📖 Vows & Ruins

📚 Book 2 of The Legends of Thezmarr series

✍🏻 Helen Scheuerer

☑️ Romantasy

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙄 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙤 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥.”

This one sadly didn’t work for me.

Overview:

•Mentor MMC x Mentee FMC

•Magic Training

•Dual POV

•LOTS of Spice

•Battle Sequences 

𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗹 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻, 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗺𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 - 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀, 𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵?

Let’s start with the parts I enjoyed: 

I still love the Found Family between Thea, Kipp, and Cal. Their chemistry and banter brought much needed levity.

‘𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚?’ 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙚𝙙.

‘𝙒𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙩, 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨,’ 𝙆𝙞𝙥𝙥 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙙. ‘𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚?’

Wilder supported Thea through her training and her battles, and I love how he seems in awe of her.

“𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙, 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙪𝙥, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩.”

Okay. It’s possible that I had too high of expectations, or maybe I’m in a fantasy slump, but there are several aspects that frustrated me.

First of all, I’m all for spicy scenes. But this was a ridiculous amount of smut. It didn’t matter what was happening in the plot, they were sneaking away to have sex. It just felt so unnecessary, and it honestly made me like them less as characters that they focused on only themselves in certain situations…

“𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢, 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝.”

Second of all, the plot seemed to barely move forward. There were a few secrets revealed, but it just didn’t have enough momentum or structure throughout the narrative.

Lastly, for supposed “secrets”, there was little care for discretion when they were in public spaces, readily talking about all types of secrets while people can easily overhear. 

I wanted more of the magic and the fantasy world elements!! Hopefully those will come more in the next books, and I think I’ll try to keep reading… after a break.

Overall, I’m not sure I would recommend this series yet. To be determined. 

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