This book quickly found a way into my heart!

"The girl in her who had never amounted to anything other than an avid reader, now had something that kings killed for."
--Air Awakens

Vhalla Yarl was living her ideal life: apprenticing at the library, surrounded by her beloved books. Those employed at the library are charged with researching potential cures for a poisoned prince. Vhalla works longer and harder than anyone else, and her efforts help spare the prince from certain death. Only, she didn't save the flirtatious, charming prince she imagined she was helping, rather, it was his dark, brooding brother. And now he knows something dangerous about her that she could never be prepared to hear.

Air Awakens is the first book I've read by Elise Kova, and I must say that I am thoroughly hooked! This book kept me up reading late into the night on several occasions. The writing is so easy to read, and whenever I wasn't reading, I was longing to go back into the magic of Vhalla's world. I found Vhalla to be a highly relatable character, and I adored her dynamic with prince Aldric. There are so many lovable (and loathe-able) characters!

The only thing that bothered me was that there were several times that I found the wording a little awkward, but I was so enthralled by the story that it wasn't a huge concern for me. If this book is any indication, Kova is quickly joining my list of favorite authors! I can't wait to read the rest of the series! The best part? They are all free on Kindle Unlimited! 

2.3 stars. 

Only 300 pages and it's a better fanfiction-ey read than most of the other fantasy romance books I've read.

Although short (maybe even to it's on undoing) 'Air Awakens' seems to be scratching just the fanfiction-yearning spot I always seem to be awfully pestered by. 

Knowing there were 4 main sequel books in this series, I was content enough with how the protagonist, Vhalla, was introduced. Even though she was quite the quiscent character, what was there, or rather wasn't, left room for development and improvement for future books. 

However, I can't say the same for the other characters, prince Aldrik specifically. Is it just me or is this guy flip-flopping all over the place? One second he's fawning over the MC, the next he's harassing her... I'm quite confused with my stance on this guy. Although I like flawed characters, including flawed main romantic interest, he seemed quite out of place and outright annoying at times. The same could be said for the other characters. Spefically this one guy...

I don't remember his name... was it Cerulean? Cerillian? Anyways, whatever it was, he's just as forgettable as his name. Larel was the only exception but even then, her kindness and approachability towards Vhalla was a bit forced.

This seems to be a big problem with the book and I think it could all boil down to time and pace. 

Generally speaking, we needed more time with the plot progression of the book. Some plot points and storybeats were a tad too fast paced to the point where I had to imagine some scenes here and there in headcannon to be content enough with the pacing. I understand if an author wants to keep her novel within a 300 page margin, but sometimes it's be better to include some additional scenes for some breathing room and to explain a thing or two. For example,

I wanted Vhalla to earn Larel's love and friendship, I wanted to see more of Vhalla and Aldrik's cute lil' garden dates. TW! I wanted the genocide of a whole race of magic weilders to be handled with proper care and seriousness

Stuff like that might seem insignificant for the story as a whole, but it really helps with the character development and world building later on. 

As for the magic system; It was kinda wishy-washy. I love elemental magic, but the laws and functions of this book's magic system was ruining my whole suspension of disbelief. However, again, I really don't expect much from these types of books. I'm perfectly content with an iffy system as long as the story, plot and characters seem fine. 

In conclusion, I'm probably going to re-read this book if I ever were to find myself stuck in an airplane for 5-ish hours. A good, guilty-pleasure read that leaves room for my own imagination to fresh out the little I got.