e-ARC, 400 pages
Release Date: February 12, 2019Published by: Balzer + Bray
Read from: February 7-15, 2019Ravenspire, #4Source: Edelweiss (I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)TW: Child deathFor fans of: Fantasy, Romance, Re-tellings, YABlue de la Cour has her life planned: hide the magic in her blood and continue trying to turn metal into gold so she can help her city’s homeless. But when her father is murdered and a cruel but powerful woman claims custody of Blue and her property, one wrong move could expose her—and doom her once and for all. The only one who can help? The boy she’s loathed since childhood: Prince Kellan.
Kellan Renard, crown prince of Balavata, is walking a thin line between political success and devastating violence. Newly returned from boarding school, he must find a bride among the kingdom’s head families and announce his betrothal—but escalating tension among the families makes the search nearly impossible. He’s surprised to discover that the one person who makes him feel like he can breathe is Blue, the girl who once ruined all his best adventures.
When mysterious forces lead to disappearances throughout Balavata, Blue and Kellan must work together to find the truth. What they discover will lead them to the darkest reaches of the kingdom, and to the most painful moments of their pasts. When romance is forbidden and evil is rising, can Blue save those she loves, even if it costs her everything?
*MY THOUGHTS*
The first book in this series was THE. BEST. The second and third kinda made me iffy about furthering this series. And this one REMINDED ME WHY I LOVE THIS SERIES SO MUCH. I’m not a huge fan of Cinderella period, but this one definitely surprised me.
“Mornings were a curse. […] Nothing good came from getting out of bed before the sun had chased the fog away.“1%
Blue and Kellan have hated each other for as long as they can remember. Funny that Kellan is the crown prince of their town.Their parents have always been good friends, but instead of them becoming friends too, they fought. But the day comes for Kellan to find a bride and just as he begins looking at people, strange things begin to happen all over the town. So they must work together to ensure that they find the truth. All their working together has started to bring out feelings they didn’t even know they had.
“And as Grand-mére was fond if saying, it was useless wasting your time wishing for what you didn’t have instead of using what you did.“9%
This time, my only problem with this book was the fact that it seemed just really long. It seemed like it was full of exaggerated descriptors and long drawn out scenes. I felt like I was reading it forever. I can normally finish two books in the amount of time it took me to read this one. I found myself putting the book down multiple times and even thinking about reading something else when I still had about half the book left.
“You could take the girl away from her cauldron, but you could never really take the witchcraft out of her heart.“30%
As for the re-telling, I was really surprised at the twists and turns in this one. As I said, Cinderella has never been my favorite fairy tale. But I have to say, this one was cool. All the elements were there and slipped in at really interesting places. And I have to say, I wasn’t at all sure how they were going to do the ending, but it was a funny interesting twist. Not exactly what I was looking for, but it made sense to go with that. But then there was the evil stepmother and let me just say, the villain in this one was so bad she was good!
“I really hate how often you’re right.“49%
As for the romance, I wasn’t that impressed. Like with most fairy tales, they seemed to be not in love in one chapter and then realizing that they love each other by the next. Because its like that for most fairy tales, I let it go. I won’t hold it against the book for being a re-telling.
“A person’s wealth doesn’t dictate how much courtesy they’re owed. A person’s treatment of others, however does.“65%
This re-telling has its faults, but its still a solid one. I can definitely say this one made me excited to read this story again. I’m super interested in seeing if there’s more to this series and what fairy tale she will use next. (I REALLY hope its the “twins!”) I hope she doesn’t cut this as soon as I get sucked back into it! I still need a Beauty and the Beast one lol I hope everyone else who reads this feels the magic and adventure that I felt while reading this one too!
Overall, I give this
As much as I love Cinderella, I'm not sure this one is for me. I didn't like the first book in this "series" and I wasn't in love with the writing.
I actually liked this one! I was not a fan of the last two. But I will say, so far ALL of them are really long winded lol