It took me several days to read this book. For one POV, the 3rd person tense is very jarring and I had a difficult time following along. I assume the NetGalley Arc is an uncorrected proof, because there are many times when nicknames aren’t used correctly or are misspelled or the character speaking isn’t identified correctly.

As for the story. I’ve never wanted to rage-quit before, but the ending is weak and rushed in the last two chapters, with an obvious passage of time. It’s obvious the author is setting this up to be a series, but the thing is, no one is likable enough, especially the main character.

Mae was overall rather dislikable. Her characterization is mostly, “oh stop, no, I’m nothing special,” usually when doing something significant. Of course rather than her developing as a character and growing more self confident in her skills and abilities, she continues to put herself down for the majority of the book. This continues until the last chapters.

The only interesting characters are Livi (who is Vivi for several chapters) and Annie. Of course, their characterization suffers when the twist is revealed and stagnant as their only purpose becomes a new problem for Mae to solve.

I was overall disappointed and had been looking forward to reading this after reading the description.

Initial thoughts: After reading the synopsis and skimming the reviews (I didn’t want to spoil anything) I thought I would really like this book. I also thought that it would be similar to the Red Queen series as it mentioned a competition for the prince and magical powers.

Rating: 3.75 Stars

I am so glad that I read this book. The main character, Maela (I absolutely love this name), seems very strong willed and sometimes hot-headed, but I enjoyed seeing her character change and mature throughout the book. The world-building was pretty good in my eyes. There was some lgbtq+ representation which was nice, too. I also really enjoyed the story line and the romance, even if I might not have enjoyed the prince’s character that much. There were a fair amount of things that happened throughout this book that I didn't see coming, but I also was not shocked by a lot of the twists. There were also quite a bit of things that I would read, and then be thinking, “why did this even need to happen.” The competition mentioned was interesting to me and I was never quite sure what was going to happen with it specifically. However, the biggest reason that this was not a 4 star read for me, was the editing issues. There were several punctuation issues, especially with quotation marks and commas, but I don’t think it was that difficult to figure out the meaning and conversation flow while reading. I agree with most that this was a good lead up to a sequel and am very excited for when that comes out, I will be watching for that release date.

I adored this book! The magical was different from what you normally find in YA/NA books and the system around it added to that. I loved the relationship between the MC and the prince (because I am almost always team royalty).

I really enjoyed reading this, it was what I was hoping for based on the description. The characters were A+ and worked in the environment that was set. I enjoyed the way C Tarkington wrote the plot overall and it really was engaging and what I wanted. I look forward to read more from C Tarkington.

“I was a little shocked, but I was not scared. For some reason, it was the calmest I had ever felt in my life. I wanted to thank you, but you were gone by the time I regained my senses. I am sure you did not wish some young groom to come to the palace looking for you or even sending a message. I am grateful, though. I always will be. I owe you much.”