“But I am a monster, Elvie. You don’t belong here, but I am too selfish to let you go. I’ll kill anyone who tries to take you from me.”

The Good
Elvie is the daughter of the king of the light elves and is eager and curious. I liked that she was into the fun and wild. Arkain is a dark king fueled by a desperate desire to stop history repeating and save his people. To do this he must marry Elvie by whatever means necessary to guarantee her people fight against the elves with his. I liked that they had disagreements but ultimately were able to find common ground with each other. Even with the short length their relationship was built well and I felt their love for each other.

I immediately liked the writing style/voice. It really went well with the elven fantasy setting and I liked the way the author quickly incorporated world-building information but it didn't feel heavy handed. The plot itself wasn't at all convoluted and though predictable at times it was still enjoyable.

The Bad
There was nothing explicitly wrong with this book it was just missing a specific 'umph' factor for me to give it a five. It's predictability and short length prevented it from being so. Both villains were very obvious in their antagonistic roles and the orc war plot felt brushed over at the end.


The Rating
I give this book a4/5