Book 1: A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
In this trilogy we dive into the fantasy world of Emberfall. The author takes a fun twist on the classic story of Beauty and the Beast. The main character, Harper, is going about her day as she normally would, until she is suddenly taken by a mysterious man. She ends up going through a portal to the Kingdom of Emberfall, and discovers she is the last hope to break the curse of this world. However, the only way to do this is if she falls in love with the king, Rhen. Throughout the trilogy there are twists and turns that will leave you on the edge of your seat. You watch the characters go through love and loss. As well as seeing them grow as people. I really ended up liking the series and overall gave it 4 stars. I loved how the first book started by being similar to Beauty and the Beast, but by the end it completely changed courses in the story, separating it from the original. I also really liked the mix of romance and fantasy, and it wasn’t too much of one or the other. My main complaint about the series was the ending. It ended very abruptly and didn’t have a good transition between the climax and the ending of the story. But, overall I thought the books were entertaining and a fun read!
Book 2: Powerless by Lauren Roberts
If you are on Booktok at all, you have probably seen the book Powerless and the mixed reviews. This book takes place in the Kingdom of Ilya, and is about Paeydn. In this world, Paeydn is one of the few ordinary’s, or people who are born without powers. The government wants to execute everyone who doesn’t have powers or anyone who isn’t elite. This caused Paeydn to live in the slums of this kingdom and steal just to make ends meat. She ends up stealing money from who she later finds out is the prince. Later on in the day, she saves him in a fight, and becomes known as the silver savior. Due to this new reputation she ends up in the annual trails. The trials in this world are games using survival skills against other people to live through crazy challenges. Paeydn is now forced to fight the trials with no powers. We see her navigate her way around fighting the trials, while also falling for the prince of Ilya. Throughout the book it is clear that this has a strong element of romance in it. I liked this, however, sometimes the flirting between Paeydn and the prince was a little too intense that it seemed unrealistic. I ended up giving this book 4 stars. I really enjoyed reading most of it, it was fun to read if I didn’t think too hard about the plot. However, there were points where the romance plot of the book got to be a lot and quite unrealistic. This made the book slightly less enjoyable, but while reading this book I was able to look past that for most of it. I would recommend this book if you are wanting a quick fantasy read and you don’t care too much about the writing being phenomenal.
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