Malice

This was a fun little book for the most part. I'm normally iffy with stories that have a lot of bullying because I just do not have a fun time reading stuff like that, but the plot was interesting enough to keep me there and engaged. Aurora and Alyce's relationship was very cute as well, even though I feel like they should've spent a bit more time together before they were all in love, but that's subjective in books so it didn't bother me too much.

My minor gripes were the way the author clearly tried to include other fairytale elements in the story but it felt a bit obvious and clumsy. The author should've stuck with Sleeping Beauty. The only other minor annoyance I was that Alyce said “Dragon's teeth” as an expletive what felt like 70 times throughout the book. I understand that fantasy settings are going to have their own unique dialogue and phrases but it felt like this particular one was overused.

Most of my issues with this book, and what made me rate it so low, occurred in the last ten chapters of the book. I'll put them all under spoilers and in bullet points to try to get this across as succinctly as possible:

• i knew alyce working for the king was going to come back to bite her at some point, but i don't understand why aurora was so angry about it. he is the KING. she is the dark grace that everyone already hates and uses. at what point did she think alyce would have ANY choice in the matter? if alyce refused the king probably would've drained her like narcisse or just killed her. aurora knows what her father is capable of. it makes no sense why she would feel upset or betrayed by this.
• after the king admits to: killing aurora's sisters, attempting to kill aurora herself, wanting to usurp the rightful queen of briar, wanting to go to war with the fae after it almost killed them last time, and wanting to basically enslave alyce and use her powers in the war, aurora STILL stops alyce from killing him? WHY? they made it seem like a “he's awful but he's still my father” situation but not only did aurora NEVER express an opinion like this prior, she didn't even say anything like it in the moment! she doesn't plead for his life because she still “loves” him or anything!! could've solved most of their problems right then and there but just. didn't.
• i could see the kal betrayal coming for a while, even if i didn't know the exact reason. she trusted him WAY too quickly and with way too little information on his backstory. he didn't even have to lie about much. you would think alyce would have better instincts than that with how she's been treated even if she was desperate for friendship. the author didn't try to make this a love triangle though, at least, so points for that
• alyce WHY would you transform into your new disguise IN FRONT OF THE OTHER GRACES?? i understand you wanted your #girlboss moment but what is the point of having a disguise that at least 3 other people you KNOW despise you/have no loyalty to you will see?? all it takes is for them to follow you to the palace or get there faster and your disguise is useless.
• “The princess won't remember you as you are. When she wakes she'll only see you as a Vila, as a threat.” this might be a personal preference thing but i can't stand memory modification/memory loss as a major plot trope. it feels lazy to me. there are plenty of other ways to create conflict between alyce and aurora without this happening.
• alyce finally ‘snapping' and starting to kill people left and right COULD have been a good ending and good beginning of a villain arc...if it wasn't all basically because of the vila villain spirit trapped in her head. if you want alyce to be evil let her be evil under her OWN power, not someone else's. making it because of spirit both releases her from any potential consequences (morality-wise) and robs us of a good storyline of someone who became a villain because of how she was treated and having to come to grips with that. the author could've explored an interesting concept in “becoming the villain they all thought you to be because they left you no choice but to” but that won't happen, or at least it won't be nearly as impactful with some/most of the blame being laid on the evil spirit possessing her.