Personal Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads rating at time of review: 3.77 stars Content Rating: R for violence, drugs, alcohol and sexual content Trigger Warnings: Forced marriage, animal death, drug use/addiction, kidnapping. The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death. Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella's village to be their Human Queen. To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the townsfolk. A mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped as a girl. Instead, she's dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town's only healer. That is, until the Elf King unexpectedly arrives... for her. Everything Luella had thought she'd known about her life, and herself, was a lie. Taken to a land filled with wild magic, Luella is forced to be the new queen to a cold yet blisteringly handsome Elf King. Once there, she learns about a dying world that only she can save. The magical land of Midscape pulls on one corner of her heart, her home and people tug on another... but what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted. (goodreads.com) You might be looking at the cover of this book and raising a judgemental eyebrow in my direction. Particularly if you’ve read my reviews before and you know I don’t like sexual content in my books. And yes, that cover does look rather suggestive, but in my defense, lots of people were saying this book has very little “spice” in it and that it is a YA book. Having now read it, I can safely say that if this is mild on the spicy scale then I should probably stay far, far away from anything people consider steamier than this. One thing that I will say is that, the majorly amorous parts of this book were at least contained to Chapter 31 for the most part (and a few scenes after that weren’t quite as spicy, but still out of my comfort zone) with nothing important to the plot tied up in the descriptions as far as I could tell. So you could just skip Chapter 31 and skim the other parts if you wanted to and not miss any necessary information. Which I appreciate! There’s nothing that annoys me quite like there being a sex scene in a book that also includes vital information for the rest of the plot. If there has to be sex in a book, I prefer it to be possible to opt out of reading it without losing the thread of the part of the story I actually care about. Now that we have that discussion out of the way, let’s talk about the rest of the book, shall we? Overall, I liked it fairly well. The characters were, for the most part, likable, and the plot was intriguing enough to keep me reading through the bits that weren’t for me. The writing style was sort of strange (we’ll get into that in a minute), but easily overlooked. The world building could have been better, but for a book that’s main focus was a love story, I think it achieved its purpose. As I said, the writing was a little odd. There were some words that didn’t seem to fit into the flow of medieval-inspired fantasy land, like “yeah” and “heck” (I really did find it hilarious to read someone in an adult book say “what the heck” though and it definitely gave me the confidence to do the same with my own writing). It also seemed to go back and forth between more formal writing and super casual, which was jarring at some points, but didn’t hinder my enjoyment. There were also a few instances in which the sentence structure seemed a tad off (though who am I to call someone out for that) and I would take a moment mentally rearranging the words to correct it. Again, this didn’t really top me from easily reading the book, it just snagged my attention from time to time. I would like to take a brief moment to applaud the author for using the terms “Your Majesty” and “Your Highness” correctly. Goodness gracious, it was incredibly refreshing to have the king and queen be referred to as “majesty” and the prince as “highness”. Some writers use them interchangeably and it drives me crazy. Let’s talk about characters. Luella, the MC of the story, was actually pretty fun. I liked her more than I thought I would. She was interesting, with her own goals and abilities. She was also, for the most part, smart and reasonable. Plus, she was an herbalist healer and I can’t recall any other main characters that I’ve read with that profession. King Eldas, the titular Elf King, was almost exactly how I expected him to be. He was protective, foreboding, and grudging but with a soft side for Luella. However, I can’t help but find it funny when the reader finds out that he has basically been secluded in a castle his whole life. Generally, when I come across a dark, fierce, brooding love interest, he’s got some life experience under his belt. He’s been to places, done things, acquired scars both mentally and physically. You may never know how many people a Dark Brooding Boy ™ may have killed or maimed because his past is complicated. Eldas’ first time really leaving the castle, it is revealed, is when he goes to pick up Luella at the beginning of the book. This means, since she’s been to an academy, Luella has probably traveled more places than Eldas. She’s probably done more things, met more people, experienced life more. And one of the reasons I find this funny (morbidly funny) is because Eldas, when we first meet him, really wants to use his magic to tear this one guy limb from limb. And then, toward the middle of the book, but still nearer to the beginning, he actually does dismember a dude. And since he’s rarely left the castle up to this point, all I can imagine is that he has never killed anyone before (I can’t remember if he says otherwise in the book or not), but he knows the kind of guy he’s trying to be would definitely kill people. It’s like he’s so committed to his aesthetic that he just dearly wants to murder people to live up to it. We don’t get to read any of his inner dialogue but my headcanon is that it went something like this after he ripped apart a dude: Yes! Finally! Oh my gosh… that’s a lot of blood. I might be sick. No! No Eldas, stand majestically. Hold Luella. She is so impressed with me right now I bet. I just saved her from this guy and then dramatically punished him for his crime. And I managed to say something awesome! Heck yeah, this is fantastic. Okay, okay, I’m just goofing off now. Back to the review.
The side characters were nice. I liked that Luella had friends in the castle and that she spent time with people other than Eldas. I won’t say much because of spoilers, but I liked how things turned out with Prince Harrow too, it wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was certainly refreshing as far as plots involving wild, wicked brothers go. Before I wrap this up, here are a few other bullet points of my thoughts on the book:
While this book and its spice were not a great fit for me, I can totally see how someone looking for a steamy romantic fantasy would enjoy A Deal with the Elf King. I don’t see myself ever picking up the sequels to this book, mostly because they aren’t really sequels, just stand alones in the same universe, but also because I haven’t come across many positive reviews. I’m undecided about whether or not I’ll try anything else by Elise Kova. Originally, I thought I would give her Air Awakens series a go, but now I’m not sure. I’m sure I’ll let you know if I do decide to try it. Thanks for reading this review! If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to mix up a whole bunch of plants into a super elixir that will heal pretty much any wound ever. Until next time! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55285911-a-deal-with-the-elf-king?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=mp7CvaB8B5&rank=1
0 Comments
Another LitJoy Crate unboxing! The winter box was delayed because the publishers had some difficulty printing the special edition book, but the wait was worth it! LitJoy Crate: https://litjoycrate.com/ Spoilers for this box: ♛Book: This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi ♛Goldryn letter opener from Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas ♛"Warrior Queen" candle inspired by Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto ♛Sleep mask and scrunchy inspired by The Selection by Kiera Cass ♛Magic carpet mug rug inspired by The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh ♛Mirror inspired by Fairest by Marissa Meyer ♛Adventure card featuring characters from Legendborn by Tracy Deon Personal Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Rating at time of review: 3.77 Stars Content Rating: PG-13 (for language) Chronic overachiever Prudence Barnett is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents of her coastal town. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when, after a night out with her friends, she wakes up with the sudden ability to cast instant karma on those around her. Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to mean gossips, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire: Quint Erickson, her slacker of a lab partner. Quint is annoyingly cute and impressively noble, especially when it comes to his work with the rescue center for local sea animals. When Pru resigns herself to working at the rescue center for extra credit, she begins to uncover truths about baby otters, environmental upheaval, and romantic crossed signals—not necessarily in that order. Her newfound karmic insights reveal how thin the line is between virtue and vanity, generosity and greed, love and hate . . . and fate. (goodreads.com) If you have read my reviews for very long, you are probably aware that Marissa Meyer is one of my favorite authors of all time. If you were not aware of that fact, just know that I am automatically suspicious of anyone who dislikes the Lunar Chronicles. Librarian diplomacy forces me to say that you are free to like what you like and dislike what you dislike, but I don’t know if we can ever really be friends if you actively dislike the Lunar Chronicles. Moving on. Since Marissa Meyer is one of my favorite authors, you may have two questions for me. 1. Corrie, why the heck did it take you so long to read this book that was released two years ago? 2. Corrie, why are you even bothering to review this since it’s a Marissa Meyer book and you obviously love it? To answer question one: Well, you know what, the past two years have been just a smidge wack-a-doodle and my reading habits, like everything else, have changed a bit. Also, even though I love this author, I don’t typically read contemporary romance, which may have somewhat deterred me when looking at this book. To answer question two: Hold your horses antsy pants, I promise this review is going to be more than me just gushing over a book I liked… though I can’t promise that there won’t be any fangirling at all. This is a Marissa Meyer book we’re talking about. When I started reading this book I was actually extremely disappointed. Shocking the entire world, including myself, I was not immediately drawn in. I think part of the problem was that I started reading in the winter and this is very much a summer book. The other major problem was that I could not stand the main character, Prudence. *dramatic gasp here* She is still probably my least favorite Marissa Meyer MC, but I did like her better by the end of the book. However, after several attempts at reading the first few chapters and not getting into it when I read this book in the winter. I decided to peace out and try again in the summertime. When I returned to Instant Karma in the warm opening days of this summer, I found it much more to my liking. There are some books that can be read no matter the weather, but I’ve found that with summer books, for me, it has to be summer when I’m reading them (otherwise I get extra sad when I look out the window and see Midwest winter slapping me in the face). I was still constantly annoyed with Prudence even if I was enjoying the book more. Her self-righteousness was so frustrating. I know she was supposed to be like that, because that was part of her character development arc, but goodness gracious she was irritating at the beginning. She was still sort of annoying at the end of the story, but it felt more manageable as a reader and she definitely had more redeeming qualities. Plus, it was nice that she wasn’t just a copy and paste of Meyer’s other characters, as some authors tend to do. Once I hit chapter 16 (they’re fairly short chapters) I was fully sucked into the book. I needed to know what was going to happen to the marine animal rescue center and what business tactics Prudence would try to save all of the adorable sea lions. Also, the romance in this book was so cute it made me want to scream for joy. Seriously though, is it any wonder I don’t want to get married when my expectations for relationships come from Marissa Meyer books? She has set the bar too high. No mortal man can compare. No romantic gestures will ever live up to the sweetness of fictional ones. I literally hugged the book when… well I can’t say what happened exactly because it’s a spoiler, but just know that it involved a Beatles song and it was freaking adorable. It was also semi-educational! Lots of interesting things about marine animals! And, though I am not a fan of the ocean, it did kind of make me want to go snorkeling. Not enough to actually do it, but the book made it sound nice. There was also a good message about environmental awareness which I appreciated. I’m a little disappointed that I live in a landlocked state and can’t organize a beach cleanup event. Maybe a river bank clean up event? Or maybe I’ll just keep picking up trash on my walk to work. It doesn’t really have the same flare, but it’ll have to do. Like most contemporary romances, there wasn’t really any intense sort of plot beyond saving the rescue center, but it was still a fun fluffy read. Very different from Marissa Meyer’s other books which all have intense, high stakes plotlines. This book featured just a dash of magic. Hardly enough to really be considered magic, but it was still there. Prudence is able to apply karma to people she sees doing wrong things. For instance, she sees a toddler smash someone else’s sandcastle and then THE TODDLER IS OBLITERATED BY COSMIC FORCES WHEN A HORRIFYING… beachball… FLIES FROM THE HEAVENS AND… bops him in the face. The “instant karma” that she deals out does create a few dilemmas and a bit of excitement, but you hardly even notice that she has the ability while reading. I almost forgot to mention it in this review, honestly. A fun plot device, but not actually a big part of the emotion of the story. While I started off disappointed and alarmed that I might not like a book written by one of the queens of YA writing, I ended up in a fit of happy giggles. My cat truly must think I am delusional when she sees me stare at paper for hours on end, laughing and yelling for no apparent reason. Bless that sweet kitty for putting up with me. If you are in the mood for a summer romance featuring adorable sea lions (definitely look at pictures of sea lions while reading this book) and just a pinch of magic, then this may be the book for you! It definitely got me out of my reading slump so expect more reviews soonish! Now, you must excuse me because I’m off to drool over the fact that Marissa Meyer has another book coming out this year (it’s called Cursed and it’s the sequel to Gilded, which I will be reading later this year, maybe even this summer yet, we’ll see). Thanks for reading! GIFs from giphy.com
Cover from goodreads.com |
Categories
All
Archives
April 2024
|