chroniclesofmariana's review against another edition
3.0
DISCLAIMER: O livro está bom, mas em comparação aos outros livros da Kiera este ficou muito aquém...
“A Prometida” conta-nos a história de Hollis, uma jovem do reino de Coroa. O Rei de Coroa, Jameson procura uma esposa e logo demonstra interesse em Hollis e começa a pensar em pedi-la em casamento. Tudo parece correr bem, Hollis parece apaixonada pelo rei e tudo ia correr bem...
Até que entra Silas, um jovem do reino vizinho com o qual Coroa não tem boas ligações, e rouba o coração da jovem.
Gostei dos plots twists que foram surgindo ao longo do livro e fiquei surpreendida. Gostei imenso de saber como funcionam as cortes e os membros nela inseridos.
Sou fã da saga “A Seleção” e acho está uma grande obra prima mas tenho a confessar que fiquei um pouco desiludida com este livro.
Li o livro em 1 dia, a história está fluida e super fácil de ler. Fiquei viciada porque estava a tentar perceber se haveria algum desenvolvimento na história mas infelizmente ha algumas falhas.
Achei algumas partes incoerentes e sem ligação, confusas e momentos em que já não percebia nada do que estava a acontecer.
E falta de personalidade! A Lady Hollis Brite é honestamente um pãozinho sem sal.
A melhor personagem sem dúvida que é a Valentina! Essa personagem sim tem personalidade. E o Etan? As vezes ficava confusa se o triângulo amoroso entra entre Silas e Jameson ou se o Etan é que era o romance dela. Sem duvida que tinham mais química.
Apesar deste ter sido o livro que menos gostei da escritora, ele não está mau. Sendo que vai ser uma duologia penso que, agora que Kiera teve bastantes críticas negativas acerca deste livro, vá ter mais cuidado com a escrita. Ainda assim fico ansiosa para ler o próximo.
“A Prometida” conta-nos a história de Hollis, uma jovem do reino de Coroa. O Rei de Coroa, Jameson procura uma esposa e logo demonstra interesse em Hollis e começa a pensar em pedi-la em casamento. Tudo parece correr bem, Hollis parece apaixonada pelo rei e tudo ia correr bem...
Até que entra Silas, um jovem do reino vizinho com o qual Coroa não tem boas ligações, e rouba o coração da jovem.
Gostei dos plots twists que foram surgindo ao longo do livro e fiquei surpreendida. Gostei imenso de saber como funcionam as cortes e os membros nela inseridos.
Sou fã da saga “A Seleção” e acho está uma grande obra prima mas tenho a confessar que fiquei um pouco desiludida com este livro.
Li o livro em 1 dia, a história está fluida e super fácil de ler. Fiquei viciada porque estava a tentar perceber se haveria algum desenvolvimento na história mas infelizmente ha algumas falhas.
Achei algumas partes incoerentes e sem ligação, confusas e momentos em que já não percebia nada do que estava a acontecer.
E falta de personalidade! A Lady Hollis Brite é honestamente um pãozinho sem sal.
A melhor personagem sem dúvida que é a Valentina! Essa personagem sim tem personalidade. E o Etan? As vezes ficava confusa se o triângulo amoroso entra entre Silas e Jameson ou se o Etan é que era o romance dela. Sem duvida que tinham mais química.
Apesar deste ter sido o livro que menos gostei da escritora, ele não está mau. Sendo que vai ser uma duologia penso que, agora que Kiera teve bastantes críticas negativas acerca deste livro, vá ter mais cuidado com a escrita. Ainda assim fico ansiosa para ler o próximo.
kmbooky's review against another edition
5.0
It was a great book. Sad ending but can't wait to read the second book.
elmosworld's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I love Kiera Cass but this was just poorly written :(
kitsunebi_reads's review against another edition
4.0
I was excited to read the newest by Kiera Cass. Ready to step back in to the royalty and romance. The Betrothed follow Hollis Brite as she has just become the object of the young King Jameson. Everything changes when a family escapes to Coroa, seeking sanctuary. Hollis becomes quite taken with the Eastoffe family, especially by Silas Eastoffe with his startling blue eyes. The story moves at a brisk pace. Sometimes too fast. The events that take place over the last 10 chapters happens so fast I felt I didn't quite know why they were happening. It was a lot to take in when the first 25 chapters had done a good job with the pacing. The last chapters seemed rushed, almost not fully thought out as previous chapters.
With all that said I enjoyed The Betrothed, but compared to Cass' other works it fell a little short to me. I give it 4 stars. I hope that the pacing and story will be much improved in the 2nd book.
With all that said I enjoyed The Betrothed, but compared to Cass' other works it fell a little short to me. I give it 4 stars. I hope that the pacing and story will be much improved in the 2nd book.
sarahmjenkins's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
vivianne's review against another edition
2.0
I was so excited for this book, it was literally one of my most anticipated releases for this year. I LOVED the selection. However, when I read this I was a lot younger and not as critical a reader. My expectations were really high for ‘The Betrothed’ and I am sorry to say that those weren’t even met in the slightest.
This book was just a train wreck.
Some spoiler free thoughts:
- The world was super underdeveloped and everything needed more explanation and description.
- Hollis was the most illogical, spoiled, immature character I have ever read about.
- The whole plot and choice that the book is surrounded by was so f*cking stupid because the love interest was so bland and boring and there was no single spark of connection or romance between them.
- This book was so freaking rushed and full of every trope I hate!
Spoilers from here down!
Let’s start with some positive notes. Overall I think this book is a highly enjoyable quick read, which is especially suitable for younger readers. It’s super easy to read and I enjoyed the simplistic writing style (even though it’s not really a step up from the selection). I also thoroughly enjoyed the start of this book. I (then) liked the characters and I was completely sucked into it from page 1.
However this positive vibe changed after about 20 pages in this book. I got a bit bored with the world? There is nothing really described and I felt like everything was underdeveloped. Normally I don’t really like a lot of descriptions but here it was just so bland, I had no clue how the castle looked, the rooms AND even the people! I can’t tell you anything about how anything looked. Besides that, also the customs, dances, the court life, the dresses, the holidays, the country, nothing is explained! Things like the politics and court -where I expected this book to shine in- lacked severely and was very bland and uninteresting. This really annoyed me greatly after a while but also contributed to me not understanding the choices and character motives.
Another thing that bored me was the plot. This book has NOTHING going for itself besides the main phrase ‘The king has chosen her, her heart belongs to another’. I just missed action, plot twists, fights, gossip, debt, side plots! There was NOTHING happening! The main focus was on small talk, dating the king, what to wear, how disgraced Delia was and how though Hollis’ life is, and I just got really bored and annoyed with it after a while. Plus it was super predictable, I could even tell before she would run into Silas. Besides this, the pacing was very off, nothing the first half of this book and then at 60% of this book Hollis denies the king, runs off with Silas, becomes engaged, marries him and their family is killed in about 20 pages? Didn’t care for this at all and it made me really disconnected from the story.
Hollis was literally the most ungrateful, illogical, spoiled, immature, annoying character I have read about in a while! She made my eyes sore from eye rolling. Everything that came out of her mouth was either stupid, childish, rude, selfish or clumsy. And you would think that because she annoyed me so much she at least would have a personality, but nope. Her character is as developed as a dead fish, I can’t tell you a single thing about anything she likes or dislikes. She also made no character growth whatsoever and just kept on complaining and whining throughout. OMG her whining I couldn’t stand it! A few examples:
- Hollis getting the apartments of the queen and whining page after page that she doesn’t have her belongings, that it’s too big and that she longs for the simplicity of her own room.
- Her suggesting to Silas to go with the whole family to Isolte to visit queen Valentina. Uhm what? WTF?! They fled that country?
- That she writes in the letter to her parents “No I wasn’t the boy you hoped for, no I didn’t became queen and yes I shamed our family publicly but why does any of this matter.” Literally quoted. Well, it matters a whole deal in a world where your reputation is EVERYTHING!
And there are 100 more.
Hollis decision making was the absolute worst, not only didn’t I understood her decision to run off with Silas but just her whole train of thoughts made absolutely no sense what so ever and it drove me crazy! She also understood nothing of court life, of raising above her station, of what women have to do in a world like that. And of course I support women’s rights and fighting for your own happiness but it was just not well explained and rational. Hollis could have done so much more when she would have become queen. A few examples of Hollis not understanding court:
- Hollis forgetting about the foreign king coming and totally not worrying about it until Jameson fuzzes the queen is coming too; so she has to learn everything in a day and she complaints and whines about it every step of the way. Well you would think if you would become queen and are raised to catch the eye of the king you would get an education in this?
- When you become queen; your children become pawns in alliances and strategies, they are married off to foreign countries and that’s the way it is. Hollis completely freaks out over this and becomes upset that Jameson signs a treaty for their future child to remain at peace.
- When foreign kings and queens come to visit you have to be present and entertain your guests. Hollis literally runs of after her first conversation, complaints and whines to the king that she doesn’t want to sit next to the foreign queen (they have spoken all but three words) at dinner and asks to retire. So she goes off AND GIVES A PARTY at the queen’s suite for her ladies! Like WTF!
- Doing anything she likes, no matter the consequences or the gossip that might follow. And her not understanding why the advisors didn’t support her being queen. LMFAO!
OMG and can I rant about the men and “romance” in this book.
First King Jameson; going in I expected a Maxon. Boy was I wrong. He is, like Hollis, really underdeveloped and I also couldn’t follow his train of thoughts. He was very unbelievable in everything but especially in being king. He never radiated power or authority to me and I found him an extreme pushover particularly towards Hollis. A few examples of this; him just letting Hollis go after she humiliated him in not accepting the proposal even though everything was set for her being queen. Or that he just found everything funny and delightful about Hollis even though nothing she did or said gave a good image or was very queen-like. I didn’t understand him giving her the queens suite, they weren’t even betrothed!
I also didn’t understand him falling for Hollis in the first place. Hollis says it herself “I am pretty but pretty isn’t enough”. A king needs to marry for alliances or advantages, this ‘lady’uhum girl from a noble family (I think? Wasn’t explained much) who isn’t smart or special or ladylike in anyway, caught his eye? They also didn’t have much chemistry and I didn’t understand him laughing about her ‘jokes’ who weren’t jokes but just her being rude, clumsy, dumb or childish.
Then Silas; her love interest. If Jameson was underdeveloped he was well… not even there? I can’t tell you a thing about him and therefore don’t have much of an opinion. He just doesn’t have much of a personality to be honest and wasn’t a lot present in this book (which is a huge problem since the main choice is about him). The romance between Silas and Hollis went way to fast and was super insta lovy. I didn’t much care for it and since this is like the whole plot of this book yeahh… not a success. This also attributed to me greatly disliking the plot and me not understanding Hollis’ decision making!
All other characters besides Valentina, were flat , boring and uninteresting. I found Silas’ family way to idealized and unbelievable. Delia was bland but turned around into semi interesting half way through because she wants to be queen and has been trying the catch the king’s eye. But then we don’t see her again besides a letter in which she is quite a bitch. Her parents were bland and supposed to be portrayed as strict. I understood completely how let down they were with Hollis’ behavior and choices. A side character that I really enjoyed and found really mysterious was Valentina, she made this book a 2 star book instead of 1. I felt so bad for her and can’t wait to see what will happen surrounding her in the next book. However there was a bit too little of her in this book to be extremely taken by her.
I did appreciate the ‘twist’ and the turn of events 75% into the book. But I had kind of guessed that something would happen at the wedding, but not that everyone would be killed. Illogical and fast as it was happening, at least something was happening now. The whole twist with Silas’ family being in line for the throne and king Quinten being after them was (like the whole book) illogical, not explained well and a bit of a letdown. Why would he want this family death? They haven’t done anything to plot against them? They are even making his family line survive if he and his son would die without an heir. Didn’t make any sense to me whatsoever. I had hoped that there would be a big revelation at the end that Jameson had something to do with it or her parents or that Silas’ family did do something to deserve it but nope, super bland an boring. And these dark knights WTF? They came out of nowhere? Who are they and why are they once again not explained. Furthermore because everything is happening so quickly and left unexplained I was not invested in the story or the characters, making me not care at all that dozens of people including the love interest (or is he not death?) were just killed off. I wasn’t even sorry for Hollis, Silas’s mom and sister, that’s how badly written it was.
The ending was not really what I expected, in both a good and negative way. It did make me super excited for the next installment, and I do really want to know what happens. I am super exited that she is going to Isolte and I mainly want to see what will happen to Valentina. BUT once again I didn’t understand Hollis’s logic and it was super irresponsible to leave the estate with no one watching it and to go off into a dangerous country without even your belongings where the king wants to kill the family you are with... I would have never ever have done this and it was just once again stupid in my eyes. Sigh..
One final note; I really missed diversity in this book! I saw so many opportunities to throw in a bi romance or poc.. but nope.
AUDIOBOOK review:
Not my favorite but it matched the story. I think the narrator suited perfectly to translated Hollis’ whiny, childlike voice. The world is simple enough not to get lost while you are listening and since the descriptions are not present my mind didn’t wander off. 3/5 stars.
This book was just a train wreck.
Some spoiler free thoughts:
- The world was super underdeveloped and everything needed more explanation and description.
- Hollis was the most illogical, spoiled, immature character I have ever read about.
- The whole plot and choice that the book is surrounded by was so f*cking stupid because the love interest was so bland and boring and there was no single spark of connection or romance between them.
- This book was so freaking rushed and full of every trope I hate!
Spoilers from here down!
Let’s start with some positive notes. Overall I think this book is a highly enjoyable quick read, which is especially suitable for younger readers. It’s super easy to read and I enjoyed the simplistic writing style (even though it’s not really a step up from the selection). I also thoroughly enjoyed the start of this book. I (then) liked the characters and I was completely sucked into it from page 1.
However this positive vibe changed after about 20 pages in this book. I got a bit bored with the world? There is nothing really described and I felt like everything was underdeveloped. Normally I don’t really like a lot of descriptions but here it was just so bland, I had no clue how the castle looked, the rooms AND even the people! I can’t tell you anything about how anything looked. Besides that, also the customs, dances, the court life, the dresses, the holidays, the country, nothing is explained! Things like the politics and court -where I expected this book to shine in- lacked severely and was very bland and uninteresting. This really annoyed me greatly after a while but also contributed to me not understanding the choices and character motives.
Another thing that bored me was the plot. This book has NOTHING going for itself besides the main phrase ‘The king has chosen her, her heart belongs to another’. I just missed action, plot twists, fights, gossip, debt, side plots! There was NOTHING happening! The main focus was on small talk, dating the king, what to wear, how disgraced Delia was and how though Hollis’ life is, and I just got really bored and annoyed with it after a while. Plus it was super predictable, I could even tell before she would run into Silas. Besides this, the pacing was very off, nothing the first half of this book and then at 60% of this book Hollis denies the king, runs off with Silas, becomes engaged, marries him and their family is killed in about 20 pages? Didn’t care for this at all and it made me really disconnected from the story.
Hollis was literally the most ungrateful, illogical, spoiled, immature, annoying character I have read about in a while! She made my eyes sore from eye rolling. Everything that came out of her mouth was either stupid, childish, rude, selfish or clumsy. And you would think that because she annoyed me so much she at least would have a personality, but nope. Her character is as developed as a dead fish, I can’t tell you a single thing about anything she likes or dislikes. She also made no character growth whatsoever and just kept on complaining and whining throughout. OMG her whining I couldn’t stand it! A few examples:
- Hollis getting the apartments of the queen and whining page after page that she doesn’t have her belongings, that it’s too big and that she longs for the simplicity of her own room.
- Her suggesting to Silas to go with the whole family to Isolte to visit queen Valentina. Uhm what? WTF?! They fled that country?
- That she writes in the letter to her parents “No I wasn’t the boy you hoped for, no I didn’t became queen and yes I shamed our family publicly but why does any of this matter.” Literally quoted. Well, it matters a whole deal in a world where your reputation is EVERYTHING!
And there are 100 more.
Hollis decision making was the absolute worst, not only didn’t I understood her decision to run off with Silas but just her whole train of thoughts made absolutely no sense what so ever and it drove me crazy! She also understood nothing of court life, of raising above her station, of what women have to do in a world like that. And of course I support women’s rights and fighting for your own happiness but it was just not well explained and rational. Hollis could have done so much more when she would have become queen. A few examples of Hollis not understanding court:
- Hollis forgetting about the foreign king coming and totally not worrying about it until Jameson fuzzes the queen is coming too; so she has to learn everything in a day and she complaints and whines about it every step of the way. Well you would think if you would become queen and are raised to catch the eye of the king you would get an education in this?
- When you become queen; your children become pawns in alliances and strategies, they are married off to foreign countries and that’s the way it is. Hollis completely freaks out over this and becomes upset that Jameson signs a treaty for their future child to remain at peace.
- When foreign kings and queens come to visit you have to be present and entertain your guests. Hollis literally runs of after her first conversation, complaints and whines to the king that she doesn’t want to sit next to the foreign queen (they have spoken all but three words) at dinner and asks to retire. So she goes off AND GIVES A PARTY at the queen’s suite for her ladies! Like WTF!
- Doing anything she likes, no matter the consequences or the gossip that might follow. And her not understanding why the advisors didn’t support her being queen. LMFAO!
OMG and can I rant about the men and “romance” in this book.
First King Jameson; going in I expected a Maxon. Boy was I wrong. He is, like Hollis, really underdeveloped and I also couldn’t follow his train of thoughts. He was very unbelievable in everything but especially in being king. He never radiated power or authority to me and I found him an extreme pushover particularly towards Hollis. A few examples of this; him just letting Hollis go after she humiliated him in not accepting the proposal even though everything was set for her being queen. Or that he just found everything funny and delightful about Hollis even though nothing she did or said gave a good image or was very queen-like. I didn’t understand him giving her the queens suite, they weren’t even betrothed!
I also didn’t understand him falling for Hollis in the first place. Hollis says it herself “I am pretty but pretty isn’t enough”. A king needs to marry for alliances or advantages, this ‘lady’
Then Silas; her love interest. If Jameson was underdeveloped he was well… not even there? I can’t tell you a thing about him and therefore don’t have much of an opinion. He just doesn’t have much of a personality to be honest and wasn’t a lot present in this book (which is a huge problem since the main choice is about him). The romance between Silas and Hollis went way to fast and was super insta lovy. I didn’t much care for it and since this is like the whole plot of this book yeahh… not a success. This also attributed to me greatly disliking the plot and me not understanding Hollis’ decision making!
All other characters besides Valentina, were flat , boring and uninteresting. I found Silas’ family way to idealized and unbelievable. Delia was bland but turned around into semi interesting half way through because she wants to be queen and has been trying the catch the king’s eye. But then we don’t see her again besides a letter in which she is quite a bitch. Her parents were bland and supposed to be portrayed as strict. I understood completely how let down they were with Hollis’ behavior and choices. A side character that I really enjoyed and found really mysterious was Valentina, she made this book a 2 star book instead of 1. I felt so bad for her and can’t wait to see what will happen surrounding her in the next book. However there was a bit too little of her in this book to be extremely taken by her.
I did appreciate the ‘twist’ and the turn of events 75% into the book. But I had kind of guessed that something would happen at the wedding, but not that everyone would be killed. Illogical and fast as it was happening, at least something was happening now. The whole twist with Silas’ family being in line for the throne and king Quinten being after them was (like the whole book) illogical, not explained well and a bit of a letdown. Why would he want this family death? They haven’t done anything to plot against them? They are even making his family line survive if he and his son would die without an heir. Didn’t make any sense to me whatsoever. I had hoped that there would be a big revelation at the end that Jameson had something to do with it or her parents or that Silas’ family did do something to deserve it but nope, super bland an boring. And these dark knights WTF? They came out of nowhere? Who are they and why are they once again not explained. Furthermore because everything is happening so quickly and left unexplained I was not invested in the story or the characters, making me not care at all that dozens of people including the love interest (or is he not death?) were just killed off. I wasn’t even sorry for Hollis, Silas’s mom and sister, that’s how badly written it was.
The ending was not really what I expected, in both a good and negative way. It did make me super excited for the next installment, and I do really want to know what happens. I am super exited that she is going to Isolte and I mainly want to see what will happen to Valentina. BUT once again I didn’t understand Hollis’s logic and it was super irresponsible to leave the estate with no one watching it and to go off into a dangerous country without even your belongings where the king wants to kill the family you are with... I would have never ever have done this and it was just once again stupid in my eyes. Sigh..
One final note; I really missed diversity in this book! I saw so many opportunities to throw in a bi romance or poc.. but nope.
AUDIOBOOK review:
Not my favorite but it matched the story. I think the narrator suited perfectly to translated Hollis’ whiny, childlike voice. The world is simple enough not to get lost while you are listening and since the descriptions are not present my mind didn’t wander off. 3/5 stars.
kathrynhenson's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
smiley_kylie's review against another edition
3.0
She stole the king's heart, but her heart is being stolen by another.
I enjoyed the Selection series and the Siren by Kiera Cass, so I thought I'd give this a try too. It's a sweet concept for a plot, but the execution didn't quite land for me. I never connected with Hollis, the FMC, because she comes off pretty one-dimensional, and I had a hard time believing so many people would fall so in love with her.
I haven't decided yet if I'll give the sequel a try... This book ends on a more sad note, without much resolution, and at the start of a journey. Part of me wants to see what happens and if things get better, but the larger part of me thinks my time might be better spent elsewhere.
Overall takeaway: cute story but not a favorite for me.
I enjoyed the Selection series and the Siren by Kiera Cass, so I thought I'd give this a try too. It's a sweet concept for a plot, but the execution didn't quite land for me. I never connected with Hollis, the FMC, because she comes off pretty one-dimensional, and I had a hard time believing so many people would fall so in love with her.
I haven't decided yet if I'll give the sequel a try... This book ends on a more sad note, without much resolution, and at the start of a journey. Part of me wants to see what happens and if things get better, but the larger part of me thinks my time might be better spent elsewhere.
Overall takeaway: cute story but not a favorite for me.