Very good storyline and even better romance between the two. I definitely would recommend this to anyone that loves a good romance book. Thanks netgalley for allowing me to read and review this.

*thank you to Netgalley and NineStar Press, LLC for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

2.5 stars.

Firstly, this was not bad. I feel I needed to make that clear. It just simply wasnt for me. It sounded good and interesting enough and as though it was my type of book as I really enjoy YA novels and this one was lesbian themed which made me want to read it. While it was good mostly, I just felt uninterested in parts and I struggled through some of it. I hope others enjoy it more. It's worth giving a go.

This is the type of book I'd normally gloss over because the genre is a little tired these days. It bears a heavy resemblance to Cassandra Clare's City of Bones in that there is a young woman who is suddenly thrust into an urban paranormal world that she cannot seem to untangle herself from. But I was intrigued because it was a YA lesbian romance, and I'm always game to read more genre stories with lesbian characters.

All in all, this story is pretty par for the course for the genre. There are few surprises, some shaky plot points, and some muddled world-building. But it's also a fast-paced read with a sweet romance at its heart.

We start the story right in the thick of the conflict with teenage main character Jocelyn Lennox, who made a deal with the Seelie Queen (always a poor choice). Jocelyn has to use her art skills to create six portraits of the Queen, and then the Queen will wake Jocelyn's mother up from a coma she fell into after an accident. Jocelyn feels incredibly guilty about the accident and wants to make sure she can take care of her younger sister Anna, so she keeps her head down and does what the Queen asks, under the watchful eye of Dominic, a faerie knight.

Jocelyn is happy to keep painting and pay her dues until she rescues the beautiful astronomy student Rina from an altercation at a faerie night club. As the two teenagers get close, Jocelyn finds it hard to keep her involvement with the faerie realm apart from her budding relationship with Rina. She's also finding out that there's been quite a bit of unrest in the always-volatile faerie world, and she definitely doesn't want to get involved in that.

This story is definitely suited more towards teens than adults. Some YA is enjoyable for all, but this one skews younger, with a very PG romance and the type of fantasy plot that young readers will get wrapped up in. At the same time, it seemed like LaRoi wanted to make the characters older, but for some reason aged them down. Both girls are fully independent and attending college classes at age seventeen, and Jocelyn is a heavy smoker, which might throw some people off. Despite some of these clunky character decisions, the romance was light and fun and felt very natural, and Rina was a great romantic partner for Jocelyn. She's brave, bold, and not afraid to step in to save her girl--even if redcaps might be involved.

I liked the romance and the relationship between Jocelyn and her family more than I liked the fantasy plots. In fact, I found them to be pretty boring and a little vague. I had zero interest in the politics of the faerie world or in the longstanding drama between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. And the last quarter of the book moved very quickly and introduced too many fantasy tropes that sort of fell flat.

I think there are a lot of young readers who will really enjoy this one, but it wasn't my favorite paranormal romance.

I liked the story and the main character Jocelyn but some parts of the book were a bit confusing and hard to follow. It a fun fantasy YA novel and everything a reader would expect from that. 
I liked it but I can’t say that I absolutely loved it.

This was really cute and I actually liked it a lot more than I was expecting to. I'm often a little bit wary of YA books because I feel like the characterization often suffers just to make room for more romance but that definitely wasn't the case here. I mean the romance aspect is there - and it's also adorable - but there's also a lot of emphasis placed on love of family and friends and I found all the characters to be likable and believable. 

Also there was so much going on! Which I mean as a positive thing but I can also see how it might throw some people off. You probably could have easily split this book up into 3 short stories so it's kind of like 'oh well she just solved her major problem but we're only halfway through the book BAM new problem alert!' but I still thought it flowed very well and I liked the things the author did with the faerie mythology. A really cute F/F urban fantasy story that I would definitely recommend!

3 1/2 Stars. I ended up enjoying this more than I expected. I’m not the biggest fan of YA books, but I love urban fantasy. I also liked that the supernatural creatures, in this book, were fae. While I love vamps and shifter books, I was actually just wishing that there were more books in the world of faerie. This book had a few bumps, but overall it was an enjoyable YA urban fantasy read.

Jocelyn is a 17 year-old artist that has gotten mixed up in the faerie court. To save her mother from a coma, she must produce paintings for the Queen. But the court is in a bit of upheaval and Jocelyn isn’t sure she will live long enough to finish the paintings. When people she cares about start getting sucked into the world of faeries, Jocelyn must do everything she can to protect those she loves.

This book starts out and Jocelyn is one of few humans that already know the fae exist. In some ways I liked that the main storyline started right away. No slow discovery and disbelief in the fae that we have to read about. So while I kind of like that concept, it also left us open for a bit of info dumping. Things have to be told more quickly instead of us slowly figuring it out along with Jocelyn. On the other hand, it was almost like LaRoi was consciences about info dumps so other things I thought actually weren’t explained enough. My whole point is, while I liked the attempt of the story just starting right off, I think it might have been better starting more at the beginning.

When it came to the characters, I thought they were all well written. I liked the different types of fae and of course the main character of Jocelyn. However, this leads me to my biggest issue with the whole book. The characters are just not well enough described. This includes everyone, even the humans. Rina is a POC, and I didn’t even realize it to almost the end of the book. When it came to the fae, I was able to picture them in my mind because of all the urban fantasy books I have read. But newer readers might not know what a Red Cap is supposed to look like or other lesser known fae. Settings and places like the court were fine, but this book really needed more character descriptive words.

Okay let me get to the good parts. This was a very quick read in that it was exciting and flowed well. This had a good mix of action and court intrigue, and even a little romance. Jocelyn and Rina’s romance was very PG, but sweet. I was happy LaRoi was able to give them quiet moments to connect with each other. She was also clear to make this a new, developing relationship with no insta-love, which I appreciate.

There is a book 2 coming out this month, I definitely enjoyed this enough that I will read the next installment. From what I can tell, it looks like the next book might not be YA, so I might even enjoy it more. If you are a YA urban fantasy fan, I think you will enjoy this. It had a few issues, but it was entertaining and I’m happy I read it.