Court of Winter: Fae von Schnee und Eis - Fantasy mit Spice, Band 1

Fae of Snow & Ice #1

by Krista Street, Michelle Tafelmayer (Narrator)

Ich bin in den Augen der Fae eine Unbrauchbare.

Flügellos. Magielos. Schwach.

Für meine Art bin ich ein Nichts – weil Stärke alles ist, was uns im ewigen Schnee und Eis des nördlichen Kontinents überleben lässt.

Trotzdem führe ich ein erfülltes, wenn auch einfaches Leben mit meiner Schwester … bis der verhasste Kronprinz des Winterhofs in unserem Dorf auftaucht.

Seine riesigen schwarzen Flügel und seine machtvolle Magie verwirren meine Sinne und rauben mir den Atem. Er ist wunderschön, aber brutal. Als er mich entführt und in seinem Schloss einsperrt, bin ich mir sicher, dass mich mein Tod erwartet.

Aber der Prinz lässt mich leben – vorerst. Und als er mir den wahren Grund für meine Entführung verrät, sehe ich den Hunger in seinen Augen.

Jetzt stehe ich vor einer unmöglichen Entscheidung – entweder ich schließe mich dem verhassten Prinzen an, der mir alles genommen hat, was ich liebe. Oder ich muss zusehen, wie das Königreich in einem tödlichen Krieg versinkt.

Band 1 der Enemies to Lovers Romantasy Reihe, die in den USA ein Bestseller wurde und auf BookTok viral ging. Wenn du Fantasy mit Spice magst, wirst du Court of Winter lieben!



Enemies to Lovers

Forced Proximity

Slow Burn, but Spicy

Morally Grey

Genres: Fantasy, Romantasy, Fae, Romance, Fantasy Romance, Enemies To Lovers, Magic

Audible Audio

First published September 28, 2023

About the author

Krista Street loves writing about coming of age characters who fight to find their place in this world while also finding their one true mate.

Krista Street is a Minnesota native but has lived throughout the U.S. and in another country or two. She loves to travel, read, and spend time in the great outdoors. When not writing, Krista is either chasing her children, spending time with her husband and friends, sipping a cup of tea, or enjoying the hidden gems of beauty that Minnesota has to offer.

To connect with Krista more, you can join her newsletter at www.kristastreet.com/contact

You can also find her on:
Facebook (@authorkristastreet)
Instagram (@authorkristastreet)
TikTok (@kristastreetauthor)
Bookbub

Reviews

[Molly Gregor · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

ACOTAR if Elain was the main character

[Fia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay okay okay.... Let me get this straight. This person admits to you that he killed your parents and brother, has zero remorse about it, ruined your life and made it so you nearly froze/starved to death several times the past year, and so in retaliation you start lusting over the guy? Gag. The FMC repeats multiple times how much she hates him yet the mmc's admittance to the crime is a turning point in her lust for him!?!!? How spineless. I'd be backing up out of that castle with two middle fingers blazing letting the world burn and not under any circumstance save their asses.

[Christy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love when an MMC doesn't care about the FMC to a point that he kills her entire family and then kidnaps her from her remaining sibling and acts like she should be grateful for his presence 😍 And then she is because she's really into guys with abs.

[Rose Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m trash and I loved this problematic romance.

I’ve been in a 75% slump lately where I make it to the final quarter of the book and have no interest in finishing. This book however kept me going all the way until the end!

Was it a literary work of art?

No lol. It was a book with a flimsy FMC and a male love interest who did something VERY PROBLEMATIC. I have no idea why these two paired up and can get past that VERY PROBLEMATIC thing.

Just about every tropey cliche to exist in fantasy romance was there:
-SASSY Female MC with special hair and secret powers a’brewin inside her
-Dark prince who is secretly not so bad (except he is bad lol)
-the FMC is so skinny and starving but gets fed and now has L A D Y C U R V E S
-probably a fated mates thing going on
-a Princess competition
-flirty but evil rival royalty

Ah there’s just so much here to laugh at but as I stated, sometimes I’m TRASH and I eat this stuff up. Of course I’m going to read the next book.

I have no idea why I enjoyed this as much as I did but I’m just gonna roll with it.

[Sophie Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why can't we all have fae winged princes who would come take us from our stressful lives and treat us like princesses?

But no, we have to be human 🙄

How rude.

[maria jose giraldo · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf @ 70

WTF DO U MEAN ML MURDERED THE FL’S WHOLE FAMILY AND WERE SUPPOSED TO ROOT FOR HIM💀💀
IM NOT EVEN GONNA SPOIL IT CAUSE SHE REMINDS U EVERY
FUCKING
2 PAGES

HOW ARE U GONNA SAY THAT THEN START SAYING “omg hes so hot and beautiful” GIRLY

BRO HE DOESNT GIVE A SHITT

ITS NOT EVEN GOOD THE WRITING IS SO AWKWARD AND ITS SO CLICHE IM CRYING

LIKE PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP CALLING EVERYONE “FEMALE” AND “MALE” ITS SO AWKWARDDD

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ahhh, the story was good, but I wanted to put a fork in my eye every time she said, "My prince" 😵‍💫 I'm not sure if I'll continue the series yet or not...

[BookishKB · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did! I listened to it in one sitting and was surprised to see I finished it 🤣

It did end on a semi cliffhanger but I didn’t mind it. I will definitely continue the series.

[Hex · Rating 1 out of 5]

I want to be transparent at the beginning here - I DNF’d about 43% of the way through the book. So around ~140ish pages I just couldn’t do it anymore.
The troupes that I got from what I read: enemies to lovers, a sort of hades/persephone dynamic possibly, naïve fmc, with perhaps a touch of forced proximity if you squint. Fated mates(educated guess)

I….hated this book. Really it’s on me, I’ve been consuming books like this for a long time and was hoping for something different from the norm. Went into a bakery hoping for bangin steak cause I was tired of the usual bread ya know? I’m the idiot who wanted a product that I should have known this book wouldn’t have produced. So I own that. That is on me.

However.

This book is going to be the one that gets my pent up feelings about this type of fantasy romance I suppose.

Can we please. Please. Please. Please. Please write intelligent female characters? Ones with just one iota of intellect to their name? A singular brain cell if you will?? I am so tired of the troupe that the fmc just doesn’t know better or that they can’t parse together the picture that’s right in front of them. That plot device can seriously take a reader out of book.

Or! Perhaps one who reacts to things normally??? Or at least in the realm of possibility? I realize that my conception of normal may be different than others but cmon! Example of what I mean here: it is stated multiple times that the male main character KILLED HER FAMILY. She only has a sister left. He KILLED the others. KILLED. And 20% into the story they are basically flirting. Though the female lead is somehow engaging in flirting without being aware it’s flirting cause remember the whole HE KILLED HER FAMILY bit. Oh and this scene happens after he also pretty much KIDNAPS HER FROM HER HOME. Ya know the one where her SINGULAR LIVING FAMILY MEMBER LIVES. But oooo he’s so sexy. Excuse me where’s the female rage???? Where’s the holding fast to your experiences and ideals!!!!!!! I just can’t.

‘But you said she doesn’t /know/ she’s flirting’ which imo is one of the most annoying plot devices I’ve seen come to life in books in the whole freaking world. At one point she internally reveals that she’s been with men before, which is confusing on other levels of the plot but that’s not the topic right now, so my point is SHE SHOULD KNOW AND BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE THE SIGNS.

I just…I’m so annoyed. I loved the concept of the book. Family killer comes for main character and sweeps her off into the cruel world of noble fae. I was excited for tension. I was excited to see how in the world the female heroine forgives the male lead for such an atrocity(if she even can). But the whole ‘instant attraction so powerful I can’t control my own reactions and emotions’ thing is such a cliche and honestly such a huge disappointment.

[saisha⊹(catching up) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3✧!!
╰i haven’t read a fantasy like this in forever ahh it was good!! mini review below!

🎧~ down bad
“and now i’m down bad crying at the gym
everything comes out teenage petulance
what if i can’t have him?
i might just die it would make no difference”

“not because he agreed with me that the cave’s sight was extraordinary, but because when he said it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, he hadn’t been looking at the cave. he’d been looking at me.”

⊹my thoughts!🩵

it has been so long since i’ve read a fantasy book and this one was pretty good! with all the romance and ya i’ve been reading i needed smth that would sweep me away from reality and this was the perfect getaway from reality🤍 i really enjoyed the plot and the characters(ilara is such a pretty name omg!) like hellaur now i want a devastatingly handsome fae prince to sweep me away from my home too(not rlly but ykyk). there were some aspects i wasn’t the most fond of- but other than that it was good!! the enemies to lovers was amazing and so many other parts too🤭 and with the cliffhanger it left on?? book two here i come!🫶🏻 hope ur doing amazing xx🫂💐

love,
saisha

- - - -
⋆·˚ ༘ * ❄️┆ post-read!
that was surprisingly good?! rtc<3

⋆·˚ ༘ * ❄️┆ pre-read!

haven’t read a fantasy in way too long- hope this one’s good! hehe i’m so excited🤭🫶🏻

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Defs a little cliche but It was also entertaining

[valbinds · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐️
Thank you to Goodreads for recommending me this book because I’m in LOVE. I fell into a bit of a reading slump after reading Fourth Wing & Iron Flame but this took me right out of it! The perfect enemies-to-lovers, fae, magic, etc. series. I’m so excited to start book 2! I love how the book is not too fast or slow paced like many other romantasies, everything about this book is perfect! 🤩

[Bianca Vecchio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obsessed!!! Done in less then 4 hours and on to the second one
Obsessed

[Isabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5⭐️ this has filled the void in me that ACOTAR created 💙 I lovedddd this!! So excited to read the rest of the series! The magic was really interesting and easy to follow. Everything about this was amazing 🤩 highly recommend

[Natasha Way · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars ✨

This took all of my will power to not binge this, I’m happy I purposely read this slow and enjoyed it. It give me HUGE acotar vibes. GIVE ME THE NEXT BOOK.

[Emma Skapetis · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5-5 stars.
Oh my God this was so good. It definitely gives ACOTAR mixed with Spark of the Everflame vibes (but it's more like ACOTAR). I loved this book and I can't wait to read the rest of the series (that is completed, which I find really refreshing because I'm in the middle of so many uncompleted series). If you love the A court of thorns and roses series you will probably love this too. RTC.
This is definitely not the most groundbreaking book ever but I didn't care. I loved it anyway.
The main female character (I had to search her name up because I forgot it) Ilara is an unusual fae as she has black hair and doesn't have wings or any affinities, which is a magical ability so she is seen as useless by most people in her village. However there are some people that love and support her such as her sister Callis (I also had to search up her name as well) and her friends. One day Ilara is with her sister and friends when Prince Norivun (I didn't remember his name either 😭) , who is the crown prince of the Kingdom comes and demands that she will come with him. Ilara doesn't want to come with him especially because he is the person that murdered her brother and parents but he is the crown prince so she has no choice but to do as he says. However Ilara is surprised when she is treated extremely well by the prince and it almost seems like he wants her. Despite this she is with Norivun for a reason and he eventually tells why he really took her from her home. The crops in the kingdom are dying and most people are starving. However Ilara has the ability to grow crops so she can help save everyone. Yes she just happens to be the chosen one but I didn't care. After all there is a chosen one in every fantasy book. Honestly it would be nice if any main character just wanted to save the world 😂. Anyway eventually it is revealed that Ilara has four magical abilities and therefore she is eligible to marry Prince Norivun whose betrothal trials have just begun to be held and this is where the story ends. I loved this one but I do have one issue with it. The main female character's brother and parents were killed by the prince and she hardly seems to care about this. She even forgives him when he apologizes to her for committing those horrific acts. If I was her I would never forgive him and I get that this is a fantasy novel but it is book 1 in a four book series. However I would still recommend this book.

[Mikky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm SO sorry I let this book get buried in my TBR for this long! My Mood Reader brain really does a number on me sometimes! This was FANTASTIC! You may feel this is a guilty pleasure book, but I feel no guilt whatsoever for reading and enjoying it. Are the morals VERY questionable? YES. Could the FMC be a tad bit more skeptical/cautious of the MMC? Yes. Did I eat it all up anyway? Why yes I did thanks for asking!

The MMC is deliciously morally grey (dare I say morally black?). He has no qualms about murder, which depending on the circumstances can be a good or bad thing. Personally, I found it very interesting! Also, HE HAS WINGS. As soon as that was said I was SAT.Though my running theory is that he will be redeemed because he'll let the FMC know that he's not actually killing all these people (and her family #oops?). He's part of the rebellion/revolution because he's not a fan of how the King is willing to let everyone starve and not do or tell anyone about it/ fix it. We'll see how right or wrong I am as I progress through this series.

The FMC was interesting enough to read about. She does come off as naive a lot of the time. She also has some questionable morals and hiccups. I know I disagreed with an opinion she had right at the beginning but, frankly, I've forgotten what it was so it probably wasn't that deep (and since I read this as an audiobook at night I wasn't going to get up and write it down). PERSONALLY, if someone was actively killing my long-time abuser I wouldn't have batted an eye about it. I would just have said "Harder" but that's just ME 😇

The ending threw me for a loop! I wasn't expecting THAT. Sure I was expecting something big to happen but it wasn't that. I'm off to the next book! I hope I love it just as much as I loved this one!

[Katelyn Colvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost DNF, regret that I didn’t.

For the life of me, I cannot understand the rave reviews for this. First things first, I found this highly rated in “Dark Fantasy Horror”, this wasn’t dark, barely fantasy, and the only horror is the main female character. Secondly, in the first chapter I got a distinct “woe is me” attitude with a dash of “I’m so kind even though it doesn’t make sense for the story line”

MFC and sister spend hours traveling on foot because MFC is “defective”, during scene MFC and sister get turned away because of MFC’s defectiveness. Revealed that she received this treatment at two previous stops before this and is shunned by the population because of appearance. So sister and you are to starve because you couldn’t stay home? Like surely this isn’t the first time this has happened? Why are you intentionally burdening your sister when you know your presence causes problems?

We’re warned of big bad prince, but upon first meeting our magickless, wingless, unable-to-defend-herself MFC mouths off to him with no repercussions, and continues to do so. Immediately undermines “big bad” status.

One of my biggest problems with this book? Our MFC is so nice that she goes completely out of the way to make a point of defending abusers. She’s so outraged and disgusted that the MMC killed a male that ripped his wife’s wing, and was actively killing their child because why? HE MIGHT CHANGE SOME DAY. AND ITS NOT ONE TIME, IT HAPPENS AGAIN AND THIS TIME SHE WAS SUCCESSFUL IN SAVING THE ABUSER. I’m not triggered by this, but I could see how easily it could trigger someone and the first instance is where I almost DNF.

My last point is that the MFC is willfully ignorant, 95% of her rage and vitriol is based on assumptions (that were false) the 5% that is justified (her family) I wouldn’t be surprised if they showed up at some point later in the series just to make a bigger idiot out of her.

[Nina Quill]

DNF 35%

[notthat.brie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for how goddamn addictive this book is, Jesus fuck.
So asides from the whole “he killed my family” part, BITCH GET A GRIP. MATE MATE MATE MATE.

[katelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

₊˚❄️꒱˚₊ 5 stars .ᐟ

❝ Do you always ask such asinine questions? ❞

❝ Only when encountered with ridiculous fae. ❞

⊹ I didn’t know what to expect going into this book but WOW it exceeded my expectations! This was the perfect SLOW BURN enemies to lovers book that I needed. The banter between Ilara and Prince Norivun is DELICIOUS. It had me giggling and kicking my feet. The tension between them is palpable! Norivun is so sarcastic and broody it’s mouth watering. Ilara is so strong despite the odds and never loses sight of who she is and what she stands for. The romance is well done and Ilara’s inner turmoil over her feelings for Norivun just increases the tension. The world building was great and I thought the magic was really cool. I had so much fun with this book and reading it with my bff Jess made the experience 10x better! Can’t wait to read the second book.


‧₊˚ ꒰🖇️꒱ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝ favorite quotes ₊ ⊹ 𓂃


“…but because when he said it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, he hadn’t been looking at the cave. He’d been looking at me.”

“They’re staring because you’re a sight to behold.”

”How about I tell you something else? I don’t like it when you run from me, and I don’t like it when I find you in another male’s company, especially when you’re wearing his clothes.”

He tasted of sin and snow, spice and fire, and I’d never tasted anything so sweet, so addictive.

”You look lovely,” he finally said, his tone husky. “No, you’re beautiful, exquisite, beyond anything. I have no words.”

His gaze dipped, and he did a slow perusal of my body, his stare like the strength of a hundred suns, burning a path into me.

”Be careful, Ilara Seary, daughter of Mervalee Territory. I might be offended by how much you despise me.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Is my company so abhorrent?”

“She has a name, you know.” The words shot out of me, and all five males’ easy smiles vanished.


︵‿୨ ♡ ୧‿︵

˖ ࣪ ⊹ ( 💭 ) 𝒫𝓇𝑒-𝑅𝑒𝒶𝒹.ᐟ
⤿ buddy reading this with my bff

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ok. It is chock-full of tropes of course, but I wasn’t too annoyed reading it. It leans towards 2,5 stars but not interesting enough to get 3 from me.

I do think it made some choices that felt kind of weird though. Especially Ilara being attracted to the prince despite him murdering her family. I am tired of FMCs throwing every rational thought out the window because the dude is hot. The guy murdered your family, that would in most (read all) cases snuff out any attraction. Although, my guess is that will turn out to be a ruse. The classic bad boy with a heart of gold.

Also growing a bit tired of the trope of someone being special and having a trait that sets them apart (it tends to be hair, as it is here as well). And of course she’s nurturing while he’s death on legs.

Ilara in general was a confusing FMC. She spent her time bickering instead of actually seeming hurt and sad about being ripped from her home. Very few thoughts were spent on her sister and on how she would survive. It would have made more sense if she became depressed by being locked up and isolated. To me the sassy FMC Ilara is depicted as doesn’t vibe with her situation. Or even with how we’re told she’s spent her first 24 years, hiding and feeling as an outsider. The sass doesn’t have enough substance to start with.

In the end there isn’t enough of a story here for me. It rather feels like an excuse to write a mated romantasy novel that we’ve seen hundreds of already. I feel this is especially evident given the events at the very end, where it pivots from being about saving the world to a magical competition to marry the prince. I wish it would have stuck to one of them instead of throwing everything into the mix.

[Naomi ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this so bad but the writing was so childish and the FMC was IRRITATING. She was whiny and weak and repeated everything said to her like a parrot. The pacing was so quick yet the characters had no depth. After reading SJM I think weak and frail FMC’s with no personality are ruined for me.

[Jade · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 40%. One of the most poorly executed enemies to lovers stories out there. So many things about this annoyed me. For one, the heroine. The hero killed her parents and brother, ripped her away from her only surviving family and she gets over it way too quickly. She hates him for 3 seconds before becoming flirty, mouthy, constantly bantering and being unafraid of him. By 30%, she’s already feeling some guilt for assuming he is horrible and how people dislike him. Honestly this felt like an ACOTAR rip off with the inner circle as well. It was very unoriginal. Plus, the hero is already acting possessive less than halfway in and I’m not about that. Is the slow burn in the room with us? Where is the hate? The tension? The moral dilemma? The author shouldn’t have created a storyline like this if the depth of the story isn’t going to match it.

Second, we were told the heroine has been bullied for being wingless but once taken by the prince and his guards, she immediately becomes sassy with all of the men which felt inconsistent with what we were told about her. Oh and of course, she’s the only one with a different hair color and will inevitably come into her own unique and powerful abilities.

[Kel · Rating 4 out of 5]

IFirst book of the new and I'm pretty pleased! I have barely seen anyone talking about this series but it's def a contender amongst some other great romantasy stories. Read if you like rooting for the under dog, broody mmcs and slow burns.

What to expect:
✅ Hidden powers
✅ Morally gray MMC
✅ Feyre in Acotar vibes
✅ Air magic but think shadow hands
✅ Snarky banter
✅ Court intrigue
✅ Unique magic system


Overall
Story ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice 1.5🌶️ (tons of tension, only kissing but it's gonna get steamy)
Audio 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧

I plan to do a fun little recap below so if you don't want spoilers don't continue. I need recaps for these books since I can't keep it all straight.

_-----------_






Ok you've been warned.


So our story begins in a village with a girl and her sister. Her sister has an affinity for knowing if someone is telling the truth. Most people in this world are fae and blessed with an infinity or "magic." Only the truly powerful have more than one. Our FMC is shunned in her community because she possesses no wings and does not have silver hair which is a fae trait. She also has no magic and thus is called defective. Her family was killed by the ruling prince for daring to question why crops are dying along with the land. Our FMC has a love of plants and keeps a thriving garden which draws the intrigue of the prince. He takes one look at her and her garden and decides that she is coming home with him. He's morally gray and possesses at least four affinities. One of which is the ability to suck the soul out of a fae, which he used on her brother and parents back in the day. So basically she hates him but due to her late blooming affinity she has the ability to replenish the earth and save the fae from starving to death. They strike a drunken bargain where she agrees to help if he agrees to let her got back to her village and see her sister. However, the king finds out about the girl his son has been sequestering away and demands he bring her to the upcoming ball. At the ball our FMC is faced with a man from her village who enjoyed doing sadistic things to her back when she was powerless. He chokes her and suddenly more magic unlocks and she displays the ability for air and fire magic. In addition, she is able to give life which counter acts the MMCs abilities to suck a soul out of a human, and she basically tells him to stop killing people and forces the soul back in the body. She is not just as powerful as him. During all this the king sees her power and decides she would be a good candidate for competing in these queen trials. See, the ball was a front and the king has three extremely powerful fae females there who have also been chosen as contenders in the trials for the princes hand and now our FMC is forced to join the fray. The prince is onboard because I'm pretty sure he thinks she is his mare but hasn't said anything. She is so conflicted because she's extremely attracted to him but he killed her family soooo...

Anyways. On to book two!

[Armani · Rating 1 out of 5]

"A warning growl came from the prince, low in his throat, and his eyes shot daggers at everyone." This quote sealed the deal for me, it was generously going to be a two star book, but this quote single-handedly banished it to one star.

I've really been back and forth as to whether I should waste time writing a review, ranting about how I really didn't like this book, but I've decided it's my civic duty to warn everyone.

*50 pages in the MMC kills an abusive father*

FMC: HOW DARE HE BREAK UP A FAMILY EVEN IF HE WAS AN ABUSER >:(((

STFU I’m so done with this girl and this book.
Extremely unlikeable protagonist who unfortunately does not improve with time in any capacity.

WHY ARE THEY FINGERING THE PLANTS!!??? Just use better words!!

And another thing! Yeah, I should have expected she’d refuse to save the entire continent out of pure spite after her views on how known wife beaters should be forgiven for no apparent reason. What a troubled young lady, it’s just a shame it was written in a way that made her truly insufferable with absolutely no recourse.

This book genuinely felt like the author hadn’t proof read it or sent it to an editor to be proof read. I genuinely do not believe that a publisher would have read “this male had murdered half my family, yet my stomach was flipping like a female fairy in the midst of maturity” and thought, yes this is our next best seller!

AND ANOTHER THING is the enemies to lovers slow burn in the room with us right now?? They literally saw each other naked in the first 40 pages!!! Maybe the slow burn was the friends we made along the way...

AND ANOTHER THING why is one of the randos doing windshield wiper motions over FMC's chest????

The plot is ridiculous and tediously predictable, the writing style is horrific, the grammar is appalling, the characters are SO two dimensional with absolutely zero depth or growth, OR EVEN A PROSPECT FOR DEPTH AND GROWTH!!! I hate to sound like a book snob, and obviously people can enjoy whatever books they want to enjoy, BUT IN WHAT UNIVERSE ARE PEOPLE READING THIS BOOK AND THINKING "yeah MMC is blonde, wears leggings 24/7, and knee high boots on special occasions, THAT'S MY POOKIE!"

Also, I do really hate to hate FMCs purely because they're "annoying" in fear of sounding like a blatantly misogynistic Skylar White hater, but I really had to force myself through every damn page because FMC's monologue was just repetitive and exhausting. YES, MMC KILLED YOUR FAMILY, ARE YOU GOING TO LEAVE HIM? NO! SO, LET'S MOVE ON.

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

**** spoilers alert *****
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This story was going good, and ma I wanted to finish it... however I couldn't.

The mmc kidnaps you, leaving your only sister to fend for herself, he imprisons you, admits he murdered your brother and parents, and that same day you are propositioning him, and acting like its water under the bridge? He murdered them not even a year before

That goes a little too far for me and I couldn't/ wouldn't finish it. I lost all respect for her right at the start. There was no coming back from that.

There are just some things that should not be forgiven or forgotten. If someone killed my family there is no way I would be making kissy faces with him.

[eclecticbychoicereads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Court of Winter, it has everything that a romantasy lover like me enjoys - enemies to lovers, forced proximity, morally grey MMC, FMC who discovers her true self. I devoured this and the second book in a matter of days. Nori, the MMC, has my heart 🖤

[Tahlia Monte · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5⭐️ - this book has gotten me out of my slump. Slow burn, enemies to lovers, fantasy. What a BOOK

[human · Rating 1 out of 5]

(1.5/5 because i'm feeling generous)


(warning for spoilers sprinkled in throughout this review)


I think this book's biggest problem is how uncreative it is.

I mean, sure, there were other issues too, like the romance, or the author's fixation on referring to everyone as "males" and "females", or describing everyone by how large their wings are, which, um. Well. We're all readers here; I don't think I need to say anything more about that.



But at the end of the day, I think most of the issues I found here came from the fact that the author relied most heavily on well-established tropes to tell the story rather than sticking true to what I can tell was an original plotline (hell, they even made a whole map and included a glossary and pronunciation guide at the beginning, and if that isn't dedication I don't know what is). Case-in-point, when I first showed this book to a friend, she immediately described it as "the classic a-bad-boy-kidnapped-me wattpad story rewritten as a book", and that was just based on the synopsis. And, of course, we immediately decided to buddy read it. As sane people with very high standards do.

Court of Winter follows Ilara last-name-i-forgot, a fae who has no magical powers and is all-around pretty forgettable for it (allegedly). She faces prejudice for her other-ness, made worse by the fact that she and her sister are at risk of starving this winter due to a lack of crops all over the continent they live in.

To add to this, Ilara's brother and parents were killed prior to the beginning of this story for questioning what was happening with the crops by the crown prince, who has a power that has basically made him the Rasputin of their nation.

Y'all can see how this might be an issue if he just shows up and kidnaps her, right? Because that's exactly what happens.



For some reason, Ilara has piqued the interest of the crown prince (spoiler alert: she's not as un-special as she seems), and he's bringing her to court. There's a lot of animosity from Ilara towards prince man, mainly because of what he did to her family. Which, of course, brings us to my first problem with this book.

At first, Crown Prince Norivun (which is a terrible name, by the way, who the fuck names their kid NoRiVuN) is initally not aware of the connection between Ilara and the reason for her resentment of him stemming from the family he executed years ago, but it definitely felt that after she confronts him for it (and his lackluster response upon finding out), the romance on her end grew DRASTICALLY.

Like sure, he has nice hair, abs, and big """wings""" but girl. Maybe this is just me, but I don't think I could ever even speak civilly with someone who hurt my family, let alone EXECUTED THEM, regardless of whether or not they were actively making the decisions or acting on behalf of someone else. And then had the audacity to kidnap me, without a word of what was going on.

Idk man, I just wouldn't be amenable to the whole thing, fully stocked magic bar or not.



It's extra strange because, throughout the earlier parts of the book, I felt that the author really did do a good job of showing the cognitive dissonance that Ilara would experience meeting her family's killer and actually getting to know him as an individual rather than just the view she had of him already, influenced by both her experiences and the stories that she had heard.

But after a certain point, it became clear that the pair seriously liked one another, and Ilara's backstory wasn't going to be the roadblock in their romance that you'd think it would. Ilara admitted to herself that she was attracted to the prince, but every once in a while would remember that, oh yeah, he killed my family! Like, how did you conveniently forget that for the last fifteen minutes while you were staring at his LuScIoUs SiLvEr LoCkS and flirting with him???

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the way she just magically (haha) reconciled a very extreme conflict of interests after simply yelling at him once didn't seem,,, realistic? Which, I know, is a ridiculous expectation to have of a ✨fantasy✨ novel, but you'd at least expect characterization that makes sense. Especially when you consider the fact that we're supposed to be rooting for the romance between these two.

Maybe it's supposed to be some kind of Stockholm Syndrome?? I don't know. But as far as I'm aware, this isn't supposed to be some sort of "toxic" romance either, so I think we're just supposed to get over the fact that the love interest here casually executes people. Because, y'know, at least he has a nice face!



Speaking of Prince Norivun,, he's basically just there. His personality consists of the terrible rumors about him, being powerful, smirking, and growling. Which is basically an amalgamation of every other male lead ever written in this genre, so we're not exactly winning awards for creativity out here.

He's also inexplicably attracted to Ilara and the way she sarcastically stands up to him (so unlike other females!), and acts all protective and possessive of her (fated mates trope, anyone?), while poor Ilara just can't fathom why (he's a heartless killer with eMpAtHy after all!).

He's really not all that bad, if you can ignore the part where he has absolutely no qualms about kidnapping Ilara from her only living family and laughing about it. Or silencing innocent people who ask too many questions.

Ugh.

I think it's best not to think about it too much. Ilara certainly doesn't.



As I mentioned earlier, Ilara has been whisked away from her village by the crown prince because, as it turns out, her brother was right all along, and the crops of their land really are dying.

Lacking "orem", a magical substance residing in the soil and created by the gods, the northern continent that the Solis fae live on is dying, and with crops unable to grow without orem, you can imagine the drastic consequences that are waiting if a solution doesn't show up. Prince Norivun, evidently, has been searching the continent for exactly that.

Enter Ilara.

Turns out her garden, which was what brought her to the prince's attention in the first place, wasn't just growing well because she was lucky, but rather, because she possesses the ability to create orem where it previously didn't exist, an unbelievable power never seen before. And, incredibly, Ilara isn't the magicless, powerless "defective" that she thought she was!



Although it isn't revealed explicitly that this is the situation that the nation is facing until well into the book, it's really quite obvious what's going on if you've read something in this genre before. I won't say I'm good at predicting plot twists (because I'm not, I'm actually really bad at it), but all of the reveals in this book were beyond predictable. They were just,, common tropes that we've all seen before.

Maybe the author has something unique planned for later in the series, who knows. But going off of this book, I'm afraid to say there's nothing particularly crazy or even interesting going on over here. And sure, maybe that's what readers are looking for (far be it from me of all people to say anything about reading tropey books), but as part of the relative minority who didn't particularly like this book, I have to say I'm disappointed with what we were given.

Anyway, having been uprooted and taken to the palace, Ilara begins her days training her ability to create orem, but is otherwise locked up in the prince's chambers. At one point, while particularly drunk, Ilara strikes a deal with the prince that, as long as she can bring orem back to the continent, he will let her go back to her village and old life.

Because that's definitely going to happen.



(insert sigh of suffering)

One thing leads to another and some courtiers realize that, surprise surprise, the Crown Prince isn't gay is hiding a woman in his wing of the castle! And with that, Ilara basically gets force-invited to a ball being hosted in the palace (of course). She wears a beautiful dress and is essentially transformed from peasant girl to future princess, and Prince Norivun can't keep his eyes or hands off of her (OF COURSE). While at the ball, Ilara gets whisked away and meets some nobility characters who will no doubt become adversaries in the future books (of course).

Naturally, it couldn't be the last 15% of a book that has been filled almost entirely with buildup and filler if wild shit doesn't go down so quickly it gives you whiplash.

Oh boy.

Escaping from the ballroom, Ilara passionately makes out with Prince Norivun and almost has sex with him ON A BALCONY before finding out that this ball is actually being thrown in honor of Norivun finding a powerful FeMaLe to marry. Oh yeah, and she gets attacked in the middle of a garden maze, which activates her two or three other powers, in turn making her powerful enough to enter the crown princess trial, too.

The end!



Honestly, I'm not even sure where to start with this.

How about with the fact that this is supposed to be an enemies-to-lovers story?? You'd think that there would be some crazy change in the situation between Ilara and Norivun before they get all smoochy-smoochy, but no. Evidently, whatever aTtRaCtIoN is pulling them tOwArDs OnE aNoThEr is enough for Ilara to want him so bad that they're basically doing it in public at this point. But not really, because they get caught by Norivun's comic relief younger brother! And, of course, stopping reminds her that, oh yeah, he did kill her family!! Which just, ugh. Ugh. Get me out of here.

At the rate we're going, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that her family has actually been alive all along and was just hidden away for Reasons™, because the crown prince isn't Actually That Bad.

Anyway.

Something that was quite petty of me to notice solely to complain about now was the fact that, and I can't remember the exact context it was used in, but Ilara uses the word 'treadmill' to describe someone or something. So are we talking about 1800s-style mechanical tools or a more modern exercise machine? If we have electricity in this world, then why aren't we using it?? Questioning these things too much leaves us with more confusion than answers so I'm choosing to ignore this for the sake of both of our sanity.

There's also the fact that the ball at the end of the story is being held for Norivun to find someone to marry, which nobody even BOTHERED telling Ilara about. Sure, maybe nobody else mentioned it because they assumed she knew, or they just didn't get the chance to seeing as to how she's basically on house arrest 24/7. But not even Mr. Crown Prince?? Maybe I am the crazy one, but I think it's pretty irresponsible to be kissing the girl you abducted to save your nation at the event where you're announcing your search to find your future spouse. Without even telling her. Because she's not even under consideration.

Not to mention, this isn't just any old ball, oh no. It's a birthday ball, and Norivun is turning A HUNDRED YEARS OLD. Meanwhile, itty bitty Ilara is TWENTY-FOUR in comparison. I get that this is (yet another) typical trope in this genre, but omg. GIRL, RUN!!!



Finally, in the last few pages of this... journey, we find out that Ilara's older sister, Cailis, has been summoned to the palace. Which, yay, family reunion, but that also means that the bully of her village, who has been terrorizing Ilara since they were children, inexplicably shows up.

I didn't really understand why this guy even came to the castle in the first place, or why he thinks it's a smart idea to beat Ilara up in public when it's obvious the prince likes her (the bully himself says as much), but really, nobody cares, because it's clear that he's just a plot device to make Ilara manifest the rest of her abilities.

Which she does! Three more of them, in fact, which makes her powerful enough to enter the crown princess competition, or whatever it is. Honestly, this has been a long time coming, especially since the crown princess competition was revealed, so probably no one was surprised by this twist.

And with that, this book abruptly ends, and sets up the next one.



Honestly, there's not a lot this book has going for it. As someone who's more than willing to read subpar literature for the sake of entertainment, this wasn't even particularly fun to read. It was even a little boring, at times.

Sure, I get that we're setting up the protagonists' story and the setting, but all the plot in this book pretty much boils down to Ilara and the prince traveling from her village to the castle, Ilara getting used to living in the castle, and then everything that happens at the ball. Of course, there are more little scenes and events that happen throughout, but ultimately, it didn't make for a very engaging reading experience, and I can't bring myself to continue this series because of it.

Then, of course, there is the romance, which I imagine is supposed to be a major draw for this book, and which seriously didn't work for me. If I'm reading something that's being marketed as enemies-to-lovers, that's exactly what I'm going to expect. Where was the hostility as both sides try to deny their attraction? Where was the yearning and angst?? Where was the slow-burn??? Instead, we conveniently forget Ilara and Norivun's complicated past to forcibly push the story forward, since the "enemies" phase lasted for all of about two seconds.

The writing is mediocre, but it gets the job done. I think ultimately I don't have much to say about it because there isn't much that this story tries to do; it just ends up relying on a few tried and true tropes to save the day, and neglects any sort of emotional appeal you could see happening in a story like this, not to mention any kind of character development.

Overall, I don't think I'd recommend this book to people, because it mostly just felt like a waste of time. I can see how it could be a low-stakes read purely for whiling away time or as a palate cleanser, but even then, I'm sure you could find something better.