What’s a Priestess to Do with Her Engagement Broken and Reputation in Tatters?!
As the only priestess on the frontlines in the war against monsters, Monica worked hard to fulfill her duties and her incredible power earned her a place by the crown prince’s side as his fiancée. Except that power came with an added nuisance—the ability to rouse the baser instincts of those affected! When the crown prince found out, he cursed her as a wanton priestess and ended their engagement. Naturally, the news of an indecent holy woman spread like wildfire throughout the nation. While Monica struggled to manage the upheaval in her life, Richard, a battle comrade, approached her with an offer.
“Will you come to my country? My elder brother and his wife are in need of a priestess because they’re barren.”
But Monica didn’t know a crucial truth. He was the emperor’s younger brother! An effusive and sparklingly pure love story unfolds between an overly doting imperial prince and a workaholic priestess with an unfortunate talent!
Stereotypical Alpha Powerful Male falls in love with Sweet but Love-Dense Powerful Female and he does everything short of using semaphore and smoke signals to show said love (other than actually, you know TELLING her he loves her), with a TWIST.
Said twist being when she uses her priestess power, she induces lust in those she uses it on and in herself, unless she’s wearing special clothing. Then only she gets horny. Which about 40% into the book takes a…tentacle turn…
It’s kinda…weird and I’m irked it’s not a standalone, despite the title not indicating it’s Volume 1, it is Volume 1. Be warned.
3, this wasn’t bad but it was a tad to weird to me and I probably won’t be continuing with the series, stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This is an odd one. It's very dense, and I don't just mean heroine Monica's assumption that her powers don't "work" on hero Richard because he's ace. (He's not - he's actively trying to be better than all the other guys.) It's almost "Demonizing Female Sexuality is Bad: The Light Novel," and it does a lot to normalize healthy sexual relationships through Monica's work with the emperor and empress, but there's just something too much about the writing style that I can't quite put my finger on.
Monica’s life as a holy woman isn’t seen as prestigious by many, but she still works hard to do everything she possibly can with her abilities. It’s rare for a holy woman to be as powerful as Monica, which is how she found herself engaged to the crown prince of Kophe. In a whirlwind of events, Monica goes from being socially elevated to a spurned lascivious priestess! With nowhere else to go, she finds herself accompanying one of her battle comrades to his home country so that she can help his brother and sister-in-law conceive. It seems like a simple plan until she finds out that her old comrade is actually the crown prince of the Belktrius Empire!
We follow Monica from the moment her entire life is turned upside by the crown prince of Kophe. Now that she’s being chased out of Kophe by her former fiancé, she finds herself getting the hell out of dodge. Along the way, we learn that her powers have a negative side effect: magically arousing herself and those around her! Luckily, she has trustworthy people at her side that are determined to keep her safe. This includes Kevin, her battle comrade who is also the crown prince of the Belktrius Empire!
While this was an interesting story with a great cast of characters, there are parts of the book that are boring and information heavy. I think that having multiple narrators would’ve helped out with that while also developing the supporting characters. I’m also feeling pretty iffy about the romance right now since it’s barely there and is glued together with some dirty dreams and Kevin’s jealous streak. I’m hoping to see some more character development and a believable romance plot in the second volume.
This was waaaaaay different than I thought it would be based on the title and blurb, but that fact turned out to be for the better. Instead of Monica, the female lead, using the lust her magic inflicts on her as a weapon (as I assumed), she instead has to contend with the unwanted effects it has on those she is just trying to help, which (unfortunately) makes the story much more grounded in reality, especially for a female reader. But the workarounds Monica (unfortunately) has to come up with to keep those unwanted advances away are quite smart and indicative of her unwavering spirit. And of course, the male love interest, Richard, helps her throughout the novel not only as a protector but also as a supporter and cheerleader -- he's a pretty good male lead who's trying very much to bridge that vast status gap between himself and Monica.
The world-building and political aspects are also very much present throughout the story, and I found it very interesting how magic, royalty, and status played a big part in how events played out. The story tended to be a bit draggy at parts due to how invested the author is in detailing the various nuances of this world, but I appreciate a good effort and will be picking up the next volume.
The premise of this was definitely interesting. The main character, a Holy Maiden/Saintess with immense powers but has the unfortunate side effect of causing lustfulness in those she uses her magic on has her engagement to the crown prince broken and is banished from the kingdom. It's definitely a unique spin on the classic villainess trope. And the title, while a little off-putting at first, does catch your attention. But but that's about the best this book has to offer.
For such a risque title, the writing style and storyline is more on the childish side, which didn't really pair well with the more mature themes. It was also quite disorganized. The storyline was just a bunch of scenes that were forcibly connected together. In between, there are a lot of flowery narration with little substance. The beginning was okay but the last third of the novel just dragged on for no reason other than to artificially push the romance.
Another huge minus is the romance. While the main characters separately are likeable enough, together, they just don't add up They really don't have chemistry. All their "falling in love" moments just seemed so unconvincing. And I won't even get into their individual minuses like how sly the male lead is or how bland the female lead is.
Instead of dragging on the romance, I would have liked the story more if the author had included the karmic aftereffects happening in the heroine's hometown. Instead, this is made into an infuriating cliff hanger at the end.
That was the last straw really. While I loathe leaving cliffhangers unanswered, I'm not sure I'm willing to read on if the story continues to be so plodding, especially if it will just end in another cliffhanger. It makes me regret starting it in the first place.
It was….not good. It had an interesting premise, but the writing was very amateurish and it ended up being weird and vaguely distasteful. Everyone in her former kingdom was a moron - this took the “villains being one dimensional idiots” to the furthest extent. It didn’t even make sense. And Monica herself was a complete doormat, constantly putting herself down and feeling inferior despite being ridiculously powerful and helping so much. It was extremely frustrating to read.
Her power induces lust in a stupid way for no real reason, and apparently no one has self control. She herself starts just fantasizing inappropriately (hello, in the middle of a fight, don’t go down the tentacle porn road! 🤢) but has zero knowledge of sex. If this is a known side effect, and holy women are very common in her country, why on earth would you not figure out a way to deal with this? Has no one heard of masturbation? Or - here’s a shocker - she could just have sex if she wants, since she’s literally putting her life on the line to save everyone from monsters every day!
There are so many stupid aspects and things that don’t make sense.
Btw, apparently this is not a standalone book as I thought 😓
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Despite the title, this is not in anyway an explicit romance story. In fact, the burn is so slow, nothing happened romantically between the two leads in this book. The tension starts to build towards the end but still nothing.
However, I did find it to be an enjoyable read. I liked the inclusion of sexuality and sexual themes. It could range from amusing to completely out of pocket. Example: Darius and his vow of celibacy at risk of his own manhood if he were to lose his virginity. I had quite a chuckle.
I also did like the dance between sexuality and lust being good, but for religious reasons it was considered unholy, but also the innately human curiosity toward sex. I think people who love Catholic guilt as a theme, might enjoy the dynamic.
The only thing keeping this from being a 5 star for me is how even when it was Richards point of veiw, we didn't get to hear about how he grapples with his feelings for Monica. It was all very much implied, and I suppose durring Monica's point of veiw it makes sense he came off as sexless due to his goal of protecting Monica and being a good guy. I do think durring his brief pov scenes they could have been more explicit about his feelings towards her. I think that would have really enhanced the dynamic instead of leaving everything as subtext. It's very obvious from his words and actions he is enamored with Monica, however we never get a very direct confirmation of it even in his own thoughts.
This was one of the best books to read in a while… The authors write the title is a little offputting… Mostly because it reads is something that’s light and fluffy. This is actually a really good read. The characters have a depth, there’s intrigue, there’s politics, there’s monsters to fight and demons to slay! Characters, that you love and assholes you want to kick. Cannot wait for the next one!
First, this was an extremely well written and interesting story. A holy woman who arouses lust with her powers is such a different kind of heroine, yet it makes sense. Richard is also my favorite kind of op hero as he has his yandere style love for his holy woman. The supporting characters are also strangely awesome, with their over the top personal tastes. I highly recommend this light novel.
I have never read this kind of book before, I loved the occasional imagery provided. I feel like the author is teasing us with the relationship between the crowned prince and the holy woman.
I need to read the second volume now! So yes other than the teasing it got four starts, it was really slow at first but about 75% in it got interesting.
This is a cute story. I enjoyed the character development. The heroine’s absolute obliviousness to the imperial prince’s true feelings are so adorable. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
I hope that the next volume comes out soon because I can't wait to see what happens next. It's funny how Monica doesn't seem to understand (or isn't willing to acknowledge) the fact Richard clearly is in love with her. I hope to see more developments between them!