I’d like to give this ARC the light as my first review for my book blogging journey. Thank you so much to #NetGalley and Oxford South Press for allowing me to have the opportunity to review A Court Bright and Broken {ACBAB - because I know I won’t want to type it out every time.}

Raewyn is a human that lives in an impoverished village within a world that is ruled by Fae. She is willing to do anything to help her family live as comfortable of a life as possible. She initially tries to sell off the last heirloom left from her late mother while at the rough market, but ultimately she ends up losing it. Within her distress of not knowing how her family will be able to live without money, she makes a deal with the village Earthwife. She now has to do anything extremely difficult task in order for her family to be able to live comfortably. However, her feelings and emotions make it quite difficult to fall through with the completion of her task.

ACBAB felt like a dark Cinderella story with a bit more romance. This story was elegantly written and kept me in a trance. Never once did I put it down. This is my first time reading something by Amy Patrick, but I am definitely going to be looking forward to read not only the next book within this series but other stories by her. I would definitely recommend this book to those that want to get into the romantasy genre. There wasn’t really any spice, although the spice was always interrupted by something just before it had a chance to really brew. {Such a tease!!! But I loved it nonetheless.}

Cinderella retelling with Elven fae? Say less!! Squealing over how much I enjoyed this book! This was just such a FUN story, and I devoured it so fast!

Fairy tale vibes with a sassy human FMC, a golden retriever MMC, his broody brother, a magical ball, and a creepy old crone witch with a nasty bargain! If any of that sounds like it’s up your alley then you need to grab this book asap!!

I was invested from the very start with a little Aladdin-esque market scene with a prince in disguise, and the pacing of the plot kept me invested from then on! I feel like sometimes fantasy books can have me feeling like I’m trudging through in spots, but not so here!

Eagerly anticipating book two because I need more of these characters and their story!

3.5 stars! This was such a fun read! I definitely wasn't obsessed with how much of a golden retriever the mmc was. He pretty much believed anything anything the fmc said to a detriment. I devoured the first 2/3 of this book but then got kinda sick of the mmc and the predictability. WAY too insta lovey. Also wish the love triangle was actually a love triangle. OVERALL, very happy I read this and got to have it as my first ARC read! I'd probably read the second book. Also some positive things: great pacing and kept me engaged, loved the character names, some clever magic elements/cool magic system, moving character backstory, overall a very fun read.

Enjoyable.

In A Court Bright and Broken, we meet Raewyn, a human woman who inadvertently finds herself in the palace of a wicked fae king. We see navigating her way between the two fae princes, as well as trying to figure out a way home to her family.

To describe this in a word, it would be pleasant.

The characters are likeable and the storyline is decent. For me personally, there wasn’t enough ‘fae’. Aside from being told that the princes are fae, there’s not much else of it and their characters don’t particularly evidence this much. I also found the ending quite abrupt.

I do like the title of the book, but I’m unsure how it ties in with the story at all.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I may well check back in for the second instalment to find out what happens, but I wouldn’t pause reading another book to dive into it when it comes along.

Thank you for the ARC and I wish the book success with its launch.

Best book I’ve read all year! I was captivated from the very beginning! It’s like Cinderella meets ACOTAR in all the best ways. I can not wait to dove into the second book and find out what happens! This book has easily surpassed all expectations to reach the top of my all time favorites list. If you love fantasy read this book. You won’t regret it!

A Court Bright and Broken was… fine. The pacing was a bit slow in the first half, and I really struggled to connect Rarwyn—maybe it was just me? Plus the romance between her and Stellon was not giving me the E2L was craving, but wasn’t bad.

Overall, this wasn’t bad, just didn’t blow me away.

Book Review: A Court Bright and Broken by Amy Patrick

Amy Patrick's A Court Bright and Broken offers an enchanting twist on the classic Cinderella story, weaving together familiar themes of love, resilience, and transformation with a fresh, fae-inspired backdrop. Instead of fairy godmothers, this tale features witches, and instead of princes from distant lands, we’re introduced to mysterious and alluring fae royalty.

While it doesn't delve into steamy or "spicy" territory, the emotional depth and rich world-building make it a fulfilling read for those who enjoy romance and fantasy without the explicit content.

Oh my goodness. This book threw me for a loop! Just when I thought there was an expected plot moment, the joke was on me! I need a second book! I'd be lying if I said I was happy with the ending.. there was an audible "What!? That's it!?"
Needless to say, I'm a fan!

In the beginning, I questioned whether I was going to enjoy this book. In the exposition, the reader is told about the family dynamics of the royal family when flashbacks could be used instead to show the relationships between the siblings and their father. It felt like a little bit of an info dump, and so many fantasy books have a prince who goes to observe his people in disguise. However, as the story unfolded, it was much more engaging. I enjoyed the aspects that mirror the Cinderella story, and the affection the royal siblings have for each other and their complicated relationships with Raewynn. The bonus chapter also gave helpful perspective. Some aspects of this book reminded me of Reckless and some of them reminded me of Red Queen. Readers would likely enjoy A Court Bright and Broken if they enjoyed those books. I am excited to read the next book in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oxford South Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

this book had great potential and the plot sounded exciting and promising. i was intrigued by the forbidden love trope and of course the potential for faerie world-building. the description includes mention of “enemies-to-lovers, delicious romantic banter, toe-curling tension and sizzling chemistry” and truthfully, i didn’t feel any of this to be true. the entire book felt like one long introduction to set the scene for the second upcoming book. unfortunately this just fell flat for me.

This was a beautiful romantasy with Cinderella vibes that had a feisty human FMC and wonderful fae MMC. The book starts with our FMC having to attend a royal fae ball where she meets our MMC and lands herself in a quite predicament and from there, well you just have to read yourself to find out😉

The romance in this book was cute and insta-lovely, with hints of angst. The MC’s were supposed to be enemies-to-lovers in the description, but in my opinion it didn’t quite happen, the romance was more fast and and specially the MMC was giving more of cinnamon roll-vibes.

This book somewhat slow paced, especially in the beginning and it took me a little to get into the story, but the ending was very action packed and the book ends on a delicious cliffhanger.

If you are a fan of the Folk of the Air series by Holly Black and enjoy magical worlds with royal intrigue, this is the book for you!

I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me the privilege of being able to read this book.

This was a good book, there were a few errors that should have been caught, this seems like it was rushed and not the plot the writing itself, there's a lot more that goes on behind the scenes that should have been included but seemed like it was deemed unnecessary. Besides these parts I had no problem with this book it was a good book.

My biggest problem though is with this, the blub of the book itself. I hate to say it but you do basically get the gist of the whole book from the description. It's a poor description and well it pretty well gives it, away this book is more than that. A better description would be:

What if the godmother wasn't what she seemed, and wasn't the only one with magic of her own? A magical retelling but not the one you know. Forced to live each day because of their greedy fae overlords, trying to survive to look after her maimed veteran father, and two younger step-sisters, Raewyn in a twist of fate changes her life in more ways than one the day she tries to sell her most prized possession to keep those she loves alive. What follows is a tale as old as time, with magic you'll never believe, fueled by life-ending vows, others revenge, and soul binding love. Raewyn finds herself in a predictiment she doesnt know how to solve without losing all those she loves.

Now that completely captures what this story is truly about, and it wonderful. Thank you so much again from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to read this wonderful book!

🩷 Book Review 🩷
📚 A Court Bright and Broken
✒️ @amypatrickauthor
🗓 14th February
💫💫💫

Fill in the blank; "A Court Bright and _____"

A Court Bright and Alluring

Thank you so much to @thenerdfam for gifting me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The premise for this book is amazing. The world is split in two, Fae rule over the humans, and the time has come for the two prince's to find a partner. So we meet one of our MMC first, he is escaping the courtlife and runs into our FMC when she is being stalked by thieves. Look, he isn't the strongest of MMC, and when he needs to be helped back to the castle, things get interesting. A deal is made with a witch, and attempted assassination, Cinderella vibes, and hidden passages.

I enjoyed it, I especially liked the different magic system - glamour it is referred to as. It's refreshing to have not Fae with shadows and elemental magic. The prince's are literally polar opposites, and both of them are very interested in our FMC.

I did feel like it was a bit drawn out in some place, and I constantly was wondering "what's happening with the family!?!?" but I liked it, I'd recommend it for fans of the Folk of the Air series.

Oh, it also ends on a cliffhanger 🙃

I can't wait for the next book!

A romantasy with Cinderella vibes that has me kicking my feet and yelling out loud. Our human FMC finds herself attending a royal fae (elven) ball where she meets the two princes and lands herself in quite the predicament and from there plot unfolds into a romance story that had me kicking my feet and yelling out loud because that ending - oof!

We are introduced to our cinnamon roll fae MMC and human feisty FMC - their chemistry was such fun and I wouldn’t say slow burn but a little angsty. We also meet the morally grey brother who, of course we find utterly endearing by the end.

There are few hints dropped foreshadowing some things about our FMC which make me quite excited for book 2 as I am really intrigued as to how it will unfold!

Overall it was an easy read and had me entertained from start to finish. The reason it’s not a five star is that the book addresses fairly heavy/more adult themes, however the writing itself was more YA so it felt at times a bit disconnected. Also because I know people will be asking I would say spice is 0.5 at best so definitely more YA/NA.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oxford South Press for the eARC of this book!

I completely don't know how to feel about this book.
I really enjoyed the beginning of the book and where it was heading but then I felt it was dragged out in certain places.
Characters weren't relatable to me in any way which I think didn't helped my opinion.

This was a very intriguing twist on Cinderella but with FAE! I actually quite enjoyed this and cant wait to see what happens next!

A Court Bright and Broken had me hooked! The book is an easy read with dual POVs and ends on a cliffhanger with the story well and truly far from done, which I love. The FMC Raewyn, a human, is not your typical save the world type that's found in other popular Romantasy books and although stubborn in her independence, has more of a damsel in distress vibe as the story progresses. The MMC Stellon, a Fae prince, presents as the obvious choice of a love interest and to save her but his ‘sweetness’ has underlying tones of manipulation and his selfish motives make things worse for her, typical. The two of them together just scream for a third character to form a neat little love triangle to break the tension of Stellon’s desperation. Luckily we may be granted this in the next book with Stellon’s broody brother Pharis taking a major role in the final scenes of this first installment, offering to save Raewyn from the inevitable trouble she landed in. There are teasing moments of spice but we are never left fully satisfied so if you are after a hot steamy read you’ll be left wanting, ooof. If you are a fan of forced proximity and slow burn romances this one is worth a read and has plenty of room to flow into future boo

"A Court Bright and Broken" is a fantasy romance with Cinderella vibes, anchored loosely in the fairytale with some common themes.

The story follows Raevyn, a human girl who is unknowingly saved from a group of thieves by the Fae Prince, Stellon. She's initially skeptical of him, if not downright repulsed once she learns his identity, but ends up accepting his invitation to attend a ball. She goes under a glamour, and I didn't like how Stellon didn't know she was the one under the glamour. It threw the vibes off a bit and it was slightly grating to watch it play out.

The romance was endearing but very insta-lovey. Stellon was just too light and fluffy for me, although he does make some questionable choices that I was not a fan of. The bottom line is that this was described as enemies-to-lovers when they never really are. It would have been fine if the description wasn't misleading, but as a result I felt like the romance just didn't deliver what I thought it would. So, the character I thought was the most compelling was Pharis (Stellon's brother) because he was more antagonistic and dark/mysterious. At the beginning I had hoped he would become the main love interest. Raevyn was fierce, independent, and staunchly stood by her morals, so I wished that her love interest had been the one that had a little more fire to him.

I did ultimately enjoy the plot-- it was just the romance that threw me off a little. It is heavy on tropes, and to me it felt too copy-and-paste. That said though, I actually think this will appeal to many readers because the tropes are done well for the most part.

Thank you so much to Oxford South Press and NetGalley for this ARC! 📚

First of all, I would like to give my thanks to Netgalley and Xpresso Book Tours for the arc. I appreciate it a lot.

I just wish I had liked this book better. Ultimately, it comes down to the book not aligning with what I'm normally interested in. on the surface, with the blurb and genre, it should have been my cup of tea. However, upon further reading, I found more and more things that I just did not particularly enjoy.

Before I get to that, I would like to affirm that I did like this author’s writing style. It’s not so simple that you’d think the book was written by a Wattpad author, but it’s also complex enough without being too flowery and unreadable.

Unfortunately, that’s about it. I didn't like that Raewynn and Stellon’s relationship started out as a deception. I also hated that Stellon didn’t recognize Raewynn in her false glamour. It made me feel like his interest in her was false. Aside from that, I was shocked that Raewynn made a deal with the witch doctor without knowing exactly what she would have to do in return. i would have preferred it if she was properly tricked—that would imply that she was at least incompetent, but no. She just didn’t care enough to find out. Furthermore, I was appalled that despite Raewynn making a deal to save her family out of desperation, she didn’t think of her family even once when she was sequestered with Stellon for days.

In terms of Stellon and Raewynn’s romantic relationship, All I could think about was how shallow and vain it all was. There was no depth, no substance to it. They just decided one day that they liked each other. What was most disappointing was Stellon. He started out okay, and I could find myself liking him, but then his blasé outlook on his father essentially sexually assaulting drugged women in his harem was horrifying to see. I just couldn’t see him as a hero anymore.

As I've said before, I do like this author’s writing style. So while I might not continue with this series, I would love to read her other works—with different settings, characters, and plots.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I can't say this story was exceptional or that it blew my socks off, BUT not all books need to do that! It was adorable and sweet and I smiled a lot at the romance. This is definitely a Cinderella twist of sorts (with fae!!) and the premise is really fun. I simply love anything to do with the fair folk when it's done well. Raewyn is a great heroine to root for (albeit her struggles aren't that uncommon for most fantasy heroines I've read), and Prince Stellon is what I'd call a cinnamon roll.! It was cute and silly, calling a fae "Sam", haha. I adored him and his love for drawing and I think he's refreshing in a market where most male leads are "broodier" and crueler. That said... I have to confess I was quite fascinated with the rather antagonistic Pharis because I'm just a sucker for any kind of push-pull/conflict, lol.

The prose is clean, and the pacing of the story engaging and fast, such so that I kept reading and reading. Definitely a fun treat for readers when it comes out on February 14th (Valentine's day, I believe?) and personally it serves as an excellent palate cleanser in between darker reads. I'm looking forward to the sequel and will be keeping my eye on it when it's out.