*Received as an ARC from NetGalley*

As a lover of YA fantasy, unfortunately overall this one was not for me. I could see young teens responding more to this book, and I think I'm a bit aged out of this one.

My positives: the book starts out solid, and our lead character Elodie's relationship with her sister Floria is quite endearing.

My negatives:
• The book reads like a script - there is a lot of "showing", and not a lot of internal development or subtext. After learning that this was indeed a script for the show first, and then developed into a novel, it now makes sense.
• LOTS of tropes. Felt like they were all thrown in without being properly developed.
• Glaring plot holes.
• I was a bit troubled by the way Elodie was presented in certain instances. It felt like in order to make her seem unique and strong, it was at the (negative) expense of how other women typically behaved. Especially if this book is to be targeted toward's young women, I feel there are more positive and constructive ways to make your main character seem "unique" and different.

All in all, I think there are other books of this genre and age range that make for a more impactful and nuanced read.

Reading the author note clicked everything in place for me. This book was written like a screenplay; very fast paced, lots of action and storytelling and an ending that is fit for the screen. And it will be. Elodie is a good character, as are the supporting ones around her (even the thinly drawn ones) that I could see having more depth off the page. But it's a quick read and a good YA book for those looking for a resourceful heroine in a fantasy world.

3 stars

Elodie is the heir to an impoverished Duchy when a prince from a far away land offers to make her a Princess and give her people the kind of wealth that will save lives. However, married for less than a day Elodie discovers that Princesses don't last long in this new land - in fact, they are quickly fed to the resident dragon.

This is such a brilliant fantasy, with a fast plot and a building tension. At times, Elodie does seem to be a bit confused as to her character - there were moments where she felt like a different person. However, the multi person points of view have a good insight into the other characters and were used really well to tell the story! Really enjoyed this one

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hard to give a description without ruining the plot. Elodie is a princess from a poor kingdom and so promises to marry a prince from another kingdom. But all is not it seems and soon she leaves the opulence of the castle and is fighting for her life.

I received an e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an donest review.

There were things I liked about this book. It's a story of women helping women and I love that. But it just really fell flat.

The characters felt quite two dimensional. Elodie and Flor were just a little too flawless in their internal monologues.
And their relationships with each other were boring. Complex relationships were mended easily as if there was no complexity at all.
The worldbuilding was mostly creating mysteries that were never explained (What were the blue slugs? <spoiler>How did the dragons help the land become more fertile?</spoiler> <spoiler>Why did combining blood turn Elodie into a dragon?</spoiler>). And the ending basically skips over the interesting part of what's going on and jumps right to a resolution. I was left with so many unanswered questions.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I first heard about this book based on the Netflix adaption that is happening with Millie Bobby Brown. I was really excited when I read the blurb, and knew this would be right up my alley.

I think this was a decent YA fantasy, but I was hoping for more. Elodie was a strong heroine who stood up for herself, but brought nothing new to the table as far as YA heroines go. The story itself was interesting and entertaining, but I was never wowed by it. I think I'll probably still tune into the adaption to see how they do it though.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing/Ballantine for allowing me to read and review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Damsel is about twenty year old Elodie, who is put into an arranged marriage with Prince Henry from a different land. While her home is starving and is in a seventy year drought, Prince Henry's is flourishing but for a terrible price. Three women are unknowingly chosen to be a sacrifice to the dragon in the mountains. As long as these sacrifices are made, the land will continue to grow and the people won't suffer.

I really liked the first half of Damsel and I enjoyed the fairytale writing for the most part... but I started to lose interest after the 50% mark. I like Elodie and the idea of following her as she is trying to survive the clutches of a dragon filled with blood lust. The story itself dragged at the halfway point and the pacing suffered for it. Damsel should have been a couple of chapters shorter and only have Elodie's POV. I get why the other POV chapters were written but they didn't flow well with Elodie's adventure. There are a few flashbacks that referred to other princesses who didn't survive and, while that's a cool insight, I didn't care very much for it.

Damsel is a stand-alone book and I liked how Elodie's ending was written. I enjoyed the sisterly bond between Elodie and her thirteen year old sister Floria. It was very sweet and endearing.

I've tried Evelyn Skye's other duologies like The Crown's Game and Circle of Shadows but I couldn't connect with them. I wanted to give Damsel a shot because of the premise and honestly the cover is gorgeous but I think her writing might not be for me.

3 stars

I will admit that the beginning of this book was a little slow. It was hard to imagine Elodie as a twenty year old. She was really innocent, close to her family, and completely oblivious and trusting of those around her. But when the dragon shows up in the story, the pacing takes off!
I would recommend this to fans of strong willed female protagonists who also offer a touch of femineity. It was a quick read that scratched that itch for a good ol' dragon story.

Elodie, although the daughter of a ruler, is used to living a difficult life in her harsh homeland. So when she receives an offer of marriage from a wealthy prince who is willing to give her homeland enough wealth to save her people, she knows she can’t refuse. Once she and her family arrive to her betrothed’s kingdom, they are astonished by how lavishly they’re treated. But Elodie notices some strange things before her ceremony, and too late realizes that she was purchased to satiate the hungers of a dangerous elder being.

This work started off strong. I was drawn in by the author’s writing style and the great descriptions that were included and added immersion to the work. Though the worldbuilding wasn’t that interesting and was never really explored or incorporated into the story in a meaningful way. I started off enjoying Elodie as a protagonist and felt that she was going to be a strong female lead that I could get behind. I also liked her and her sister’s relationship and how lovely it was.

Unfortunately, things became much too below-average YA for me to continue enjoying it. While I enjoyed Elodie at first, she didn’t undergo any growth during the work and actually felt like she regressed as the book went on. Her character was written with all the stereotypical YA protagonist tropes (supremely special, not like other girls, best at everything, smarter than everyone, etc.) and never really had any agency – nothing she did changed the plot, she just reacted to things that happened. It didn’t help that the author always told us how characters felt rather than showing how they felt, which made them all feel flat.

There was nothing unique or groundbreaking or “epic twist” related (as the book was touted as being), but there were plenty of plot holes. Unfortunately, I don’t recommend this work – hopefully Netflix will do a better job with this story. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read this work, which will be published in March 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you kindly, NetGalley for the eARC for my honest review. Honestly, I loved and enjoyed the start of this but as I continued reading I lost interest. The general plot of the story seemed repetitive to what I've read, but I did like that Skye put their own flare to it.

Overall, it was an okay read. VERY YA, which isn't a bad thing but it was a flat story with somewhat boring characters that needed more "oomph" to them to grab the reader and get interested in their journey.

Damsel she is not. This story has major Joey King in The Princess (Hulu) vibes.

A loving sister, determined, brilliant, and empathetic, Elodie would do anything to ease the suffering of her people. If you’re looking for a book with a strong female MC, woman supporting other woman, and dragons, this book is for you! The world building and rationale for the plot were slightly lacking, there was little dialogue with other characters (most of the book focuses on Elodie’s internal monologue), and the ending was rather abrupt, however this was mostly a fun and quick read. My favorite part was how the past princesses looked out for their future iterations. I look forward to seeing the Netflix adaptation as I do think this story may translate better on film.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing/ Ballentine for the eARC of Damsel!

This was a fun Young Adult Fantasy with a no-nonsense princess who doesn't need anyone to save her. She's on a mission to save herself! I really enjoyed reading Damsel and I am excited to hear that this will be made to screen on Netflix, with Millie Bobbie Brown starring and producing!

#Damsel #NetGalley Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. I encourage you to check this one out!

Unfortunately, this book was close to being a 4/5, but the ending ruined it for me.

I really wanted to enjoy this book and was intrigued by the synopsis, but Damsel felt like a book that didn't know what it wanted to be. From bold innuendos and slightly graphic scenes to very YA dialogue and exchanges, I felt like it was trying to decide between YA and new adult.

There were several things that I liked about the book. I liked the addition of the invented language and how it was interpreted and utilized throughout the story, but some aspects of the translations felt a little far-fetched, even for fantasy.

There is nothing more annoying than the main character, which is incredibly naive for half the book, and suddenly becomes brilliant in the blink of an eye.

The ending was the worst part of the book for me. There were small elements of mystery at the beginning that helped enrich the story, but the way it ended just left a sour taste in my mouth.

I'm optimistic about seeing the movie when it releases, but this book left much to be desired.

I’ll start by saying that I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

For a book published as a written form of an upcoming film, I think this novel did really well at telling an interesting story. It makes me curious to see what the film will look like when it is released on Netflix.

In the copy I received, there were a few typos and mistakes, so I think the book could use another edit to eliminate these. I appreciated the fantasy language that the author built (with help) for the story. It helped immersion and it became a key part of the plot. The setting proved to be captivating and somehow reminds me of Hawaii a little.

The main character is intelligent and I valued her portrayal as a rational and quick-thinking individual who was also compassionate. She doubts herself a lot in the beginning, but I feel like it’s easy to understand why when she’s been offered so much splendor and what seems to be the start of a happy marriage. The story takes a few unexpected turns and it makes it more thrilling that way as secrets are revealed when the stakes get higher.

As for criticisms, I felt a few of Elodie’s “unique” characteristics were only introduced in the beginning to set her apart, and they vanished once the action truly began. I feel like I didn’t need to be told that the main character is “not like the other girls”, but the rest of the story does well to make up for it by including a wide cast of other women in the story who shared Elodie’s struggles. I also found some of the writing to be a bit bland and the narrative to be worth skimming through, but I understand this novel is adapted from a film script, and that the author does the best she can to put everything on the page. I normally enjoy a more blunt manner of writing rather than the purple prose that is popular today, but there was something about this novel’s prose that sometimes just didn’t do it for me. I found myself skipping over filler text to the next lines of dialogue in order to press the story on. Maybe that’s a good sign that I wanted to figure out how this would end. Maybe it’s a bad sign that I couldn’t seem to enjoy the journey there as much as I normally do.

Overall, 4/5 stars. This wouldn’t be the first on my list of recommendations, but for those who enjoy a book with action, a pinch of magic, and no romance, I could see myself suggesting this book to them. I’d like to thank the publisher for sending me an ARC copy of this book to review. I hope that my feedback is insightful.

What a fantastic story. I could not put this down and then I saw on the cover it’s going to be a movie on Netflix?! Ugh so excited!!

I’ve never read a story with so little dialogue and interaction with other characters. Most of the story is the author telling what’s happening to Elodie/her thoughts or what happened to the princesses before her. The story arc was simple, but I thought there would be more intensity with there being a dragon and the mc fighting for her life. I didn’t find myself engaged throughout the story. I so badly wanted this epic action with the mc and the dragon. That’s not what this story is. I hope the Netflix adaptation is more exciting. I will say, the twist at the end was unexpected in an interesting way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Worlds for the eARC

I read an ARC of Damsel by Evelyn Skye. Thank you for this opportunity Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine.

The book starts with a princess riding with her father as they check on their people. He is a jolly king, aware that his people are suffering, but outwardly showing a smiling face and offering positive affirmation to any idea or outlook for the future of their people while the princess goes to the women and others who will listen, as her mother used to, and makes the actual plans with her people that will actually help them in the hard months to come. She loves her father, but after this particular trip, they meet with an incoming ship, where it’s announced that a foreign prince has agreed to marry the princess.

Thankfully, the princess has a few months to send letters to the prince and she finds out he’s kind and caring, and finally, when she does go to meet him months later with her family, including her stepmother and little sister, she finds out he’s handsome as well. While they get to know each other personally, she’s showered with gifts, and he takes her around on extravagant dates where everything seems wonderful. The princess finds it sad that the people of this land have so much food and gold and goods while her people suffer, but she’s also concerned when she helps a girl who’s being bullied, and the little girl asks who’s going to save her.

Still, after that, everything else goes perfectly. She even gets to design her wedding dress, and then she goes to her wedding, and then the plot really begins to take off and the dragon statues finally start to make more sense.

Let’s get something out of the way. The fact that there is something wrong with this bountiful land is not a secret. It’s not just obvious because of “no duh, book conventions” and foreshadowing. The prince and queen literally talk about it. Which is weird, because the book also tried to pull off the “step-queen is jealous of the princess getting such a great deal, but not really” twist, which only really works if we think that the princess is getting a good deal, or at least that we don’t think the prince himself is in on it, which he obviously is from all the hints we get right away and then he just states it even before the wedding so… And no, I don’t consider this a spoiler, it happens too early in the book.

Also, once the book gets into the action, the action is stopped, basically full stop, in order for the princess to contrive a way for her to have visions of the past of this bountiful land and why it is the way it is. I personally do not like this. I liked how she responded in the end to the characters, but I wasn’t thrilled about how she had visions of the past.

Overall, the book had a wonderful fairytale feel to it. I have a love of books that not only read like fairytales, but also look to tackle and deconstruct them, so I’m a little sad that I didn’t really enjoy that middle part at all. The ending was amazing, which is all I’ll say about it, but it can’t really make up for some of the clumsy beginning and boring middle. Still, I could see where a lot of people, especially people who like it when they get to really know the past of a fantasy world they’re learning about, might love this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First off, that cover is gorgeous! I'm a sucker for a pretty cover and Damsel is no exception. Honestly, I admire the author's intentions with this book, which alone made me pick it up in the first place. However, the end result spoke to inexperience and/or laziness. That sounds harsh but it was my general impression of this book. Even as I read the first chapter, my heart sank, because I knew this wasn't the epic, brave fantasy I thought I'd picked up. But I knew I shouldn't judge it by just one chapter, because it was bound to get better. But it really...didn't.

The worldbuilding is almost nonexistent and/or ludicrous. It felt recycled and unoriginal, like when I tried to make my own fantasy world at 15 (that manuscript is never seeing the light of day). The pacing drags and I found myself getting bored only a few chapters into the story. That did not bode well for me. Not only that, but the characters felt really stiff and flat and I didn't find anything distinct about them; I can barely even remember their names. The main character, Elodie, was not memorable in the slightest, and more than that, her passiveness frustrated me because I really, really wanted this story to come to life.

I feel like this book wasn't meant to stand apart from the Netflix show and I really don't think it needed to be adapted into a novel. It just felt like an attempt at bringing more money in. I don't intend any hate to the author, I'm sure she's a lovely person but this book simply did not work for me.

Thank you to the publisher/NetGalley for allowing me to review this book!

Wow okay so the synopsis immediately drew me in. I was so excited to read this book! Sadly I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping. The overall theme this was presenting was great and the execution was as well. The beginning was what fell short for myself. It seemed to lag on and its not until about 40% into the book that the real plot started to be honest. The second part of the book was truly amazing. The ending was by far one of my favorites. This is a book that represents womanhood and the issues surrounding women. The sister bond that you see was so heartwarming. I think the characterization, the detail and the flow were on point. I just think that the start point that was chosen was not the best one.

ALSOOO that fake but could totally be real language was so cool to see!!

I would recommend this to anyone wanting a feminist take on fantasy for sure.