Reviews

I highly did enjoy this book even if I found myself yelling at the main characters a little. I enjoyed watching the female lead grow into being a more powerful women. Fun magic and enchanted and really enjoyed the dual pov.

lucy_qhuay's review against another edition

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2.0

*2.5 stars*
An enjoyable enough read with just a bit of fantasy to please the fans. However, nothing too developed.

becky_m8's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

ela_35's review against another edition

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fast-paced

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

1.0

I didn’t like anything about this book, because even the small things that were fine seemed like they were out of place.

I didn’t like Arabella or Felix, but I absolutely hated Arabella. She keeps reminding Felix of his promise that he’ll let her return to Althea, and then at the end when he fulfils that promise, she gets angry at him. Another thing that annoyed me so much was Nathaniel. He was constantly being mentioned, but from the beginning you could see that Arabella didn’t actually care about him and that she almost had to force herself to think of him.

The characters weren’t consistent. Arabella’s character was constantly switching between being petrified of Felix, being angry with him, lusting after him (but being in denial about it), and then saying she wants to go home. Then the cycle would repeat. As for Felix’s character, it was his behaviour that kept changing. One second he’d act like a villain, then he’d act like he cares for Arabella, and then he’d act like the poor cursed emperor. It was annoying and definitely didn’t help with getting to know the characters enough to like them.

The plot was that Felix makes Arabella marry him because he believes that she will break the curse. Magic is banded in Arabella’s home kingdom so Felix supposedly teaches her enough so that she can break the curse. The training sessions were short and didn’t show much, and she was quickly able to maintain lots of fire magic over long distances without thinking about it. At the end, of course, Arabella goes back and shows her abusive father how she’s grown and how suddenly wise she was. The curse breaking seemed to happen for no reason, but I was just happy to finish the book.

There were some side characters mentioned, but they weren’t really developed. One of the characters that I hated was Serena, Arabella’s sister. She knew about the abuse Arabella suffered but believed it was right because magic is illegal. At the beginning she’s portrayed as an empty-headed, ignorant idiot. When Arabella returns to Althea, Serena’s character is still that, but within a few pages and some things that happened, she’s suddenly an expert in trade and investments.

I didn’t like this book, and it’s definitely discouraging me from trying other books by this author in the future.

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