This was pretty on par with how I felt about the first book in the series, not too much changed for me, so I think this  review is going to be pretty similar.

I really enjoy all of the scheming that goes on here. I love feeling like I’m on top of everything and keeping up, and then having the rug pulled out from under me. The only real issue I have is that it doesn’t really dive any deeper. That rug kinda gets slowly pulled out, it's never yanked, so my reactions are more of a “oh, yeah, okay” rather than an “OMG NO WAY”. 

I really like the inclusion of Violie, but I also really missed Sephronia. She was by far my favorite of the three, and her relationship with Leo was really the only one of the three that I really connected with. I felt a little blind sided having to restart with Violie. Also, I can't complain too much because I really liked being given the chance to kind of get to know the other sisters a little bit better, and I think if we kept Sophie around she would just continue to outshine everyone.

I also have to say that this book felt a little drawn out. I’m not sure if there was really enough going on in this book for as long as it really was. I was bored more than once, and found myself (continuously) waiting for something to happen or someone to make a move. While I love that this series has such an emphasis on the political side of things, a lot of it feels so YA and so young that it just feels too immature for reality. Like.. these girls are supposed to be queens, but I really don't think they handle themselves, or their court issues in an adult-y way, let alone a Queenly way. Maybe that's what I get for reading a YA series in the first place?

Really though, this is a pretty good series, you just kinda have to push through the lulls.