4 stars ⭐️ Clean Fiction - YA Fantasy (non-magical) (Fairytale Retelling-like but not actually a retelling)
I’m going to go out on a limb and say this author is excellent at writing Angst™️ in her stories. Because this is the third book I’ve read by her and I’ve been a basket case of emotions for this book and the first book in the series.
Even though I greatly enjoyed “Just Ella”, I’ve been pushing off the rest of this series because I wasn’t very interested in reading Ella’s sisters’ stories. But I do want to read the series, so here I am, finally.
I loved seeing a lot of Ella and Gavin! Rain was very annoying and such a snob in the first book, so it was good to see her hidden side in this book. I’m bummed that her story isn’t the next one, but I’m definitely looking forward to it and glad to see some hard-earned character development come from the events in this book.
This was one of those books where everything is going well for a while, and then ANGST happens, but then it looks like it’s all going to be hunky dory until you look down and see you still have a third of the book to go. Buckle in, friends, buckle in.
Because of bonus content at the end, this book actually ends at 88% and when I tell you I was gasping like a fish out of water with the story ending so abruptly. Everything’s wrapped up and good and cute and all that, but I was expecting more cute scenes and was so surprised by the book ending!
This book made me stay up way too late (much like the first book) and there was a lot of action, drama, and yes, angst that kept my attention fully on this story as I was reading. There’s a classic YA style to this book and the prior one as well, but in a good way. It definitely got excited me for the rest of the series!
Main Content-
‘Saints above’ is said once; A few mentions of praying (but not towards Whom); A few mentions of gods related to constellations (a couple are named and shared what they were known for); A mention of a man “returning to his maker” after a fight; A mention of Hades; A mention of someone being called a she-devil.
Language: an unfinished ’you sniveling piece of—‘, and in the bonus content at the end ‘hell’ and ‘hell to pay’ are both used once; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); Some eye rolling & Sarcasm.
Being stabbed and getting stitches, Being hit/attacked, Being held at sword point, Injuries, Pain, Blood/Bleeding, & Passing out (up to a handful of sentences); A couple moments of PTSD/trauma from harrowing events; Seeing a death, fighting/attacks, injuries, blood/bleeding, & another’s sobbing over a death (up to a few sentences).
Lylin has a few moments of anxiety and panic (up to a few sentences); Lylin tries to avoid lying, but does a few times in order to keep her identity a secret (which she does feel a bit of guilt about; Later, she asks her sister to lie for her as a cover); Eavesdropping; One of Lylin’s sisters is a bit of a snob, placing an importance on society standing and looks down on two of their sisters that married far below them (some of her comments are on-page and she enjoys besting those sisters; One of the sisters is hurt by her comments and lack of interest in her); Implications of a man having a type of “madness” that makes him volatile and easily angered.
Mentions of deaths, possible deaths, & grief; Mentions of abductions (including one in the first book) & planned abductions/kidnappings; Mentions of violence; Mentions of fighting, attacks, attackers/bandits, weapons, & possible hangings; Mentions of prisons & treason; Mentions of a girl’s foot being crushed and leaving her “crippled”; Mentions of injuries, pain, blood/bleeding (up to a few sentences); Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & a drunk; Mentions of nightmares; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of lies, lying, & deceit; A few mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of gossip; A few mentions of eavesdropping; A few mentions of hunting; A couple mentions of a manipulative husband sucking the life out of his wife (Book 3).
8 hand/fingers/palm kisses (some are greetings),
5 cheek kisses (one lasting a couple sentences and another, a few sentences),
6 head/forehead/hair kisses,
1 neck kiss,
1 almost kiss (lasting a few sentences and told in both POVs),
3 kisses with no details,
9 kisses lasting a sentence,
5 kisses lasting a couple sentences,
4 kisses lasting a few sentences,
Wanting to kiss (up to a couple of sentences),
Staring at lips (up to a couple sentences),
Seeing a couple married couples share kisses (up to a sentence).
Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, Nearness, Smelling, Noticing/Staring (up to a few sentences); Wanting to touch & embrace (up to a few sentence); Blushes; Jealousy.
Rhys goes into Lylin’s bedroom at night despite the amount of trouble it could cause (nothing happens, he went there to leave her a note).
A side couple has a relationship that is called “passionate and volatile” (they yell at each other and Lylin thinks that a man who has professed love for a woman should treat her the way the man is and calls it an “awful passion”; The young woman says that they were “always good at hurting each other”).
A man makes some snide remarks to Rhys about Lily (calling her his pet and that he won’t soil her and saying she’s in the man’s bedroom when she’s not); A man stares at Lylin’s figure/body; Lylin points out her lack of curves a couple of times (in her POV).
Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of reputations; A mention of a guard looking away when a woman is in her underclothes.