This one was definitely a cover buy for me since the hardcover is absolutely stunning and the book itself was very middle of the road. This story is not super plot heavy and has a lot of reading journals and some magical training and then some mild antics but nothing too crazy. There’s some steam for sure and I enjoyed the romance. It was a pretty basic dark elf king and outspoken and ambitious mortal queen love story where they are ambivalent at first but they end up falling for each other. It was overall enjoyable!

My main gripe is nothing really felt developed enough because a lot had to be told to us not shown (probably because it’s a standalone that is pressed for time and has a lot to fit in) and also, all of a sudden things happened with no backup. There was also a lot of things that we are just supposed to accept. For example, she mentioned feeling like she was caged in by Luke when in the moment she’s talking about...that we got to read as the opening scene...she was over the moon and wanted to kiss him! ...but that’s just what she says so we are supposed to go with it? And I understand that sometimes your feelings about an event change as you get more context and are further from it so this wasn’t the biggest offender but I did have to just go with a lot of stuff as it was told to me.

There’s also almost no characters of color and the one we got was relegated to supportive best friend of the white main character and as a way to provide whatever the plot needed. I’ve found that a lot of characters of color are relegated to this role of a servant to the white main cast and Rinni is no exception unfortunately...Rinni was an amalgamation of a queens-guard, a handmaiden who helps Luella get dressed, “the other woman”, and a good friend to Luella with no real reason that a friendship could’ve developed? She does a lot for Luella but Luella doesn’t really reciprocate ever except for that one time with the lemon pastries (?) so idk why Rinni is her bestie all of a sudden? She was pretty much a catch-all character with no real depth. There were other characters of color in the periphery but they had no bearing on the plot really or any depth beyond “kindly old man” or “awkward healers apprentice”.

To be honest, the elves didn’t really act like royals or like what they were built up to be. I know they’re supposed to be mysterious and built up to be this terrifying race of cruel magical immortals when in actuality they’re not much different from human and that’s kind of the point...there’s a lot of misconceptions about them, but I don’t think that worked in the favor of the story. If you have a distinct race of beings rooted in actual folklore and you water them down it just falls flat. The royals are surprisingly tame especially for a race of powerful magical beings with seemingly strict traditions and rules when it comes to their court...so like...where was that?? Where is the cruelty and coldness that Eldas was supposed to have?? The only time we see it is when they’re getting married and he was kind of a dick to her. It was hard to suspend my disbelief as much as I needed to to fully enjoy this story and the stuff that we got just didn’t feel...enough.

Speaking of not enough...the solution to the Human Queen link situation felt so anticlimactic. We spent all of that time reading about her going through journals and spending time in the greenhouse only for the solution to be so incredibly simple and something the first queen could’ve absolutely done herself. The fact that no one figured this out and she’s the first “smart” woman to be queen in a thousand years is just...not a good take? She also wasn’t trained in fae culture and elements and was raised as a commoner who is college educated and that’s supposed to be the explanation as to why she has this ability to put the pieces together where other queens failed. I was expecting some epic “aha!” moment and some really cool and epic power exchange that would be intense and important...the solution was just...planting a seed in the mortal lands. I felt so underwhelmed I was pissed I stayed up til 2am to finish it. I was disappointed by that for sure.

As for the romance I really wasn’t a fan of the fact that he coerced her into saying the wedding vows. He does apologize later and she acknowledges it but I don’t remember if she fully forgives him for that yet but she did acknowledge that she was grateful he did it in hindsight because she was gonna be sick otherwise...I still don’t know how I feel about all that cuz this whole book is drilling into you that “love is choice” and having the freedom to choose what she wants is sooo important but we are supposed to believe that this coercion was a good thing in the end as if it was necessary and he had no other choice but to take away hers? Idk man...