NJ
Loved the resolution of the love triangle although I've seen it get a lot of hate. The only thing I would have changed would have been the amount of time Aerin spent with Tor after returning before the proposal. The first half of the book is spent establishing Tor and Aerin's connection and then the next half is spent with Luthe. So by the time they're getting married I've almost (but not quite) forgotten why I love Tor and Aerin together.
There are a few things I must preface this review with.
1. I read this book when I was way too young to read this book
2. For a long time, it was one of my favourite books
3. I reread it recently because it occurred to me that it probably hadn't aged well. I was right.
The hero is an abuser and a rapist. No matter how hard the book tries to rehabilitate him, and it does try hard, nothing can take away from his abuse or the rape. Also, if this were any other author, I would probably have given the book 1 star, but SEP was one of the authors that led me to read contemporary romance as a young teenage girl, and thus I am a bit biased. Also, no one writes banter quite like SEP.
However, the fact that I read this as a young teenager is the exact reason why books which romanticize abuse suck. Young impressionable people may pick them up and use them as a blueprint for a relationship. The very thought gives me nightmares. I may be saying this because I spent a lot of my younger years loving SEP, but I have to point out that this book was written in the 90s. It doesn't excuse the abusive content in the least but it makes me a smidge less ragey about it.
Running the plot of a few more SEP books through my mind, I am coming to terms with the fact that a lot of books I have considered favourites may sour on a reread.
I am realising that just as I had to give up on my OG historical romance faves, Julia Quinn and Lisa Kleypas, I might have to give up SEP, and that breaks my heart because I do love her banter.
I have recently been enjoying second chance romance but I skipped to the second to last chapter of this book and came across the heroine proclaiming that she "wasn't a whole person" before she met the hero. Admittedly I was in a very bad mood before I began reading and this may have influenced my emotions, but the heroine's statement irritated me. I have grown tired of romances that suggest that the main characters are not whole without each other. Those sentiments smack of an unhealthy codependence rather than love. I may return to this when I'm in a better mood but I truly doubt it.
No rating because I don't know how I feel about the book.
I've seen a lot of reviews hating on the heroine and I'm extremely shocked. There are a lot of complaints about her supposed selfishness as she kept leaving the hero in his hour of need. These statements distress me because I feel like they totally invalidate the heroine's own emotions and feelings and gloss over the fact that while yes, the hero's life was unraveling, hers was too. She found out that the reasons she had for marrying him were fabricated, that he had a baby and that she was effectively being excommunicated by the only community she had ever known. Was she supposed to stoically bear these heartbreaking occurrences in order to secure his happiness whilst forgetting about her own? Or are we assuming that the moment he was happy she would be too? I think that given the circumstances, she's allowed a little selfishness.
I feel like in general, us romance readers tend to be a lot more forgiving of a hero's flaws than we are of a heroine's. And I think in this case, hatred of the heroine is unjustified.
Loved this book when I was a teenager. Have to reread to discover whether it aged well.
This is probably my least favourite book of the series.
Firstly, it's a bit boring, nothing really seems to be happening and even when it does, I'm not terribly interested in it. The political machinations and twists that I usually enjoy in this series were really minimal in this book and I honestly felt cheated.
But perhaps more distressing than the books mundanity was how uncomfortable some of the messaging was. As other reviews have mentioned, the final point of this book seemed to be that it was good to enforce things by violence if you were sure you were right. While I think that this could be an important critique of war in general, and how it can warp people's mindsets and decisions, the book didn't seem critical of its own message.
Another thing that truly bothered me was that by the end of the book Eugenides was considered sovereign of both Attolia and Eddis, countries that were ruled by women. The book is still unapologetically feminist in other ways but I couldn't help being irritated by the fact that the women in this book had yielded a bit of their sovereignty to a younger, arguably more inexperienced ruler (however much I and they may personally love him). I know I'm nitpicking and probably overreaching here but I wished Eddis did not have to swear fealty to Eugenides.
It was very cute. I just wish they had had months-long interactions instead of those 2 encounters after which they were both in love. I know I'm an overly picky reader but for me to believe in the longevity of a relationship I need to believe they had more than a couple of encounters in their adulthood. Otherwise, it was a fun enjoyable read.
This wasn't bad but I don't think I will be reaching for another Kate Canterbary book anytime soon
I know it's medieval fantasy but the age gap between the hero and the object of his affection really creeped me out, considering she was also kind of his charge. Couldn't finish it.
Reading this made me realise how little diversity there is in straight romance dynamics. I can't remember how many books I've read where the woman is a domme and the man is a sub, it feels like such a missed opportunity. It reminds me of how tired I am of the grumpy x sunshine trope because with the exception of a handful of books, in heterosexual romance the male lead is grumpy and the female lead is sunshine. But, I personally love reading about grumpy women. The grumpier the better! Maybe I need to do better at searching for those kinds of dynamics
As someone with GAD Paris' inner monologue was very realistic but it was also exhausting and at times difficult to get through. I read romance partly because I want to escape my brain's endless catastrophizing and reading this book did not feel like an escape at all. This wasn't the frothy rom-com the cover promised and maybe if I'd known better what to expect I might have had a more enjoyable experience.
I would have enjoyed this more without all the tiktok challenges. I found them all so cringy
This was the perfect ending to an incredible series. There were certain twists I saw coming but the execution still packed an emotional punch. I suspect I will love this series more upon reread.
This was good, particularly in its rejection of the “your love cured me trope” in which beautiful young, women save surly, hurting men from themselves. However, this is the second age-gap romance I read in as many days, and it shames me to admit, I don't really enjoy them. Particularly, because I rarely, if ever see the reverse in romance and most of the age-gap romances I've observed in real life are rife with unsavoury power dynamics. But, I digress, on its own, this book was a swoony, enjoyable romance.
How did I find both characters simultaneously boring and yet melodramatic? It boggles the mind.