Well, this book made my DNF list this year. I hadn’t heard much about it when I saw it in a few different places, courtesy of Bookstagram, so I didn’t come in with any particular expectations. Well, other than what the Bookstagram readers promised. I was told it was a novel featuring fated mates, which I suppose is in the unofficial title, and spicy-spice. I trudged through about 52% of the book before I gave up entirely and returned it to Kindle Unlimited.
I would say that my biggest complaints were the poor story development, character development, and romantic development. We could get into more than that, but I’ll keep it simple here. We’ve got Grayden as the MMC, the heir apparent—though, apparently, he and his older brother share the burden of responsibility for their kingdom—and we have Reyna as the FMC, a writer escaping scandal and humiliation.
On story: The author fails to take us on a path to discovery. There’s some sort of prophecy which, go figure, speaks of Reyna. We know it’s about her because she apparently has a fae name which has to do with light. And then there’s the lust part of the prophecy, which is obvious by the number of times the author mentions Grayden’s arousal. There is so much that the author just gives away far too easily and readily and conveniently in conversation that the story loses any sense of mystery or tension. Instead of showing us, she tells us.
On character: Much like with story, the author spells out information about Grayden and Reyna instead of showing the reader their personality and attributes by the way they interact with each other, the way they respond to their circumstances, and the way they view the world—which ties back to behavior fueled by beliefs. There is also a lack of discovery here and we don’t get to enjoy uncovering different elements about the pair because there’s too much ink (or pixels, in my case) spent on explicitly describing personality traits.
On romance: Long story short, Grayden is easily aroused. Reyna and Grayden both think the other is pretty hot. There’s an undeniable attraction that they can’t explain—this is incredibly cliché, but I love it in books like From Blood & Ash or ACOMF because it’s developed over time with a delightfully slow burn. Whereas in A Lands of Snow and Sunset, it’s as subtle as a Fourth of July fireworks show. And, much like the character development, the dialogue is kind of pathetic. There’s quite a few comments from Grayden’s POV about how much he loves Reyna’s argumentativeness, stubbornness, and fiery words—but we only see these qualities in maybe one or two short conversations. So, it’s not especially convincing to me when he starts hoping his kid sister grows up to be like the human wonder that is Reyna.
⭐️ & 🌶️ x 0.5