks that was this book's last few chapters... and that epilogue... I loved how it ended on her point of view! It was...

mmmmwah ::: chef's kiss :::

Final 2 cents: I am super excited to see what happens next!

~ Enjoy

*** I received an advance review copy for free from BookSirens, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. *** ( )