Merili

Dnf at 10%. Wow. Review for book club to come. Felt like a cooking show not a dark romantasy

Second time reading this. Love the secret identity trope. Still had a hard time keeping track of all the places and ruler names but overall a great book

some small issues i had -
essiya talks for WAY too long after being stabbed in the chest, that whole conversation with her evil maid lady felt drawn out. like she has a knife in her. why did they talk for 15 minutes before essiya finally fainted/fell out of the window(?)
i already forgot the ML's name but i felt like they needed even slower of a slow burn, the attraction felt sudden

but it's still a great book, i'm verrry excited for the sequel

the first third was boring, the second third was very intriguing, and the ending was depressing

Really loved this. Lots of messy characters, author does a good job of making you both hate and empathize with the main ladies throughout the book

the first half was sooo witty and funny but the second half felt impossible to follow