This was so good!
This is a bundle of the first three books in LJ Andrews' The Broken Kingdom Series. It starts with 'Curse of Shadows and Thorns' then the second book is 'Court of Ash and Ice' then the last book is 'Crown of Blood and Ruin'. Elise Lysander, niece of the King, named after her grandfather King Eli, who conquered the Ettan's and established her family's Timorian rule here, is about to be told who to marry. Her uncle has decided to hand her fate to a marriage negotiator who will pick her match for her. But as she gets to know this man, Herr Legion Gray, she starts to feel an undeniable attraction. When a coup comes against her uncle she puts her trust in Legion and flees the chaos. With a war on the horizon Elise must decide does she stand with her blood of the rightful people of the land.
spoilers
I find it really hard to judge a book when its actually three books cause theres so many highs and lows, three endings of sorts, but when reading this one book just seamlessly moved from it to the next that if there wasn't pages saying book two I could have just thought it was another chapter. It was constant flowing action and pace. I feel in love with the characters, I was rooting for everyone to get their happily ever afters, though because im so contrary I found it too cutsie that all but Ari found perfect matches. Maybe if I hadn't read it all in one go I would have enjoyed everyone getting their HEAs more because it wouldn't have felt like bam everyone gets it.
One thing that I felt didnt need to be done was the crown passing down, I guess it probably will make sense for the progression of the series over all, but it felt forced and didnt make sense, especially if SOl had been training for that position his whole life and he seems to have come out of being a captive for ages okay, he isn't acting damaged to the degree of non functioning.
Elise was a good main character, she was written with faults that she didnt act woe is me about. She was imperfect, she had stupid naive moments. She stumbles and makes mistakes, but she has a great moral compass and pushes through for what she knows is right. She is kinda a shitty person for going with the flow with how Ettans were treated. The whole oh well at least I don't treat them like that, but its set up well that she had no power to change things, until suddenly there was nothing to hold her against.