Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review!

This book was balanced in its plot structure, well written, and engaging. The main character Mae is intelligent, kind, and often lets her mouth run away with her. I found her to be much like the character Danielle in the film Ever After. It is nice to see when the ‘Not like other girls’ trope is done well. I absolutely loved the secondary character of Leanna, who starts off guarded and judgmental of the higher born people of the kingdom. Watching her come to terms with her own prejudices and self-correct without anyone forcing her to examine herself was refreshing. I think she may be one of the strongest characters in the novel.

The romance element of the story was an important part of the plot, but not the direct focus. I enjoyed the prince’s reluctance to like Mae at the beginning. I’m pretty sure that her lack of filter even when faced with royalty, was what got through his distaste for the competition to become his bride.

The plot itself was both familiar and refreshing all at once, but the magic system was a little underwhelming. There was really no development or explanation of how it worked besides one statement telling the characters learning magic to ‘use their imagination’ during training. I would have liked a little bit more development there, as both the main character and the reader are learning about how it’s supposed to work.

The conflict of the different villages being bled dry by those who should be protecting them was really the backbone to the whole story, but this book did not resolve the issue. When I picked it up, I wasn’t aware it was supposed to be the first part of a series, even though there are no outside indications that it is. I feel like it may frustrate the reader when they get to the end of the book and find there is so much story still left to be told.
I really enjoyed this story and I do plan on continuing to read more from this author, especially if they come out with a sequel. I want to know what happens next!

Novel tropes include but are not limited to: Not Like Other Girls, Refreshing Honesty, Commitment Issues, Chosen-One, Forbidden Romance, and Gone Horribly Right.

3.5 stars.

This wasn't the worst book I've read. In fact, it started out strong, even if it definitely felt like the characters were lacking. The world building was beautiful. But eventually I could not stand Mae and the book did get a little boring. I wished there was a little more oomph with the plot.

This book had everything going for it. The cover is gorgeous the synopsis enticing. But sadly this book fell flat on soooo many levels.

There was serious lack of world building and back story. Or if there was, there was a lot to be desired. The writing style was flat and lacked maturity. The writing was very juvenile. But I never write off author due to their lack of writing. So high hopes for more and better next time.

The main character Mae drove me nuts. She acted like a child a got so upset in the first couple of chapters it just turned me off. To continue she acted like a spoiled, ignorant teenager. I couldn't stand her.

Felix? was he a friend like a brother? or did he secretly have a crush on her? Their relationship didn't seem like just a friendly brother/sister relationship.

The prince was alright, he didn't bother me but I couldn't connect with him either. His character personality didn't flow, it as well as Mae's kept giving me whiplash however I will say that the Prince was better written than Mae.

The best written character was Lord Aimon. I liked him a lot and kept reading for him. I liked him. His character flowed steady and nicely, he seems like someone I would want to be friends with. Which made certain twists and turns surprising! I didn't expect him to turn out the way he did.

Overall the writing wasn't the best, the characters lacked as well as the world building.

TW: SA, Homophobia, Xenophobia.
It's been a minute since a book has been able to hold my attention. This was well written and nicely paced even if the dialogue did make me roll my eyes from time to time.
Our MC, Mae, is a totally baddie. Part noble lady, part country girl, all amazing. She has magic that she has had to keep hidden as she believes harm will come to her and her family if she shows it. After one accident, her life is forever changed when her uncle gives her the opportunity to travel to the capital to try and win the crown.
Mae makes many interesting friends on her journey to the capital and while staying in the palace. She doesn't go because she wants to be a princess, she goes because she wants to save her people that suffer badly for the benefit of other lands. However, it seems destiny has other intentions for her.
The only thing I did not like AT ALL (and I'm not trying to spoil anything here but it needs said) was the trope of "oop, my kid is gay, I'm gonna pay people to abuse them until they are straight." I hate it so much! I know it does happen from time to time in real life, but who could be so evil??? Grr. I'm big mad. I hope the poor victim lives happily ever after or else >.>
I'm really excited to see what happens next because there has to be at least another installment, right?!?!?

Unfortunately, I couldn't make it through the first half of the book. I do intend to pick it back up at a later point and see if it captures my attention the way I had thought it would when I requested to review.

Above average YA Fantasy that kept my attention until the end.

Sometimes I find fantasy characters tedious but was pleasantly surprised by the author's ability to capture their individuality.

Romance is my thing so I was not disappointed.

Thank you for providing an eARC for my honest review.

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).