"I wanted to see you well and happy. I wanted to see you flourish, and I wanted only a small piece. To know that, in you, I had made something good. And I truly wanted to keep you from pain.”

THAT'S LOVE, BABY!

I found this series quite randomly by seeing a quote online and arbitrarily borrowing it from the library simply because it was available. Look, the quarantine is Doing Something to me and I'm trying to entertain myself!!! I didn't quite know where this was going but I knew as soon as there was a GALA mentioned that shit would Go Down At The Gala (I've seen regency era period dramas...I know what DANCING does to people who Might be in love)... but other than that, this took me for a wild ride. I loved Vhalla even though I had to google her name pronunciation because I kept calling her Valhalla in my brain. I loved the library apprenticeship; I loved that she confronted a lot of the prejudices in her world and how it shaped her/her friends/her self esteem. Also, love the Power of a Short Haircut to show that a character has gone through something. Listen, men may not understand, but women get that cutting your hair off is VERY FREEING!!!!

Okay, also, the Romance... we love a slow burn, folks! We love a Goth Prince!!! WE LOVE FORBIDDEN FEELINGS FOR A MENTOR WHO IS ALSO THE CROWN PRINCE... God, I'm alone... okay, well, anyway this relationship was fascinating and gripped me from the first "interaction" I also must say that I love when characters somehow become bounded to one another by magic.

Anyway this book seriously surprised me and I'm excited to read the rest of this series!!!