Eighteen-year-old princess, Valeria Breault, is sure of three things. One, she was exiled from Empyrean because her father didn't want the hassle of raising her. Two, her perfect realm would be better off without a mortal-raised smart-ass with a foul mouth and penchant for trouble. And three, neither of those things matter when a horde of demons crashes prom. Forced to fight for her life, Valeria narrowly escapes being captured by the Realm of the Forsaken, only to be dragged back to Empyrean before she is meant to return. Instead of the beautiful utopia from her bedtime stories, Val finds herself thrown into a hellish nightmare where the poor are dying, the rich are thriving, and her claim to the throne is in jeopardy. But not if Valeria can help it. The overwhelming desire to belong and a craving for power has her making choices that make it harder and harder to guard her heart against the man who's bound to protect her, the god she's vowed to hate, and the darkness that's growing inside her. Only time will tell if the secrets she unravels and the alliances she makes will lead to the throne or the pyre.
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DNFd at 55%.
While the cover and the premise of the book did entice me, I found the overall story a wanna be Young Adult trying way too hard at being New Adult.
As a 25yo I felt uncomfortable reading about a minor (at the start of the book) and later on an 18yo adult (legally speaking), talk about and experience sexuality in such a way. Obviously teens nowadays have done all that and more at that age, but considering I thought I was reading a New Adult book, realising what the main character's age was it felt... weird.
Apart from that, the story felt repetitive at times and although the world-building had potential and was interesting enough, the characters and their journeys did not do it for me and led me to eventually abandon the book.
I was provided an ARC from NetGalley & Lara Buckheit but all opinions are my own!
