Could've done without the giant spiders

I don't know why but these characters had a Scottish accent in my head, especially Astrid, which feels prejudice for some reason. But I liked her a lot. The other folk have underestimated her for her whole life so she underestimates herself. Tormand doesn't though, he sees how hard she works and how capable she is and shows her that too. I love how cosy this series is and I get that this is set in a series of caves but giant spiders are not cosy.

Tropes

Demon
Dwarves
Games
Magic
Dragon

jazzerbgood's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

klhwriter's review

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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

"When you smile, the pieces of me that were broken feel whole again."

Every year the dwarves under the mountain hold a competiton to find the fittest of them all. Astrid has never entered, her whole life being devoted to finding a cure to her curse; she can never leave the mountain.

But this year, when the prize is unveiled to be the very gemstone that could help her Astrid not only finds herself entered by somebody else but ready to at least try her hardest in the trials.

What she didn't expect was one of the biggest trials to be dealing with the mysterious shadow demon who has shown up, ruthlessly prepared and ready to take the gemstone for his own reasons.

But Astrid isn't even lucky enough to get the time to dig into their rivalry as the gemstone is stolen and the two of them end up teaming up to get it back.

As per the other falling for fables books this is a cozy, low stakes romance with found family, romance and fluffiness at it's core. I always enjoy that the author teases the next book in the previous ones to tie them together and that we get to see some old favourites returning. There are also dragons, unruly houseplants and a helping of chocolate loving friends and neighbours in this one that add to the vibes.

It was really fun to see another aspect of the world the author has created as we've gone through sleepy villages and Yule festivals before but this had a real Kazad Dum (circa 2nd age) feel to it.

For me this is my least favourite of the series (take that with a grain of salt as I still love them all and I read this in one day) and that's because I didn't quite sense the same spark between our two main characters. They both worked well and brought out the good in each other but I think we could have done with more time with them to really see them click together.

If you like the rest of the series, Villains & Virtues or The House Witch I would highly recommend this (and the other books in Falling for Fables!)

"Feels kind of good to know the damsel can do the saving sometimes."

emieinspace's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

aknomaly's review

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

kate199696's review

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adventurous challenging funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

jaimes_mystical_library's review against another edition

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5.0

This was a wonderful addition to the Falling For Fables series. Like the others in this series, it can easily be read as a standalone. I loved following Astrid and Tormund in this book and seeing how their relationship developed through their various interactions. This was such a cute, feel-good read that left me smiling and I can’t wait to read the next book in this series when it comes out.

Read this if you like:

📖 Cozy reads
📖 Dual pov
📖 Rivals to lovers
📖 Grumpy/sunshine
📖 Forced proximity
📖 Some spice

jnks_in_3d's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

cozyclaudia's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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