This review will contain spoilers:

This book was such a disappointment. I got it with a reading subscription box and based on the summary I was super excited to read as it seemed right up my alley in terms of overall theme and premise. It started slow and I figured, give it time....nope. I hated the main character. She was a stereotypical female protganist that is written to be a "strong independent woman" but instead just comes off as annoying as she never listens and just assumes stupid shit. She also claims to be doing everything for her brother and then he just falls to the wayside to focus on romance. She still claims it towards the end of the book, but their entire sibling relationship felt insubstatial because the author just dropped his character for most of the story.

Right off the bat, I wished this book focused on her brother and had him as the main character as he seemed more interesting as he had dark magic until.... she suddenly realizes she had magic and gave it up about half way through the book with almost 0 explanation. You know when shows and movies retcon plots and change direction? That's what he suddenly getting magic felt like.

Absolutely nothing happens in this book. It just repeats like 'we got to fix the corruption!', then they fail. Also this entire story is just set up for a series of some sort, which is beyond frustrating. I wish the author wrapped something with this initial story vs. dragging out a boring plot for 350+ pages and have 0 resolution and a cliff hanger. If you're going to have a sequel, can you at least write an inital good story?

I also want to address what felt like queer baiting with this story. The author very vaguely hinted at Violeta's brother being queer and then also Rowan is mentioned to have had a past boyfriend. Clover, the alchemist, who lives at the estate, is also queer. However, all this is tossed aside to focus on the dullest classic straight romance story. Like I mentioned, I almost wish her brother was aged up, the protganist, and that he had a relationship with Rowan instead. Finally, Violeta has been deemed as being a demisexual character. As someone who identified that way for several years (now ace) this particular fact bothered me. She thinks Rowan is a monster and the second she realizes he's not, she wants him. This book was the repetive trope of her being hot and bothered around Rowan and constantly being like I don't like him though, but why am I blushing? Personally, I don't think not being attracted to an evil monster, then changing your mind once he's not really is demisexual, but to each their own. It felt more like Beauty and the Beast. Her being called demi really did bother me throughout the course of the novel. I never get to see acespec characters in stories so was really hoping for more representation through Violeta vs. what I got.