Evelyn Skye is such an underrated fantasy author. I love her writing and this story was absolutely amazing.

I enjoyed this story from start to finish. A story that shined the relationship of sisterhood and also the common not told in a positive light of a step mother. I found this so refreshing. I also liked that romance this story was not but a story of the unexpected and survival against all odds.

This was such an interesting read! I found myself so engrossed in the story, the characters had such incredible arcs, and I can't wait to follow this author's journey!

Wow tropey YA.. it's not anything new. I was hoping for a bit more. The writing seemed very much like a screenplay, so it will probably translate well. But once again animal death and no trigger warning.. I can't do animal death. But I did really like the main character here, and I am looking forward to when it comes to screen.

This was very uncomfortable to read. Elodie, our main character, seemed coded to be stereotypically autistic. She felt written by someone who is definitely not neurotypical and did not consult with any sensitivity readers.

Outside of the icky feeling I get reading the MC, this is a pretty generic YA. Please just read something else.

I requested this for the beautiful cover months and months ago before coming to the conclusion that I cannot trust a book by its cover. Should I make a dating analogy? No?

I won't go into it too much, but know this. I should've trusted my friends A Mac and Marquise. They clearly know me better than I know myself. Or our tastes are similar.

YA fantasy. Dragons. Boring leads. Where have we read that recently? To all of the people stunned by Fourth Wing, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm not here to shit on your favorite book. But was it revolutionary? No. Is this revolutionary? Certainly not. But if you're into tropes and guessing every step the main character takes, this is for you. It is not for me. My NetGalley backlog is literally haunting me at this point, so if you see me slogging through some similar books soon, no you didn't.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Elodie was such a great character to root for! I liked seeing a sort of flipping of normal fantasy tropes that have always been accepted. Beautiful storytelling and fantastic worldbuilding.

I really wanted to love Damsel and potentially even have a love/hate relationship with it. I love the twists added to the traditional fairytale tropes, I love the message the author is trying to get across here about sisterhood, and I think that the body horror-esque scenes were done very well. However, the ending really soured the rest of the story for me and left me wondering why that was the choice made. I do think it is a fun YA book with a generally good message but why the ending? I can’t say too much without spoiling the story.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an ARC, all views are my own.
This was a great story. I liked the relationship between the sisters, Elodie and Floria. It was so strong throughout the story. You can tell their love and loyalty runs deep. This story was also very fast-paced and thrilling. Dragons! I love all the fantasy elements in this. I felt like I was always waiting to see what would happen next.
The only downside was at times it was hard to follow. It runs through many points of view which you need to understand what is actually going on, but with everything else happening, at times I struggled.
Overall, a gripping story.

This book is a YA Fantasy and at times felt juvenile, it did win me over in the end though. I rooted for Elodie and Floria to make it out and end the circle of sacrifice. The stepmother trope is a little tired and I found it to be irksome, I also found it hard to believe that a father who lost the love of his life would then sacrifice the daughter who wore her face, but apparently thousands of family’s in the story were willing to do just that. I loved lots about the story; Elodie’s curious nature, her ability to keep her wits about her, and her devotion to family. I loved the women coming together and being the force for change. I’m glad in the end Elodie ended up with the family that truly deserved her. I hope the show will expand on the premise of the book and be the epic fantasy the book is the bones for.

Dragons yes. Evil Dragons hell yes. I love my dragons and this book has a juicy one. This is a fun classic fairytale retelling that gives sleeping Beauty vibes without the damsel in distress. This book was super fun and a quick read. I love Elodie and her sister as super cute. I also loved the citizen of Aurelia and the (nod to the og fairytale) for actually acknowledging the dilemma of the kingdom. I also loved the flash back and how elodie saved herself while not being too over the top girl power and indpendent. Elodie’s dad does try to make ammends and shows us that it is okay to accept help and be afraid.

I absolutely loved this book. It sucked me in right away and kept me intrigued the entire time. Elodie is betrothed to Henry, the Prince of Aurea, and will do whatever it takes to provide a better life for the people of her home. The marriage will provide much-needed food and wealth for her homeland. So when the wedding day comes, and things take a turn for the worse, Elodie will have to save herself along with both kingdoms. And there are dragons!! I can't wait to see the Netflix adaptation of this book. Thank you, NetGalley, for the eARC. 5 stars.

I made it about 15% before I had to DNF this felt like it should have been a middle-grade novel but it wasn't a particuarly good one....there was some struggles with the world building and characterization. Maybe I need to give it another try down the road but it won't be anytime soon.

Another typical YA book. Nothing new to discover, every trope squeezed in, just simple characters and zero world building.

3.5/5 Stars

Overall I thought this was a pretty good YA book. There was some good world-building, it was fast paced, and had somewhat of a fairytale feel to it. I have recently found out that this will be getting adapted on Netflix, and I will definitely check it out once it does! I think it is the type of book that might adapt better on the screen.

Did not finish. Writing too all over the place and didn't hold my interest at all. Hope the movie is better.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this book! I did enjoy aspects of the book, such as the personality of the main character and the action going on in the middle of the book. However, i wish there were more instances of the author “showing” us through actions rather than “telling” us. I enjoy a book with awesome imagery and descriptions, so that would have been awesome to have more of that. I do feel like the ending wrapped up quickly and wish the book was a little longer to allow a bit more information and drama in the end.

Damsel is adventurous and entertaining YA dragon fantasy that is going to be a Netflix movie and I agree with all readers who said, this will make a much better movie.

The plot is fast-paced. Writing is like a screenplay I didn’t mind that but I couldn’t help noticing it makes everything feel on a surface level and lacking in emotional depth.

First half is more telling than showing but once Eloide is in the labyrinthian caves of the mountain, the story gets more and more interesting and exciting. It still lacks emotions but I enjoyed the thrill of the chase.

There is theme and layers of survival, sacrifice, selfishness, cruelty, injustice, ignorance, greed and sisterhood. The messages in the story were good. I enjoyed reading about the world, the difference between Aurea and Inophe, culture, geography and food. I enjoyed the legend of Dragon and Princess Victoria, which surprised me in a good way as it wasn’t how I expected.

My most favorite part is Eloide’s time in the cave. Twists and turns were mostly predictable. Climax was a little surprising.The end was surprising and also unbelievable.

Why 3.5 stars-

-It lacked emotional depth.
-There were lots of questions and Aureans had questionable morals. I can’t believe it took a little girl to change some people’s minds.
I also feel there should be more explanation about the magic.
-I also feel the indexing of dragon language, in the end, was unnecessary. I would rather have liked the map in that cave Eloide found and her edits to the map as she explored more.

Overall, #Damsel is enjoyable, thrilling, and adventurous YA dragon fantasy with good characters and relationships but it lacks emotional depth and explanation of magic and the world.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Damsel is a classic twist on you guessed it: the damsel in distress, but this time this damsel is the one who takes on a dragon to save herself, avenge the women before her who were used as sacrifices, and to save the future women.

In Damsel, we are placed into the famine-stricken kingdom of Inophe and our main character, Elodie has always had a deep wish of her people surviving each winter. When a representative suddenly appears to offer Elodie's family wealth and for Inophe to be saved in exchange for Elodie's hand in marriage to the dashing prince that is from the unknown kingdom called Aurea. Elodie will be first swept away by the magical and majestic kingdom but will find the ugliness that hides behind the beauty of this kingdom. She will even find herself besotted by Prince Henry, her betrothed. Elodie will not stay silent and will not go down without a fight when the dark secrets of this kingdom come to light.

Okay, here is the truth: I once upon a time in the year 2016 checked out a book from the library by Evelyn Skye called The Crown's Game. I could not get into it and actually ended up DNFing it. So, now fast forward 7 years to where I saw this beautiful cover on NetGalley, then I read the synopsis and was like hell yeah, I need this book in my life! I did not know this was by Evelyn Skye, which is not a bad thing, and I was just here for the book because it is fantasy and has royalty elements. I am such a huge sucker for books that have royalty in them.

Now, this story was not quite 5 stars, but it was pretty damn close to being 5 stars.

The kingdoms of Inophe and Aurea were well described to the point where you felt the opposites of one another of one being desolate and bleak while the other one is beautiful, rich, and just overall enchanting. Evelyn does an amazing job of making you feel the way Elodie does about the two kingdoms and how they differ between one another as well as makes you feel hope for going from such a bleak, hungry ridden place to somewhere amazing to where you can save your people.

I really enjoyed Elodie and how she was not going to stand there and let them win when it came to the dark secrets and sacrifices of the previous brides. She wants things to be changed for the better and to save the others for the future because if she does not, then this cycle is going to keep cycling like it has for centuries now.

In 2023 right now, it feels like the new book trend in fantasy is having books featuring dragons, which is so freaking fun and awesome. I am loving the new spins on dragons and seeing how furious and majestic they can be between these fantasy books.

This book at times did remind me of Damsel by Elana K. Arnold, but that may be because there was royalty and a dragon in it, but the "saved" princess was repressed as well and told a shiny, perfect story that is just riddled with holes and lies. Plus, these female main characters refuse to be repressed and will do anything to save themselves, others, and learn all the dark and twisted secrets. But with both Damsel books have different undertones and are executed in different ways to where they are unique

Damsel is definitely an enthralling read that will have you sucked to the page and rooting for our main character as well as make you feel and sense everything the character is because of how vivid the descriptions are. I am really looking forward to seeing the Netflix show when it comes out. The Netflix show will be starring Millie Bobby Brown (aka Eleven from Stranger Things) and I look forward to see how this will be adapted.

This book was a wonderful read before the Netflix original comes out - it is easy to see why Millie Bobby Brown was chosen to play the title role. The story is interesting and ends with a fun twist, I hope there are more editions to the film (if not a whole book series).