Reviews

Freedom and Fire by Courtney Thorne

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95whit's review against another edition

4.0

I kept waiting for Adan or Cerise to be bad guys and turn on her. Thank GOD they didn’t. However I’m still sus about them both showing up when Aurelia had a nightmare and “sharing a look” wtf was that about? And Adan redirecting her attention from that one book she picked up? So many questions I will need answered in the next book!

And poor Alev

penniew79's review against another edition

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5.0

I had not read the first book, but was able to quickly get caught up to speed.

This book took me on a rollercoaster of emotions. It is written so well that you go through everything right there with Queen Aurelia!

Queen Aurelia is now free, but that doesn’t mean it will be easier for her now. She has to go through many tough decisions. Prince Alev, who is over the Fire Kingdom, invites her to his kingdom. She does accept and travels there. She goes through some attraction and feelings for him, but she keeps dreaming about a man she’s never met before. The kingdom keeps pushing for an engagement announcement but it could cause many issues.

No spoiler but the ending will give you a cliffhanger that will have you sobbing, or at least it had me sobbing.

I received this as an ARC to read. I was not influenced to give a good review. It’s my own honest opinion.

jemmarie's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sarahserenidad's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

the_bookish_crafter's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I fell in love with the first book, and completely devoured this one. I could not, would not put this book down and had to finish it in a day.

So many emotions were brought on with this story. Amazing characters, world and development. I cannot wait for the third book.

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I accidentally spoiled the ending when checking to see how many pages there were, but I still wasn’t expecting it. My heart broke so many times in this book and there is no solace yet. I can’t wait until the next installment, where we will get to explore more that this realm has to offer…and potentially more.

The only issue I had with the book was that Courtney Thorne only said “male” and “female” and was never “man” and “woman”. It was just super weird to imagine people actually saying something like “that female looks so pretty. Must be so great for a male like you.”

Content Warnings

marissajanellatchreads's review against another edition

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5.0

Holy crap! This series is getting better and better! Aurelia has to deal with the aftermath of the end of book 1, and she goes to visit the Fire Kingdom with Prince Alec. What she doesn’t expect is to find someone she thought wasn’t real when she gets there. There are so many betrayals, lies, and heart break! I can’t wait to see what comes next!!!

sienasummerrreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

“If I start something with you now, you’ll never eat. Because once I get the taste of you, I don’t think I’ll ever get enough.”

Aurelia has been promised her hand in marriage to all the other four kingdoms. But she has a secret no one can know. But for the first time, she has a bit of freedom to explore outside the kingdom and wants to go with the Fire Prince Alev and join him in his kingdom to celebrate the Fire Season. Soon the other kingdoms may want to claim what is owed to them. How long can we hold them off?

This book I enjoyed and it’s a very slow burn but we made it! I will say I feel like the last 5% has many plot twists and I was shocked but worst of all I feel like I have been lied to and manipulated “he was just acting” NO WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I’m gutted and still processing those words. I will throw hands! But other than that I will say I thought Aurelia would be strong in this but I found her a little weak. She cried a lot, it was a repetitive emotion that kept coming up. As she was sheltered her whole life and after what happened in book one I thought she could stand up for herself more.

Other than that I’m enjoying this series and looking forward to the next book.

If you love:

🔹Fantasy Romance

🔹Arranged Marriage

🔹Slow Burn

🔹One Bed

🔹Betrayal

🔹Good Spice

Genre/Type: Dark Fantasy Romance 18+

APK: Kindle

Pages: 385

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Spice: 🌶️

Series or Stand Alone: Series Book 2 In The Elemental Viria Series

Tropes or Themes: Dark, Fantasy, Arranged Marriage, One Bed, Slow Burn, Forbidden, Elemental / Power System, Princess, Kingdoms, Protective MMC, Nightmares, Touch Her Or Die Vibes, Ball, Betrayal, It’s Always Been You, Sexual Content, Virgin, Praise, Blood & On Page Murder.

Check Triggers ⚠️ 💫

All Round Romance Reader

Sienasummerrreads 💕📚

Content Warnings

lunabelle33's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

To say I was super excited to see this ARC pop up in my emails was an understatement. I have been looking forward to this for the better part of a year. And I was not disappointed. This book put me through all of the emotions and left me wanting for more (I hope there will be more) this book kept me on the edge of my seat and helped me get out of the slump I was in. If your looking for your next fantasy read this series is it for sure. :)

bookedwithholls's review against another edition

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emotional tense slow-paced

4.0

This book picks up with our rapunzel-like princess learning about her kingdom that she has been locked away from and really learning about herself. I was ready for her to be observant and a little more self assured but she was stuck in her head and working through a lot of changes at once. It was fun to see more of the different kingdoms and my theory from book one came true! I loved seeing those relationships form and development. The last third of the book felt a little rushed/underdeveloped and is where my four star rating came from. I think we could have had more conversation and relationship development in Spirit kingdom and maybe the plot twists at the end wouldn’t have felt as rushed. I think with more time to develop my attachment to these characters the ending would have been more impactful. Overall I love the storyline still and can’t wait to see how the author wraps up this story on book three.

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