The writing at the beginning is rather rough. It reads very forced, a combination of unnatural storytelling with forced worldbuilding at its onset. As the novel progresses, the writing becomes better – though it still feels a touch rough around the edges. I feel most conflicted about the dialogue. On one hand, some of the lines were beautiful. On the other hand, it felt a bit too forced, too poetic, too wise for a natural conversation at times. 

I liked our main character, and I loved the vibrancy of several of the side characters. Ooma, Cian, Bogget: these characters stood out in their voices and actions. However, I found Sorcha’s family hard to side with and understand, especially given her lack of interest in truly seeking them out in friendly ways. They felt more like cardboard outlines of characters than true characters. Likewise, the guild and other antagonistic characters were very flat, reeking of simple misogyny and sexism instead of inspiring any true motivations. Adversely, again, Sorcha and Eammon both felt much more fully formed, and I enjoyed reading about them in detail.

The plot from a distance? Really cool. The plot close up with convenient little holes that we have to ignore? Less cool. I liked the concept, but I didn’t love how we were continuously told time was rushing by, but also the characters stayed in very much the same mindset for months. It felt a bit like Hamm didn’t want to have the stereotypical love story that takes place over a few weeks but didn’t let the time stretch out naturally. Likewise, the ending felt really abrupt. We see the sidelines of a fight and then Sorcha is literally carried off and returned home within a few pages. 

Alright, the world felt cool (again, from a distance) but kind of crumbled under closer inspection. I love the idea of a land previously inhabited by faeries being abandoned as people forgot to honour them, but it never really felt like that was the setting unless it was plot-relevant. Much of the worldbuilding was done in the moment in such a way that it felt unclear, forced, or overly convenient. That being said, did I enjoy reading about the world in spite of this? Yeah. I kind of did.

Near drowning, vomit, injury/injury detail, emotional abuse, abandonment, confinement, sexual content, blood, fire, war, death, murder, pregnancy, infidelity, sexual harassment, disease, illness, terminal illness,

Just intrigued enough to consider reading the next one. Not intrigued enough to commit.

spoilers below!

This one started our pretty well, with an interesting heroine going on a grand adventure to save her community. Very quickly she kind of forgot that she has to find the cure, and instead spent most of the book romancing the king of the mysterious island. There was no character development to her - she started out as she began, beautiful and perfect, only a little more annoying. It irked me how she attempted to save the faeries that tried to kill her lover just minutes before?!? Like girl, get a grip. I loved the cozy vibes and descriptions, but could do with a little bit more. The characters beside the main two could also be a little more fleshed out, given some flaws etc. In the end, we don't get a resolution, the plague is not cured bc deals with the Fae apparently mean nothing in this universe despite a great deal being made of them. 

This book instantly grabbed my attention, by the descriptions of the characters along with the fae themes. Overall I like the direction the story went, the romance seemed to move a bit too quick but after that developed well. I think the book could have used an addition editor to assist with strengthening the word choice and flow along with general consistency or redundancy in what the main character chooses to say. There were times when certain bits of lore weren't terribly well explained, however that varied. The characters felt well developed and not one note and the plot had me enthralled. This was definitely my type of story that fit so many of my favorite things so I do appreciate it existing and I'm looking forward to the next.

Oh, this was a delight. I loved seeing the plot points from the version of Beauty and the Beast that I'm familiar with make their appearances, and the tales of the fae were captivating. I feel like I might be a bit enchanted myself. I wasn't very satisfied with the ending, and I felt like it happened far too fast, but I suppose that's what the rest of the series is for!