InkedBookSloth’s Reviews > Cold Hearted > Status Update

Oh and the lack of romance. It was lacking for a rather large part of the book. And it was advertised as romantasy so the characters shouldn’t be apart for 1/3 of the book especially in such a short novella.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad book, I liked the MCs, the chemistry and the banter, but the illogical parts, the separation, the lack of romance just didn’t make it exciting. I’d say it was averagely good.

Also I dislike when sthg is illogical and maybe my brain is working differently, but the whole “Let’s not tell Stryker” plot felt forced. Whether they tell him, Arabella could be in danger. Besides, as a ruler he has a right to know what’s happening to his kingdom. So if this plotline happened because the MCs were illogical (not flawed) then it is weak, if it was to build for book 2 then it’s illogical

However, I do not see the reason for separating the MCs for 1/3 of the book. If it was to have a personal journey, sure, I guess but it wasn’t as relevant for Dawn’s path for me to think of it as a personal journey and if it was to have more side-characters, that could have been done with the MCs still being in the same scenes. Maybe I’m picky, but this move took away rather than added to the story for me.

Hmm… I still stand by the fact that I like Leia Stone’s writing style and since I didn’t feel much difference from her other books, I’m assuming Julie Hall has a very similar writing style as they co-wrote this series. I also liked the MCs and the banter between them, they had really good chemistry and entertaining interactions.

I’m not sure if it was the author’s choice to build anticipation or if the characters were just illogical, but this part doesn’t make sense. Especially because as broken as Stryker might be, he is a ruler who prioritises his people. The Wise Ones specifically said that both kingdoms need to heal. I don’t like when MCs are illogical for the sake of the story or when anticipation is built on sthg illogical.

The logic is not logic’ing. Not to be annoying, but they didn’t tell Stryker about the Fall princess because if he knew he might look for her and unalive her. But they knew that even if he didn’t know he might unalive her if she appeared. With all due respect, poor princess will be in danger either way. Stryker has the right to know if the outcome is the same either way.

I am happy that the MCs’ paths finally crossed again, but why did it take 86 pages? That’s almost 1/3 of the book. Secondly, I am all about romance and love, I’m a hopeless romantic, but my god… did they just drop the “M” word before they even said the “L” word? I get it, fate and all, but they are going at a very fast pace when they don’t even know anything about each other. Maybe I’m a sceptic.

Like what’s the point of building up the beginning of a romance plot when the characters are separated for half the book? Like Dawn is going through all these adventures, I get it, it’s her journey, but I wish there was more romance since this was advertised as romantasy. At best this is romantic fantasy not romantasy aka fantasy romance. The characters don’t even appear in the same scene for half the book.

Come on! What sort of a silent assass!n leaps on the bed of someone they want to unalive when for the last few pages they have been tiptoeing around the place even taking their boots off? This was so unreasonable for someone so well trained. Maybe I am overreacting but… really? Really? Was that the best option?

I absolutely adore the banter and the flirty comments. Zander is entertaining, cheeky and intriguing and Dawn is a firecracker, both funny, grumpy and playful. I definitely enjoy their dynamic.