kaleigh kailani

Lucian is a villain and I’m OBSESSED!!

Revisado: 12-08-24

Lucian is arrogant, vain, a villain, and I love him. There’s nothing like an entertaining and flawed POV character. I would read an entire series from his POV. I also think the narrator captured what makes this character a delight. I started reading a hard copy and then my schedule got crazy so I decided to get the audiobook book, too. It really was a treat to hear the narrator embody the character I was already becoming obsessed with!!

What’s fun about this book, without really spoiling anything, is it feels like a queer Beauty and the Beast retelling but from Beast’s point of view. Like, imagine Beast is still gorgeous and he is supposed to be seducing Gaston (Ambrose) while he’s actually falling in love with Belle (Maxwell) and that love is making him a better person. Except they also have to deal with vampires, monster hunters, kidnapping plots and family drama. As someone who loves Beauty and the Beast retellings and all things queer, I really enjoyed that.

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Buffy meets TVD in this bi fantasy!!

Revisado: 12-05-24

I had a fantastic time listening to this audiobook. The story and setting had a lot of what I love about shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, and The Vampire Diaries, but it was undeniably queer and I loved the relationships. I have been waiting for a bi fantasy to love this much.

For me, the only drawback is how many flashbacks there were. I’m not a big flashback person unless the flashbacks are filling in memory gaps for the main character who has legitimately forgotten their past. It almost made me wish there was a book before this one. Then I could see the flashbacks happening in real time, opening this book up to just lightly referencing those moments.

If you’re someone who likes stories about people returning to their small town where you get little glimpses of what their life was like before they left, you might love the flashbacks.

Note: I said TVD for the vibes. There are no vampires as of yet in the series, but there are witches, werewolves, and demons with the primary focus being on witches and demons. I don’t watch enough shows that center witches as the main characters to know if there’s a one that would be a better reference. For avid fans of witch media, I apologize for the gap in my knowledge!!

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A bi fantasy I didn’t know I needed in my life!

Revisado: 05-12-24

This starts as a very typical chosen one story, but don’t be fooled. If you love C.S. Pacat’s Captive Prince series you know she’s a slow burn kinda author and also loves a great setup. I loved this story and I am immediately going to start listening to the next one. It’s also really validating bi representation. I don’t know how else to explain it other than if you read the scene in Red, White, and Royal Blue where Alex describes what being bisexual is like, this is that, but in a fantasy world. It’s awesome!

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I wish the stakes were higher

Revisado: 01-18-24

The book was fine and even though the stakes are low in my opinion, if you like Sara J Maas and everyone who writes stories with those vibes, you may still like this book. My review contains major spoilers, so if you don’t want that you can stop here.

For Envy, the stakes seemed a little high because he was losing his court, but I think we could have spent more time on feelings about who he lost or was in the process of losing. We have one great example, but does he only have a couple friends in his own court? Why is he determined to save everyone other than it being his responsibility? We’re constantly told that he’s determined and upset but we’re not given more personal reasons. Is the butler like the father he never had? Was someone he lost a dear childhood friend who told him not to wager the special chalice that’s necessary for his court’s mental health? Was someone he lost a frenemy he didn’t know he cared about until he lost them? If I had been more invested in the romance, maybe I wouldn’t be asking these questions. As it is, I wasn’t engaged enough by it to ignore the issues in the rest of the story.

Camilla had a similar issue because the main villain’s dastardly plan involved torturing the humans from place where she lives, but she doesn’t really have any human friends. The one friend we thought was human is a fairy like her. Her human father who would be the best person to put in peril is already dead. This evil plan would have hit so much harder if she had lots of friends and was deeply invested in her community.

I also think it was a mistake to hide from the audience that Camilla is unseelie. I think it would have made the romance way more interesting if we knew that she was the daughter of Envy’s biggest rival from the get go. We also could have seen the humans from her fairy pov. Is there something special about humans she wants to protect? Does she like painting them because of their vulnerability? Why is it that forcing her to watch the humans being tortured is the worst possible thing her father could do to her?

Anyway, those are my biggest complaints. Like I said, the book is fine and I do think there are some people who will love it even with these flaws.

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I enjoyed most of it.

Revisado: 12-13-23

The story was good and I enjoyed the plot and the characters. I would just say to be aware that it’s targeted to a specific audience. The casual homophobia, not so casual anti-abortion digs, and traditional wife values are not subtle. It definitely took away from my enjoyment of the book, (especially since I’m queer), but it’s well written and so I enjoyed most of it. I also thought the narrator was pretty good.

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Amazing!!! Sooooo Amazing!

Revisado: 05-27-23

I didn’t know I needed this in my life until now. This gay fairytale is like Shrek meets the The Princess Bride, but so much better. Sorry, I have to finish my review here and go worship at TJ Klune’s alter! Bye! Oh, also, Michael Lesley is amazing!!

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