first of all, i would like to give my thank you 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 too 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 for 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. moreover, 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 setting, characters and plot.