Firstly, this is a debut novel, and the author clearly has the talent and the vision, and I'm looking forward to seeing which direction she will be taking this series in.

This story follows a twenty-year-old Nyleeria, who is believed to be cursed by her family and is treated poorly as a result her whole life. She finds solace in the woods and turns her focus to training with her childhood friend Eithan as a way to release all the hurt and anger she feels.

Things change for Nyleeria a few days after she turns twenty-one and comes home to find her parents murdered and her siblings missing. This is when she comes across King Thaddeus, who was able to locate her in time using a spell he had cast centuries ago, because Nyleeria might just be the key to the survival of humankind and his only hope of winning the war against the Fae.

Nyleeria travels with Thaddeus to the palace as they try to find more answers about this ancient power that currently lays dormant in her, how they can awaken it and learn to control so they can use it to save their kingdom, and so they start their lessons in magic.

This started off really strong for me, and I really liked Nyleeria's character at the beginning with how unapologetic, determined, and strong she was. I liked the concept of the four courts, the dormant power that has been waiting for centuries to manifest, the gods and faes, the planning and plotting. However, as the story progressed, the pacing felt a little off at times. But it does pickup towards the end for sure.

I did enjoy the lessons in magic Nyleeria had with Thaddeus, Tarrin, and Nevander. The way she worked to tap into this newfound magic that was unheard of and how they worked together to figure it out. I will say that Nyleeria was smart, and her suggestions helped the process in many ways. I also liked how Nyleeria called people out on their bullshit regardless of who it was.

I liked how with time, Nyleeria starts to learn and connect more with the magic within her. At first, she had no clue of its existence, and I liked her journey of figuring things out as she trained to use and control her power. Learning to listen to what her power was trying to communicate, learning to trust it and slowly becoming one with it.

Given how this book started and Nyleeria's relationship with Eithan, I liked them together. But he did end up leaving town, and she meets King Thaddeus almost immediately, and once they're in the palace and Nyleeria learns about the power hidden in her, Eithan seemed to be completely forgotten and only mentioned as a point of reference whenever she needed to compare her feelings for Thaddeus further in the book.

Nyleeria seemed to have chemistry with every male character in this book, to the point where I had to check if this was a why-choose romance. Even then, her relationship with any male character didn't seem to have much depth, and I kept wondering who the love interest might be.

The romance with King Thaddeus happened far too quickly and out of the blue because I didn't get the sense that there was any attraction there. Nyleeria kept avoiding his touches the first few times he tried to calm her. Then he touched her one time, and suddenly her inner monologue was begging him for more, so they kissed, and things progressed from there, which left me confused. It felt like smut for the sake of smut, as if they were together because there needed to be smut in the book.

I also didn't get Nyleeria's need to save her siblings given that they were absolutely horrible to her in the time they were in her presence. So personally, I don't see why she would risk so much and suffer through all she did to save their lives.

I wish the world building was worked on more instead of some of the other subplots because there was a lot of potential there, but I didn't get a good understanding of Lumnara or the courts. We only get to see the summer court in this book, but even then I didn't quite get a very good picture of it. I'm hoping we get better world-building going forward. I also wish there were more female characters (apart from the maids) in the book.

I liked Nyleeria's relationship with Tarrin, Ava, Mrs. E, Eithan, Endymion, Caius, Myron, and Fiora. They were good side characters who kept the plot interesting and added value to the book with their presence.

The last 20% things really pick up and get interesting, and I was hooked. A lot happened, and I enjoyed the direction things took, which has me invested in seeing where things go and how Nyleeria is going to get herself out of this situation. More twists and betrayals await.

Thank you to CC Hartly and Inkslinger PR for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an honest review.The romance with King Thaddeus happened far too quickly and out of the blue because I didn't get the sense that there was any attraction there. Nyleeria kept avoiding his touches the first few times he tried to calm her. Then he touched her one time, and suddenly her inner monologue was begging him for more, so they kissed, and things progressed from there, which left me confused. It felt like smut for the sake of smut, as if they were together because there needed to be smut in the book.

I also didn't get Nyleeria's need to save her siblings given that they were absolutely horrible to her in the time they were in her presence. So personally, I don't see why she would risk so much and suffer through all she did to save their lives.

I wish the world building was worked on more instead of some of the other subplots because there was a lot of potential there, but I didn't get a good understanding of Lumnara or the courts. We only get to see the summer court in this book, but even then I didn't quite get a very good picture of it. I'm hoping we get better world-building going forward.

I also wish there were more female characters (apart from the maids) in the book, if only to balance out all the chemistry Nyleeria had going with every dude in the book. Nyleeria started off so strong, but her constant breakdowns and crying sort of started getting to me after a while.

I liked Nyleeria's relationship with Tarrin, Ava, Mrs. E, Eithan, Endymion, Caius, Myron, and Fiora. They were good side characters who kept the plot interesting and added value to the book with their presence.

The last 20% things really pick up and get interesting, and I was hooked. A lot happened, and I enjoyed the direction things took, which has invested in seeing where things go and how Nyleeria is going to get herself out of this situation. More twists and betrayals await.

Thank you to CC Hartly and InkSlinger PR for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an honest review.