this book had a lot of potential.
I usually love books with competitions and trials, and this just didn't really hit. I felt like the challenges were a bit underwhelming let's say. usually in books like these the challenges have lots of action and entertainment, and here tbh it was kinda boring. it's also like the author knows, since the characters talk about how boring they are? like, why not just make it entertaining?
there were a lot of unknown things throughout the story, and while most times it makes a book really intriguing to me, it just felt like there were too many things to figure out, the reader is kept in the dark for a big portion of the book so much so that a lot of things didn't really make sense. there are also tons of plot holes and things that aren't explained.
while reading I found lots of grammar issues and misspellings, I thought that was because I got an arc, maybe it was an unedited one, but after going through the comments on goodreads I found that that's just how the book was written, which is not great at all. the writing also kinda got worse as the book advanced.
the MCs had zero chemistry, I don't even know why this is called a romance, tbh I found myself rolling my eyes at some conversations. also at conversations with other characters. the relationships all round were bad, I didn't connect or even like any character.
I don't remember when I got this arc, but around the time I did I heard really good things about this book, I don't know what book the people raving read but I don't think it was this one. the only reason I didn't give up and dnf is because it was so short, only 250 pages, and honestly I just really wanted it to get better, but nope 😔
I really didn't expect to dislike this book this much.

I read about 23% of this book but I just couldn’t get into it :( The writing just wasn’t for me unfortunately. Despite that, I always recommend to pick up a book. Reading is such a personal experience and every book has readers out there who’ll love it!

Thanks so much to the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book, even though it became one I DNF’d.

I LOVE a tournament trope. So much! Especially when there is a head strong and competent female protagonist leading the way. This was a super fun book that wasn't too high in reading level so it's great for all high school readers.

This wasn’t good. It really wasn’t. The entire time I felt as if this book was satire, as if the publisher lost a bet and was forced to publish this book. Sometimes it hurts to read bad books and this hurt.

I feel like this is fun, and firmly in the genre, but definitely not my absolutely favorite read. I wouldn't re-read or necessarily recommend to a friend, but maybe my students.

This was a pretty good middle-of-the-road fantasy book for me! I feel like I'm outgrowing this genre/age range but this was still a book that I enjoyed my time reading.

I was very excited to read The Cup and the Prince because I'm a HUGE fan of magic competitions and court intrigue and royal love interests. (Magic competitions are especially My Shit.) Unfortunately, I DNF'd the book about one-fourth of the way through it. It's not that the plot was bad per se, just that the execution wasn't there for me; there was way too much telling and not enough showing. Consequently, there wasn't really any tension and I felt detached from the characters as a reader—which is too bad really, since the plot had so much going for it and I really wanted to like the book.

The premise is great, but the book did not meet my expectations.

I needed a light and quick read, and this book is a perfect choice. As someone who has been reading YA fantasy for years, The Cup and the Prince felt bland. I almost DNFed this book, but I pushed myself to finish it, hoping I would find it interesting by then. However, I had to be disappointed because the plot was predictable, and none of the characters were distinct enough.

If you are new to YA fantasy, this book might be for you. It was easy to follow with an ending that promised more to come.

I was intrigued because of the synopsis! However, it was a very generic fantasy. The world-building was bland, and the characters were stereotypical! Thus, it had potential but was not executed well!

I tired several times to get through this title, but I found it a bit too tedious and the prose unengaging. I wish there was a bit more world building and more characterisation from the begining. I appreciated the female heroine, but I found her nearly identical to others I have read in YA literature.

This was so very unique
Loved it. I enjoyed the plot and the setting. I recommend it if you lice fantasy!

The cup and the Prince is a fun read. Zora the head strong main character is determined to win the Cup and honor, but there are many who stand in her way. Attempting to stop her at all costs. Would recommend.

If you are looking for an inciting and badass female protagonist to follow, this is the read for you! Fantasy and romance complement each other perfectly throughout this novel, drawing me for more by the end. The main character and prince's relationship is spiteful at first, making it all the more interesting to read to see where their story continues. I was always pleasantly surprised to explore the concept of a female being a knight, which was the first time I had ever experienced the trope in a novel. This is a fantastic youth-adult title that I would definitely recommend to my friends and peers!

I really loved the idea behind this story and it was fun to see the different characters’ plots and motivations. Really fun read, looking forward to reading more from this author!

The book was written well-paced and interesting, I didn't wanted to let it rest until I finished it and it got every time it continued better and I just really enjoyed it.
The cover was really beautiful and a good fit
The plot was really good and I was captivated by reading it.

This was a fun fantasy read which had lots of twists and turns! Zora was a great character who was very strong and basically just a badass. I found the competition and it’s challenges exciting to read and looked forward to seeing what happened next! Overall I felt that the world building was rushed and it was never really explained as to why they have this competition or how the competitors get to be there. Some character’s intentions (like Larzen, Alegra and Kiran for example) were also unexplained and it made it hard to understand the characters and the overall story. Overall this was an interesting fantasy read and I look forward to seeing what happens to Zora next!

3.5 stars

This was an enjoyable read and would have been better if everything wasn’t summarized, Zora conveniently winning things and the cliché focus on everyone’s look. The world setting and lore was great but there wasn’t enough to satisfy me. Besides important scenes being summarized, my other issue is that Griffin was so bland in Zora’s POV but during his POV, he felt different and had more character. The romance and jealousy were all over the place that I stopped caring.

Overall, it was an okay read and I hope the author would add more details to the fighting scenes rather than summarized it and focusing on the romance with too much details. There was a moment about a goddess which was interesting but it never was mentioned again. The plot twist at the end was great and I didn't see it coming. I'm interested in reading more and hopefully the next books has more details in.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy for an honest review.

For a first book in a series it was an ok-ish started. I had a lot of expectations which weren't met but do hope that the next books will them

I found this book entertaining, but very one dimensional at times. It didn't really bring anything new to the YA genre. I'm still not sure on my thoughts for this book, but it is the first in a series of books and I will try The Curse and the Prince before I DNF the series entirely.

This book was a quick and entertaining read however and I did enjoy it.

Honestly this book was just all right. All the characters felt very stereotypical and the villain bugged me so much. I was aggravated with a bunch of the other characters. It was fine and I read it all and would maybe read more in the series but nothing really stands out about it for me. It was an interesting premise but I just was not vibing with a lot of the characters