The Courting of Bristol Keats by Mary E. Pearson is a fae themed fantasy romance with plenty of intriguing elements, but it didn’t quite live up to all of they hype for me. The tricky, slightly evil nature of the fae was one of my favourite aspects of the world-building (think fae from The Cruel Prince). They added an edge to the story that kept things interesting but the pacing felt slow for a book with a high amount of action, and the ending came so abruptly that it left me a little unsatisfied.

The relationship between the two main characters was different from other enemies to lovers books I’ve read. They didn’t take that long to acknowledge their feelings and it went from distrust, to reluctant allies to lovers pretty early on in the book. The relationship and what other characters in the story thought of it was a pretty central feature of the plot, so much so that I felt other elements were lost. Some plot lines like the training and the overarching mission felt like they took a backseat and were underdeveloped. 

The book gives off strong “special girl in a special world” vibes, which isn’t my favourite theme. It can be done well but here it just came off as the main character can do no wrong even though she’s new to the world and magic in general. I felt like a lot of things (besides the relationship between the two main characters) were left undeveloped. To my understanding this is a duology so theres definitely a lot of action leftover for the second book. I’m interested enough to continue the series but its not a priority for me. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC that I chose to read and review.