Larissa S.

There's a type of fantasy romance book where the story is so focused on the love interest that it almost feels like the characters are in a bubble. And I'm realizing I don't like these kinds of stories.

It's kind of hard to describe what I mean. Like, Leo is at school in the beginning, but the only time we really see him in class is when he's interacting with Grimm. It just makes the world feel very small.

On top of that, this is a slow burn in the sense that they don't even realize they like each other in this book. They'll obviously get together in a future book, since the story is SO focused on the two of them annoying each other. But don't go into this expecting the pay-off of them getting together.

Almost nothing in this book worked for me. Cassia is bland, the relationship doesn't exist, the plot and world are full of holes. By the end I was just skimming to see how it played out, and even that wasn't interesting.

Finally! A romantasy I actually liked!

The worldbuilding really carries this book. It just feels so lived in, with lots of lore and traditions. The romance was more lust than love, but Bjorn had enough personality that I still enjoyed their interactions.

The more I think about it, the less anything in this book makes sense.

I did like the girls and the nuance given to their relationships, trying to work together while not trusting each other. Also the writing was pretty good.

Unfortunately, I didn't like anything else.

(I would've preferred if Bram had been the love interest and she'd been genuinely trying to win the competition, to make the ton regret turning their backs on her family. It wouldn't fix all the plot holes, but it would've been a lot more interesting.)

This book was...fine. I didn't hate anything about it, but I didn't love anything, either. It was an easy read, but the worldbuilding felt nonsensical at times, and Odessa has nothing to do for most of the book.