Anna

This book started off as a really whimsical fairytale story. Our protagonist comes home for her father's funeral and is unexpectedly chosen as heiress to the family estate during an ancient magical ceremony.

Over the course of the book, several mysteries regarding the estate and the ceremony have to be unveiled by our protagonist, and for my taste, that was just a bit much considering this is a relatively short book. For this reason, the whole story felt rushed, and it felt like none of the mysteries got quite enough room to breathe. Part of this might be as there are set up for the remaining series, but after this first book, I'm unlikely to continue with the series.

*Heavy spoilers*

There was one part of the book that really left me fuming. Why in heaven's name is our protagonist unable to call the police on anyone? Her brother is being blackmailed for being gay. That same man then causes a severe head injury to our protagonist's sister, and she sends the perpetrator off with a slap on the wrist? A family heirloom is stolen, which is essential for the ceremony meant to choose the next heir. She finds it, and the thief again gets nothing but a slap on the wrist? I was so mad and would have stopped reading the book altogether if that wasn't literally the end of the book.

I really enjoyed my time with this book. There were themes of found family and finally finding a place where you belong and can truly be yourself. Which was really wonderful. It felt like just the right cozy fantasy romance I wanted to read.

But then came the third act breakup, and that kind of soured the experience for me. Third act breakups have a tendency to do that for me, and this book was actually a good example as to why they often do. The reason for the breakup was well set up, but I felt that the reaction by our protagonist was a little overblown and, therefore, made the reconciliation just a couple of days (or pages) later a little bit difficult to believe. If there were a better explanation as to why she changed her mind and came back, that might have helped, but there was too little of that for my taste. In my opinion, many third act breakups (or arguments) tend to have that problem when the book still ends with a happy end.

For me this book really picked up right where the last book ended. We still have the same in-dungeon mayhem, though this book feels more like epic all out battle, but still very much in line with the spirit of the earlier books.

At the same time, the outside dungeon story is really ramping up, so what started in the previous two book is really paying off right now. I'm so excited about the big finale in the next book!

The meta story really started to pick up in this one. It was great to see the outside story slowly ramping up. I feel like that next to the dungeon based mayhem and craziness, the meta story really adds some depth to the story.

Just like the previous book, the dungeon side of things started to feel a little repetitive to me but the outside story is slowly starting to ramp up and that I really enjoy!

I enjoy the Emily Wilde series as a nice and relaxing read.

I'm a sucker for a well executed wallflower story and I also quite enjoy the fake dating trope. So this book was right up my alley.

After quite enjoying the first book in the series, the second felt like a bit of a let-down. While I still enjoyed the characters, the love story fell a bit flat to me. Part of this is likely that I don't really care for enemies to lovers.