ARC read 2025
Tessa (our FMC) finds herself transported from her own world through a magical portal while trying to walk home from the library after a late night of studying legends of a magical Fae world that she now finds herself in. Tessa is now very much on her own in a new land where magic is real and she is at the center of an ancient prophecy where a human from the mortal world will come to the land and marry the prince binding their lives together which will cause great change... per the prophecy it might lead to ruin or salvation.
Shortly after meeting Prince Erian she is told that she will marry him as this is part of the prophecy, now she is stuck in a new world and forced into an arranged marriage. To be honest she really handles all of this better than most people would, although I guess giving the fact that she has no clue how to get back to her own world she kind of has to go along with the Fae for protection and any kind of support.
Many in this land believe that this prophecy was an ill omen and that the ruin is coming not trusting Tessa and making her feel like an outcast in her new home where she already was feeling so alone. But she does have some strong allies and one of them is her new mother-in-law the Queen (Aurelia)... Going to space this out since this might be a spoiler:
**** the King on the other hand is being ill advised by this shady guy that keeps spouting about the need to send Tessa "away" for her own safety... he is up to something nefarious... or is he? He has been a trusted advisor to the king and royal family for many years after all (he gives off Jafar from Aladdin vibes.)*****
End of spoiler
Tessa befriends the librarian while trying to learn more about her new home and the ancient prophecy she is apart of and shortly after ill omens end up in her room and surrounding her... she is attacked in the garden when someone is controlling a thorny plant with magic and later she is poisoned... but who is behind these dastardly deeds?
The prince (now her husband) at first not wanting to be married to someone he doesn't know and being fed his whole life on the fact that this foreign person is probably going to be an evil enchantress when in actuality she is real and scared and she is now his to protect he begins to see Tessa in a new light and together they form a bond by trying to find the source of the chaos and danger surrounding them.
Beautiful descriptive world building but I felt this took up a really big portion of the story so much so that it kind of felt like too much to get through this and on to the story at times, our lead characters had minimal contact with each other throughout the first half of the book and while the prince did keep saving Tessa I felt Tessa was building a better relationship with the Queen than her husband Erian.
By the time Tessa and Erian did end up spending more time together over 50% of the book was done and left not much time to really build a relationship without it feeling kind of rushed I was hoping for a spark between the couple which kind of happened in the woods after a near death experience for the two of them making this feel more like an insta-love story. I had questions about the fae magic and if/how it replenishes?
I received an ARC copy of this book and appreciated the opportunity to read about this magical world and Tessa and Erian they both handled their less than ideal situation with grace and dignity that many others in their situation wouldn't handle as well (including myself). The book sets up for a sequel and I would love to read more in the series.
The chapters were all very long, this is probably just my own personal preference but I like a mix of long and shorter chapters and I often have my kindle set to time left in chapter, seeing over an hour left at the beginning of each chapter was a bit daunting.
*ARC *Romantasy *Fae + Human *strangers --> more *travel to another world *portal magic
*written in 3rd person *allies to lovers *Indie author *arranged marriage
*bullying by fae people towards FMC *drama/political intrigue
*super slow burn (no spice) *insta love
What is your favorite Romantasy?
No comments:
Post a Comment