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About the Book: Sebastian, on the eve of War between the Courts has to return to the Summer, one he was born into, but long as not considered home. He expected hostility, possibly even imprisonment, but still risked it all, for that was the only way to help his friends, Phineas and Roark, with whose Court lies his heart. Sebastian has to find Roark’s brother and return him home, by kidnapping or even murder if that’s what it takes. But standing before the King of Summer Court he is greeted as a long lost family member, a prince… And while that gives him hope to come closer to the target, it also puts one on his back, for there already is an heir to the throne, and she is not so happy to see him.

My Opinion: The theme of the book was a lot alike Captive Prince with the, well, captive prince falling in love with the opposing kingdom’s prince. And while it wasn’t as well written as Pacat’s work, it was still not bad, so I will continue with the series.

Yeah, so this one gets a 3 out of 5 from me.

nordiccowgirl's review against another edition

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emotional tense

5.0

haletostilinski1's review against another edition

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4.0

When I saw this was up on Netgalley I was so excited. Despite my frustrations with the ending of Roark and Finn's book, I loved it and I was eagerly awaiting this. I don't remember Sebastian much from the first book, I vaguely remember him as Finn's friend, but I absolutely adored him in this book.

From the beginning of this book, we found out a surprising fact.

Spoiler

Slaine, Roark's older brother who apparently defected to the Summer Court was actually taken years ago by Aoife, the High Princess of the Seelie Court and put under a spell and a mask so no one could know who he is and he couldn't talk about who he is to anyone. For a good portion of this others, particularly Sebastian, know him as Duine, and I will refer to him as that in the rest of my review to keep that spoiler out of it if people didn't read the spoiler.

Sebastian is a kind, gentle, sweet man who has kept the secret that he's a Seelie prince and the nephew of King Oberon of the Seelie's, and even before that secret is out, Roark asks - more like orders him (after having manipulated him) - Sebastian to invade the Seelie Court to get his brother, Slaine back so they can lock him up, kill, what have you. If he does it, he'll grant Sebastian protection for the rest of his life. Roark does it all so Finn won't be killed, because Finn is the most important thing to him (oh and also they got the Seelie equivalent of married between books, so...wish we could have seen the handfasting ceremony for that :()

So Sebastian does it and while there he meets Duine, and they start to slowly fall for each other while political intrigue abounds and Sebastian has to try to keep his true purpose for being among the Seelie court a secret and Duine has his own secrets that he literally cannot tell anyone.

I personally felt the connection between these two was slow to take hold. I just didn't feel like they felt more than friendship at first, and the low steam and romance when they eventually do feel things didn't help. Even though the last book had low steam, I felt like the love between Roark and Finn was quite clear and quite passionate.

Sebastian and Duine never felt passionate enough for me, even though I grew to like them together by the second half. They were sweet together and hold a great love for each other. I just wish the book had taken some more time away from the politics and given us more scenes of these two just together, falling in love.

They were around each other, sure, but they rarely, in my opinion, talked about anything other than the politics and mind games they were surrounded with. It took a long while for me to really feel it between them.

But then of course just when I was really getting into these two together and loving them, they get separated. And that was part of why I took a star off of this because I don't remember exactly how long, but it was around 15% or so of this near the end where they're separated - and since this is a long book, that was a LOT of pages. It got so frustrating that I actually started shouting at my screen to just get the separation over with already.

I can handle separation, especially if it makes sense for the story - but it just felt like this continued to drag it out and drag it out for such a long time just for the sake of angst and making the readers and these two suffer and make the ending as dramatic as possible. It bothered me and affected my enjoyment of this novel. Because honestly? That last 20% or so before Seb and Duine are reunited was just a lot of

Spoiler

"Duine goes into battle, comes home, talks to Aislinn, talks to Seb, rinse and repeat and Seb keeps hearing a voice, he keeps helping out Duine, he wants to make it back but also he's just...not...for whatever reason and rinse and repeat.

It got too repetitive and boring for me before long and I just wanted the reunion to happen already. It was stretched out too long just for some angst and making us bite our nails and the ~drama of it all. It was too much for me to give this a full 5 stars because of that.

Also, again the ending didn't feel quite satisfying. I was happy for where Seb and Duine were (although I could have used a little more of them, just like I felt like with Roark and Finn) and for other circumstances concerning Roark and Slaine, but I wanted more so it didn't feel 100% satisfying for me.

I get that these three books have an overarching plot and that plot doesn't end with each book, but the stories end with a HFN/HEA for our couples, so their story is over, so I wanted just a little more to give Seb and Duine a more satisfying HFN, at least. I know they're together and happy and strong, but after the horrible separation we barley get just them, alone, together, and that also bothered me.

So mainly my big problems with this were at the end, the last fourth or so of this book. It was of course still very well written and engaging, but that didn't mean I was enjoying it as fully as I should have been - or enjoying it at all at times. Everything before it was amazing and I loved it and was riveted, and although Seb and Duine could have used more passion, more chemistry, eventually that came after the slow build for me to feel it between them, so that didn't bother me as much as what happens in the last 25% or so.

So yes, I absolutely recommend this, and Seb and Duine did earn a special place in my heart by the end of this, even if it took me a while to connect with them, but there were also frustrations with this from me that didn't make me love it as I wanted to. I still enjoyed it overall, but that last 25% or so almost pissed me off in a way. Just too much filler that could have been skipped over with a little room left over to really give Seb and Duine a satisfying ending.

I would have been fine with the open ending plot wise, but it is frustrating to see the non-closure for the main couple, just like in book one. They deserve more than what the ending gave them after having a whole book dedicated to their romance.

So I would recommend this just for the great world Grant has given us, the exciting adventures, the rich and amazing writing, the amazing characters, this exciting and interesting plot, and a really good romance in this book. It was still a good book, it just wasn't great like I wanted it to be and wished it would be.

That ending could have just been a little less "drama for drama's sake" (or more angst for angst's sake) and more about giving this couple a much stronger HFN than we were given and more scenes to solidify it for the readers at the end.

Still very much worth a read though, despite my own personal frustrations with it.

***ARC generously provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.***

patroclus99's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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