Again, and easy and sweet read. But also better than the first book!
This series does feel a little bit like a guilty pleasure, it's got fluffy romance, arranged marriage trope, magical powers and elves. But I'm enjoying it so yeah!
But this book has more action! I loved getting out understand a bit more about Farrendel's powers.
Oh and that cliffhanger. Watch out.

Genre: Fantasy romance set in a quasi-historical time period in a fictional world. The plot is focused mostly on intrigue and on Farrendel's struggle to adapt to life among humans in a visit to Essie's former home. Some violence but no sexual content at all.

Spoiler

Main pairing: Farrendel/Essie
Favourite character: Farrendel
Villain(s) The trolls

Character rating: 8/10
Plot rating: 5/10
Setting rating: 6/10
Overall rating: 6/10

Pros: Farrendel continues to be a nuanced and empathetic character that you just want to squeeze into a hug and never let go. Watching him struggle was the emotional heart of this book and the topics of his PTSD and anxiety were dealt with really sensitively by the author. It's also nice to see an elvish character who isn't arrogant and self assured for a change.

We got to learn more about Essie's past and see her interact with her family. The first book took her away from everything she knew so quickly that is was enjoyable and insightful to see her interact with the world she used to be part of.

The plot twists were interesting - if sometimes predictable - and the ending was a cliff hanger with enough promise to guarantee I will read the next book when it comes out.

Cons: The first book in this series is one of my all time favourite fantasy romance novels. So I was disappointed that this one fell short for me.

The first book had a good focus on the growing relationship between Farrendel and Essie. For some reason, this book felt like that relationship had taken a huge step back although I can't quite pinpoint why. The couple suddenly seem less sure around each other and interact less. I love this pairing so I was disappointed to lose the majority of the fluff! The plot is essentially occupied with two things: Farrendel's deep anxiety and unhappiness in the city, and the plot against the elves that bubbles away in the background. These were interesting directions for the book to go in, but ultimately I am reading for the couple rather than the secondary plots. I want romantic (and preferably sexual) tension, damn it!

I do feel that Essie as a character lacked some insight in this book. She has a relatively good handle on who Farrendel is as a person but did not foresee some of the issues he was obviously going to have. While it isn't her job to be a mind reader, I felt like some basic thoughts and conversations were missing.

Final opinion: This wasn't the sequel I was on tenterhooks waiting for, and the focus of the plot had definitely shifted in a direction that didn't appeal as much personally. I still enjoyed the read and I'm sure for other people this was much more of a hit.

I adored this even more than the first book. Gonna need September to arrive sooner rather than later

Its cute. Its a light read. I enjoyed it.
Kind of tired of the hair thing though. Its obvious that the author loves hair. We get it. Elves have great flowing soft Shiney locks that are never out of place. You mentioned it at least 50 times the last book. No surprise its mentioned within the first 10 chapters of this book.

Two things: One, Farrendel is really cute when he learns how to tease, and two, Essie's family is as fantastic as she is.

I have to confess, I got a little tired of the number of times magical elf hair was referenced in this one. ;P Although, I get it, Essie's obsessed...

Like the first book, an easy read. Appreciated the further deepening of the relationship and how honestly wholesome and healthy the romance is. The pace picked up at the end with a couple heart-stopping twists that I, an oblivious reader, did not see coming till 0.5 seconds before. And UMMM?!?? THAT ENDING? WHY IS THE THIRD BOOK NOT OUT YET?

^ anxiously waiting to find out what happens to my babies.

• I cried so much during this book, it was so sad
• I love the fact that she made a double POV so we could see things from both the characters perspective
• I really like how she made her writing humorous, no matter what happened and no matter how dark things got
• Ferrendal’s relationship with her family was so sweet because he never really had the chance to get that with his actual family
• I really really loved how they pulled exposition into the story and how Ferrendal adapted to some aspects of the human culture, but simply could not do with the rest Even though he tried very hard, which was so sweet of him
• He really tried for Essie, and that just makes me want to burst with joy because I genuinely love when the people reciprocate the energy their partner brings to a relationship
• Essie’s brothers were so sweet with him and so kind and honestly, I kind of ship Edmond and Jalissa because why not
• I loved the way that they got introduced and the way that they got accustomed to different culture because it was so relatable even in real life
• I almost burst into tears when Ferrendal realized that he had the opportunity to actually have a mother
• Tara really showed both the character strength and vulnerability in this and that made me sob a bit
• I am so upset with Melantha and I really didn’t understand if I was gonna manage to forgive her because I know that there’s gonna be a book starring her
• It’s so realistic and genuinely upsetting that she feels this way, and the fact that Ferrendal has to hear something like this from his own family, especially from someone he thought a mother figure

Now we get the political plot and the action. The romance is still very chaste. Just kissing and thoughts of magical elvish shampoo.

This book was so good. And now I really need to read the next book.

Content: clean - mild violence

10/10