How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air, #3.5) by Holly Black Review

 

This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my reviews of The Cruel Prince, The Lost Sisters, The Wicked King, and The Queen of Nothing on my blog, now!

Cardan my little misunderstood king with a tail, I will always be your number one defender. I never doubted you for a second, even when you were throwing dirt into food or throwing people into rivers. I will always hate Balekin with a burning passion, and this novella just further justified the hate I harbored towards him. Absolutely obsessed with these little crumbs we have from Cardan's perspective of Jude throughout his childhood, how he notices her and Taryn from afar, how he slowly becomes fixated on her presence whenever she is near.

I feel as though many readers go into the original trilogy not truly understanding that Cardan is in fact cruel, but even more so, they do not understand that he has clearly been morphed and formed into the cruel prince that everyone knows. It was such a nice chance to see the background of Cardan's upbringing outside of the palace, and see how he viewed himself and how various people in his life directly impacted the way he guarded himself. Jude becoming a more prevalent figure in his life, even when he did not understand what he felt towards her, was a pleasant insight of Cardan's curiosity.

This novella's pacing is quick - full of a number of short stories and instances of Cardan's youth and current day experiences, readers are given a deeper look into his characterization and interactions throughout the years. I would have read double the amount of stories, as I find Cardan so interesting and multi-dimensional - I would have loved to see more of his perspective throughout the series.

It was refreshing to see Cardan's sense of self and his train of thought when it came to protecting others, especially in the way that he cares for Jude and her family. He is very much aware of the fact that if he and Jude are confronted by others, it will be Jude that picks up the sword and himself that watches the battle unfold, but he surely will be there by her side nonetheless.

The illustrations were a complimentary touch to this novella, and it was a treat to see Cardan in mortal clothes, considering we always have seen him dressed to the nines as the High King of Elfhame. I can finally go on with life knowing what he looks like wearing a hoodie, and if this novella was just two hundred pages of Cardan in varying mortal clothes, I would give it just as much love. I cannot wait to see what is in store with The Stolen Heir duology, and hopefully the High King and Queen will make an appearance, as I will never want to be rid of them.

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Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1) by Brynne Weaver Review

This review contains mild spoilers for Butcher & Blackbird. Please check trigger warnings before reading - reader discretion is advised.

TikTok... I am sorry for repeatedly bashing you in previous reviews, I should have believed you on this one. I had a blast and a half reading this book - for being a dark romance, it was incredibly humorous, and I was constantly dropping my jaw at how insane yet perfect Sloane and Rowan were throughout the entire book. While I am still traumatized from The Fine Print by Lauren Asher, it was an utter shock to be faced with another male lead named Rowan Kane - from page one, I replaced him with Cooper from Trap (2024).

The trigger warning list in the beginning in this book was how I knew it would be one of my favorite reads of the year - if it's the length of a laundry list, it is right up my alley. Honestly, the mention of Country Roads should have been a trigger in of itself - that song haunts me wherever I go, and I cannot seem to escape it, even in fiction. Sloane and Rowan are hilarious in their own unique ways, and it was great watching them push each other's buttons as the story went on. Even at their first meeting, when Rowan is hollering "I'm such a huge fan," to Sloane and fan-girling over her hard, I knew readers would be in for a treat.

I loved the friendship dynamic between Sloane and Lark - you could tell that Sloane needed that outside support to keep her from slipping, and while Rowan was a great outlet for that part of her, Lark provided a different level of structure for her. Watching serial killers be the voice of reason for one another was certainly an experience, but the author was able to really allow them to be vulnerable without creating any clichés. Lark smacks sense into Sloane while still being protective of her, and I can only imagine how she will be in her own installment of this trilogy.

The side characters added dimension to Rowan and Sloane's characterization without overshadowing their plot, and had me excited for when they showed up on the page -- too often in dark romances, the side characters are there to cause issues or try to talk the main characters out of things. It was refreshing to see that it was the opposite in this case, and I definitely look forward to seeing how all of their stories play out in the future. Lark was such a great asset for Sloane, and Rowan's brothers and acquaintances added to their story in a natural way.

I am so obsessed with Rowan and Sloane as a couple - their dynamic is so difference compared to anything else that I have read, and this particular trope is something that I have not come across before. Sloane keeping the fact that one of the men they were after was a cannibal from Rowan and did not bring it up until after Rowan literally ate the food he cooked truly describes their relationship. Her reading out the ingredients to the cookies and cream ice cream was literally the cherry on top, and reminded me so much of Hannibal and Will from NBC's Hannibal. The way Rowan kept a table permanently reserved for Sloane at his restaurant was too cute, and their banter continued to be great through the entire book.

Sloane was really out here humbling Rowan at every chance she got, and I was cheering her on the entire time. I loved that being serial killers was low-key their side hustle, and Rowan maintains being a whole chef -- even going as far as to send Rowan orzo and other food items to make sure that she was eating. As a lover of orzo, I would have married him right there on the spot. Rowan and Sloane are so unserious with one another, it is actually comical -- the entire "lo-bot-o-my," "you love me?" scene had me cackling so hard, and the way that Sloane was about to be on her last straw with Rowan made it even better.

This is probably the most fun I have ever had while reading a dark romance in a long time, and The Ritual by Shantel Tessier is the closest in similarity regarding comedy. I will definitely be continuing on with this trilogy, and cannot wait to see what Lark has in store for us as a leading lady.

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A Touch of Darkness (Hades x Persephone Saga, #1) by Scarlett St. Clair Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

A little over three years later and I finally decided to succumb to this book. I love a Hades and Persephone retelling, and I was excited to see how the author would take the myth and turn it into her own in the modern world. I was pleased that there were no pop culture references, because they are definitely one of my major pet peeves in modern retellings. The author was able to create original references for the world that played into the mythology side of the retelling, and created a world within itself.

Persephone is basically undercover as a typical mortal journalist, as she is unable to create growth -- every flower she touches tends to die. After entering an exclusive club, she finds herself making a deal with Hades himself, and enters a contract that would result in her staying with him forever, unless she is able to create life in the Underworld. Personally if I was her, and had a history of turning flowers to dust, I would have tried a little harder to change the bet, but alas she really did not have the room to argue.

The beginning of this book took me a minute to get into, I don't know if I just was not in the right mindset to dive into this as much as I wanted, but it eventually picked up and I was able to get into the groove of things. I did find myself begging Persephone to use some common sense and that big brain of hers a decent amount of times -- she was constantly thinking of doing the right thing, which is a definite pro for her, but she was skipping steps and not thinking of more than one possibility when carrying out her plans. She certainly was irritating on occasion, which was pushing her further away from my enjoyable lead list.

Hades is essentially an unbothered king and I have to respect that - Persephone tended to go on and on about certain matters, and my man was truly only focused on life being created in the Underworld. He clearly had a big picture in mind, and when Persephone went on her tangents, you could tell he would be on his last thread of patience. The longer they were together, you could see his agitation turn into something more of appreciation, and it was nice to see the character development he exhibited. Unfortunately for Persephone, I did not care about her career in journalism one bit - she should have had her eye on the prize (Hades) and maybe worked a little harder to keep her articles in check. She was becoming little miss Gossip Girl of the Underworld at one point like girl... stay mysterious!

Now, Hades and Persephone's relationship low-key had me doing cartwheels across the room. "You will worship me, and I won't even have to order you," was absolute insanity, and had me pausing to think about what I had gotten myself into. Yes, this quote is mentioned in the Goodreads summary, but in the context it was in the book was truly an experience. She started abandoning her morals and I was routing for her the entire time. The smut was pretty solid, but I do think the reviews on TikTok were overselling it just a bit, but it definitely picks up in the second half of the book.

I loved the bonus chapters at the end of the book, and having a POV from Hades really tied the book together in my opinion. I love when books are dual perspectives, and wish this book would have given us more insight on Hades and how he was feeling as he and Persephone grew closer. This was a fun read and while at times the pacing could have improved, the plot did move relatively quickly for being a decent sized book, and the side characters definitely added the definition that was needed to make the story more well-rounded.

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The Fine Print (Dreamland Billionaires, #1) by Lauren Asher Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

Well.... I do not even know what to say. For one, I honestly do not even know how I missed the fact that they work in an amusement park that is basically Disneyland, and I immediately got the ick. Listen, I knew there was a castle on the cover, but I thought it was more in the sense of a billionaire's castle mansion, not a Cinderella castle situation. It was giving major Disney adult vibes and I felt as though I was being held captive, I needed to be free of this torment. There are so many pop culture and popular restaurant references, it was incredibly distracting and read like a 13-year-old on Wattpad instead of a published work.

Zahra is pretty funny every now and again, and she was eating Rowan up at every chance she got, which I have to respect. Rowan on the other hand, is the definition of a handsome loner with no social skills that do not directly benefit him. He needed to be knocked down a few pegs, and Zahra was happy to take on that task. I kind of really could not stand him throughout the entire book, which is not a good look when this is supposed to be the heartthrob male lead that had half the internet drooling over him.

I really thought this was going to take a turn into a contract marriage trope, and since it is a fan favorite in my book, I was excited for the plot to move forward and bring in some substance, but unfortunately I was left underwhelmed and disappointed when this never came up. There was even a perfect opportunity for it, given the terms of being the director of Dreamland for Rowan, and yet it was fumbled. Rowan constantly compares himself to Mr. Darcy, which is absolute insanity given that Rowan has the charisma of a dried out leaf on the ground.

These employees do literally nothing all day long. Every chapter where they are at the office or working on a presentation, it is essentially bare minimum effort and constant mentions of late nights with no work to show for it. Someone truly needs to unionize this amusement park because their working conditions are insane and surely not up to code, not to mention the horrendous pay and abismal healthcare the employees receive. Rowan seems completely fine with this information and it just takes one employee - Zahra - to shed light on the situation and make Rowan realize that maybe he should treat his employees like human beings. He was giving off major capitalist pig vibes, because why in the world was he bragging about having the idea to lay off ten thousand employees when the park was losing money??

I was not invested in Zahra and Rowan's relationship at all - I thought that maybe once we hit the halfway mark in the story, that something would evolve and their relationship would actually form into something with substance, but it fell flat and left me wishing I did not commit this much time to their story. The smut was not smutting at all... everyone was raving over this book for years, and it was giving Wattpad-level descriptions. They trauma dumped on each other and then immediately jumped each other's bones, and it was the weirdest transition I have ever read, and honestly started the domino effect that made me not like either of them by the end of the book.

All I can say is thank god that this series is compiled of interconnected stand alones and does not continue following Rowan and Zahra, because if I had to read another two books about this pairing, I would start to believe that love does not exist. Rowan did not apologize nearly enough for the things that he did and the lies that he told, and I truly cannot believe this is the man everyone has been thirsting after for the past two years. I felt as though I was being punk'd the entire book, and I am just grateful I borrowed this from the library and did not spend my actual money on nearly five hundred pages of a lack-luster romance.

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