The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

A New York Times bestselling dark epic fantasy inspired by the tale of Snow White, from C. J. Redwine, the author of the Defiance series. This breathtakingly romantic, action-packed fantasy is perfect for fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses and Cinder.

Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic of his own—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman—and bring her Lorelai’s heart.

But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

Drinking game: every time a “heart” is mentioned. Twice if it's “double heart”
Every time they say “I'm blood, death, whatever it was.” sigh
Her bloodred lips. Another sigh
All the repetition all the time. sighsighsighsighsigh

I liked the story. With some minor moments of irritation. “Just knock him unconscious, damn it!” “Just kill her, damn it!” But no. Easy solutions are easy, but there wouldn't be much drama, now, would there? :-D
I liked the idea of the witches using things hearts.
I disliked the sacrificing of animals. Why would it be totally fine to burn insects, wolves, all the animals at the castle, all dogs and cats and horses and what not, they have a heart as well, they were even more under the spell, more innocent than people.

Also, I wish she had written more about Viktor and somehow shown that his death actually was what killed Irina, that the fact that she lost the only one who actually loved her, costed her everything... as it was now, his love was pretty much "who cares". I wish C.J. had used the same twist as Neil Gaiman in Stardust... that Irina couldn't use Kol's heart, because it already belonged to Lorelei. :-)

DNF - PG 137

Why?

This is partially my own fault and just simple bad luck. I started reading this book one day before a bout of illness and considering I felt worse for about five days than I have for a couple of years, I couldn't get involved in this book. Not to say I wasn't reading, because, over the past ten days, I've been devouring fanfiction like crazy - but this book didn't catch my attention.

Honestly, it reminds me of the problems I had with the Lunar Chronicles - without the few redeeming qualities that series had. The story is told in a rotating POV: Lorelai the ‘oh, lookit me, I'm so tough and bada- ooh, he's cute' princess, Kol (aka: Kolvanismir Arsenyevnek and wth is up with that letter vomit name?) the ‘I was just a party boy before my family died and now I will make bad decisions to save my kingd- ooh, she's pretty' king and, finally, the absolutely unneeded pov of Irina the ‘evil queen that's just in it for the evilz' who reminds me EXACTLY of Levana.

What I read of the story bores me. I could finish it, because it's not horrible, awful, who writes this rubbish - but I literally just forced myself through another retelling that I didn't care for and have already been ‘reading' this book for eleven days. It also didn't help that they killed off the only character I actually liked in the whole story. In a very blerg death scene. Maybe that has something to do with it, too. The emotions feel somewhat (I hesitate to say) emotionless but I'm not connecting to anything in this story.