Review from LibraryofAmy on Goodreads that had me cackling - “They've never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart. And they never will.” Spoiler alert: they did, actually, and it didn't matter. Because nothing in this book makes any sense. -- Also, I didn’t even go into the WILD lack of world building and had a very good laugh reading the Goodreads reviews. What time period is this? Why is there electricity but reads like the dark ages? Glad I wasn’t the only one completely lost while reading this lol.
the whole time i was reading it i was completely confounded about *why* alessandra wanted to kill the king. like, she's part of the nobility, the king hasn't made her life difficult beyond having the no-sex-before-marriage thing. the thought that she might be able to rule as an equal alongside the king didn't even cross her mind. it's just like, "ooh! power! i want that! let's kill the king who has made basically no offense against me to get it and potentially throw the whole kingdom into chaos! wooo, fun teenage years!" just like. why.
I literally just commented this!!! Wat was the reason!!! If she wanted power and the way she planned to do that was make the king love her and become queen why did she feel the need to kill him???
EXACTLYYY! I mean, what even comes in her head to think she can rule a freaking kingdom? She can kill a king that easily? There's no depth. There's no even enough reason for her to do that.
Because the author wanted to portray the mc as a Slytherin who's all about power and accomplishments, and will do the worst things to get what she wants. That's how the book was advertised. Instead it reads like it was written by a Gryffondor who pretends they are a Slytherin because they think it's cooler and edgier. No depth. No rhyme or reason. Just a twelve years old's idea of "dark".
It's also silly since the whole setting is supposedly super sexist. How is she going to become Queen Regnant just because she married the king and then he died? I'm pretty sure that she would be IMMEDIATELY accused by some noble with aims for the throne of having killed the king (he'd just happen to be right this time), and be IMMEDIATELY pressured to marry - possibly someone from the most powerful family leading this faction, so as to prevent civil war. Her plot to become queen would take YEARS of extremely careful planning and plenty of allies.
This book just sounds like the author had a reallllyyyy descriptive fever dream about Bridgerton after binging it and then threw in the Girlboss and 'Robin Hood' part just for ✨kicks✨ lol why
The author should write a book about a peasant girl turned heroine trying to destroy this kingdom (the shadow king and Alessandra). I feel like the author set these characters up so perfectly vapid that I would love to see them be brought down
Surprised you didn’t mention the absurdity of the whole Hektor murder scandal and how Kallias literally has a good laugh about it and sweeps her murder under the rug but kicks her out when he finds an unopened vile of poison 🤣
The difference is, he has also killed, so he couldn't really punish her for that (his guards), however her "attempt" to poison him is different because he trusted her to touch him, and love him and she supposedly had just broken trust he had never placed in anyone. Hope it helps because I loved the book :)
@@ettaetta439 Same, I'd also love to write a book too! I totally understand with the vial of poison in the closet. I think he was also being really paranoid lmao. True to the stupidity of knowing it was in her closet and then leaving it there lol
i actually don’t know why booktok likes this book because it’s not even good and this is coming from someone who will read anything with enemies to lovers
yes gurl! it was so poorly written, characters weren't compelling, male lead esp was pretty bland, worldbuilding wasn't good, plot wasn't interesting. i expected more since i really liked the synopsis. im so sorry this has to be said but sometimes people's standards are so low damn. overall the book was written like a mundane fantasy wattpad fiction.
The thing that really made me mad about this book was that her entire plan hinged on the fact that she wanted to make him fall in love with her, become queen, and then kill him so she could rule and be powerful and so the conflict was obviously going to be that she can’t kill him because she actually starts to like him but if she was going to become Queen anyway what was the need to kill him????
@@009kundana3 just saying theoretically wouldn’t it be better to have a simp by your side than no simp, because if you’re a royal you would need to have an heir to really secure her power so why not wait u til she has a kid to fully have the support and power, and it’s not like she can’t use the king as a puppet which many women have done in the past with rulers so like why risk opposition and possibly rebellion from many people which will weaken your power like just saying am I thinking to much
Killing him after he recently conquered a new kingdom which has not been fully incorporated would result in a massive power vacuum. what's more, she has many young male enemies among the nobility who can use their wealth and power to try to get her killed the whole reason the king has conquered so many kingdoms is his powers which she doesn't have, so I guarantee the kingdom would crumble and the economy rapidly decline within 1-2 years. so in other words, the main character is an idiot
'Aw, two psychopaths found each other, isn't that adorable?' Went into the book with this review in mind and no expectations and enjoyed it a lot. I even started looking forward to dress descriptions at some point.
This book was such a trip. I marathoned it and was like "well, that was a kinda weird but overall enjoyable romp" and then I actually thought about what I'd just read, needed to re-read it to make sure it wasn't all a fever dream, and was like okay, no thanks lol. Totally silly, but the thing that kept tripping me up was her sewing hobby?? And therefore all the attention to gowns and clothing? It felt so unnecessary and was giving me flashbacks to that My Immortal fanfic.
Or read The Cruel Prince instead. That was well written and both Jude and Cardan are human and relatable even though Jude thinks murder solves everything and Cardan thinks being a monster does. (Holly Black should really pay me for all the marketing I do for her tbh.)
I read this book because I was on my Kindle Unlimited trial and was trying to read as much fantasy as I could. So I had no context for this book other than the blurb. I loved it. I thought the whole point was that these were terrible people doing terrible things and having a fun time with it. In the dedication, the author calls it a Slytherin romance, so I take that to mean her inspiration for it was something along the lines of "what if Voldemort fell in love with the wicked witch of the west?" I thought it was hilarious and weirdly lighthearted despite the murder and deception. The worldbuilding is truly awful, I admit, and I'm not sure why it has Robin Hood era government, early Victorian fashion, electricity, and at the same time, Regency period social standards. Just, wha? But I also love that the main character starts the story by saying that she is a straight-up psychopath. The author was kind of daring you to hate her.
It was so horrible to the point that I LOVED IT. I had read a duology of the same author and it was nothing like this one, I truly think it was her goal to write such a book. The world has Villains that fall in love too, the characters don't always have to be good and evil. I terribly enjoyed this bad book.
So this is a book that I LOVED but could totally understand why people didn't. It's just an over-the-top story of two Slytherins in love, which warmed my cold, villain-loving heart
I don’t hate morally gray characters, and don’t get me wrong i enjoyed the book (mostly bc it was an easy read and the world building wasn’t too complicated), but I didn’t find the characters too interesting and some stuff didn’t make any sense. It was mehhhh for me. But i get that people have different preferences so 🤷♀️
I hear "the prince holds balls" and I'm imagining him just standing there holding like ya know just balls....instead of the dancing kindnof balls you invite one to to have a good time lol
I haven't read this book but you definitely made me wanna read it just for the fun of it honestly! I couldn't stop laughing at your descriptions and expressions! 😂😂❤️❤️
This book literally felt like a Wattpad fan fiction the 13 year-old me would write … so it was a dnf for me but thank u for reminding me that I made the right decision
I literally had this book sitting in my "Ready to Borrow" queue in Libby and then I watched Leonie's review (BookLeo) and she hated it so I never picked up. I feel doubly vindicated lol.
Essentially the Darklin became king and found someone else just as broken. The dedication clued me into the theme and I went in assuming there was no "hero" lol
I was waiting for this!!! I read it 2 months ago and....I was like: “What was that? Am I missing something here?”. Oh, and this scene where we realise that the box she put the body in was signed with her name 🤦🏽♀️ thank u for sharing my emotions☀️
omg FINALLY someone who has the same thoughts as me!! This book was so empty, the story was really poor and the worldbuilding nonexistent, I waited a while for this book and when I read it I felt very disappointed. I think the author wanted to write moral grey characters but failed and just gave us horrible people. Besides, the thing of the robbin hood guy was so random like ¿?¿ what this has to do with the main story?? Anyways... I love your videos ♥
This book was on Slytherin romance list. I actually enjoyed it but I didn't take it too seriously tho. My expectations weren’t high on the get go. Yes, it is ridiculous in an entertaining way. Lol
Honestly this book is one of the ones I've re-read a few times. Not because it's a book with good content, mind you, but because it reminds me that the characters I want to end up with the evil villain probably shouldn't end up with them... because they're HORRIBLE PEOPLE. I still don't understand why they refer to this one as enemies to lovers as they were never truly enemies xD Would have been a better book if she assassinated the king anyways *shrug* Just take the dog and move on.
I actually loved this book because it is so different and exactly what I wanted in villains falling in love. In my opinion I really enjoyed how these characters were truly villains and had no redemption arc where they suddenly start caring. I honestly would not call this enemies to lovers , cause its just two evil ppl falling in love no tension just love
Genuinely one of the funniest books I have ever read I'm glad you were also laughing about it. The assassin with the automatic rifle was my personal favourite part lmfao
Why is no one talking about the plot twist where Leandros is secretly Kallias' dead brother Xanthos and how it's not possible because Kallias would've known that it's his brother because there's no way they've never touched before as kids???
I read this book with my friend recently and she loved it and felt that it will be a reread book for her in times of book slumps. But for me personally, it felt like a badly written Wattpad story that I will not be picking up again any time soon.
You’re like the second booktuber who hates this book and quite frankly you’ve convinced me to never read it lol i don’t want to feel like I lost precious hours of my life. Also video idea: reading African books and reviewing them, that would literally be so great
UGH THANK YOU!! literally all of booktok is simping over a plot that makes no sense?? like why does she even want to kill the king, it’s not like she has a real motive except being power hungry? i want slow burn enemies to lovers that plays with my emotions, not whatever this is.
I read this book right at the very beginning of the Covid lockdown and you're right. It's ridiculous and no other word will ever come to mind when describing it. It was entertaining as heck and I read it in one sitting tho.
Thank u so much for this video! I saw many booktoks talking about this book and reasons why I should read it and due to the fact it is not published in my language (portuguese) I was decided to buy the english version (which is TOO expensive, like REALLY expensive, I could buy 6 books instead). And after your video I am totally decided to not make this HUGE mistake and I will buy 6 other good books haha Thank you so much, I love your videos♡
As someone who grew up on the Robin Hood stories, Alessandra (?) is basically the Sheriff of Nottingham. Like if you'd written a genderbent ShNo/PrJo fanfic, this would be it. Imprisoning/torturing/executing the poor to get to Robbin Hood is the majority of the plot there, so. Yeah... weird one.
I personally really enjoyed this book. It's was so funny and entertaining. I read rhe whole thing in ine sitting and just couldn't get enough of it. This book wasn't meant to be taken seriously, even the way the author describes it shows she doesn't take it very seriously either. This book is a hot mess but also a fun time. I think if you find the premises, even if you see the negative reviews, you should read it but don't go with too high expectations, go for the ride. 😁
I actually like the book . I mean it’s good but people hyped it up so much. It’s solid 3 star for me but after listening to you I can agree this book was crazy
I'm currently reading 'The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo' and I'm enjoying it a lot. I love all your videos! I would like it if you made a video recommending funny books. After watching this video I kind of felt the urge of reading a book that makes me laugh . You made me want to read this book lol
i feel like i would enjoy enemies to lovers so much more if authors wrote it well, but i haven't been able to find one that feels natural and not the characters being dragged around for plot convenience :/ ('lso hey cari love your videos!)
Thank you for the funny video!😂 It's fun to hear you talk about a book that you found ridiculous or silly, hahaha. I have not read the book myself tho, so I dont have any comments on it, hehe. I really wanna read the fable book series that you recommended, I will buy next month. So really lookibg forward to that. The book/series im reading now is: Ace of Shades (Amanda Foody), it gives me dark academia vibes, much darker than i thought it would be. I dont know if i like it, love the fantasy world, but idk. Going to start reading: Flame in the Mist - its like a samurai/ninja theme, where a girl dresses up like boy and joins a dangerous gang to find out why they tried to kill her, while she has to hide from her brother and she is a princess. Set in like old Japan, with katakana swords and ninja stars. Really looking forward to it and it has a sequel. Maybe give those a try? 😊 Looking forward to your next video 🌸
Girllllll I have the same thoughts when I read the book. Tiktok was hyping it up so much and I was expecting so much. I devoured the book in just like 5 hours and at the end I was like WTF. The intention was right but the delivery daaaammmnnn was so wrong on many levels
I did not know this was the book you were going to talk about and immediately I thought to myself, is that the one...and then you went on to list all of the absurdity. I don't remember how far I got into it before DNFing because I couldn't connect with any of the main characters. They were terrible just like you said. I think humor would be a better way to approach it, but I couldn't finish it lol. Oh well! Glad to hear I'm not alone.
Please and when the king found out that she killed her first lover he was like slay queen 👑 but when he found out that she planned the whole thing and she wanted to win his heart he was like go away I thought you were different wtf I can’t 😭😭😭😭
This book is like the selection. It’s so bad but I can’t stop reading. One of the major things in this book is them finding hektors body. And it builds and builds up until the point where they find it and question her. But then it gets swept under the rug in 2 seconds?? And the ending was super fast paced. Also don’t even get me started on Alessandra. This girl literally thinks the world owes her everything. She complains about men the whole time and how she deserves to sleep with whoever she wants without judgment (which I agree) but then when she sleeps with whoever she wants, she uses them for money and then breaks their heart. The exact thing she kill hektor over. And then when Kallias found out she was gonna try and kill him and he kicked her out, she kept going on and on about how he treated her terrible when he kicked her out (when all he did was yell at her, he literally could have executed her but didn’t) and how he “forced the confession out of her” and “how dare he not forgive her just because she didn’t go through with the plan last minute” when she had been lying to him the whole time. And at the end she got mad and goes, “I’m a sexually empowered woman and there’s nothing wrong with that!” Girl you are the definition of gaslight. Gate keep. Girl boss. In the worst way possible. Also Kallias is supposed to be this scary king that can take over all the realms yet is a huge softie and shared his secrets with Alessandra the day after he met her?? Also how is this book even enemies to lovers?? AGHhhh I hate this book but I love it at the same time.
I personally loved the book as an entertainment purpose but I enjoyed seeing your view on this because i just realised I subconsciously thought a lot of these problems. Like the whole peasant thing, I definitely disagreed with that, and there were definitely moments I hated them. But overall I loved the book.. Loved the video!💜✨ I always forget people can have different perspectives on a book I personally love and it’s interesting to see others approaches✨🤗
I've got to say your review was just so entertaining. I couldn't stop watching even though it's not a book I would enjoy reading. I'm currently reading "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles, and "Hope Dies Last" by Studs Turkey. Thanks.
Letters to the Lost is a pretty good enemies to lovers romance! Not Fantasy, it’s contemporary, and delves into some dark subject matter, but the characters were absolutely amazing!
I finished a book called The Shell Seekers and has a pretty good story. Its not a fantasy book, but I truly recomend for who just want stay in home reading something warm. (And I have to say, cari, you are my favorite book youtuber )
I’m not gonna lie…I thoroughly enjoyed this😂 it was so unhinged it was actually kinda nice to read something that knew it was crazy and owned it (to some extent) Personally story wise I liked it, imo it wasn’t too bad One thing I do agree with is the fact that the characters were soooooo boring that when he found the poison I was so ready for them to figure it out and leave these characters on my bookshelf I thought the love story was cute tho and I was swooning the last 150 pages Overall for me 3.5 Nobody asked for a review but I needed to vent 🤭
CARI. The entire time you were alluding to this book and talking about reading it in your other vlog, I thought you were referring to These Violent Delights! HA! I got my signals crossed. OMG...I’m so relieved this wasn’t the book you ended up laughing at! :)
My book recommendation is the Illuminae files, daughter of the pirate king series, shatter me and, red queen. Extra: if you wanna cry read song of Achilles.
This may sound weird but something about the way you chat is very cosy and perfect for listening to while taking a nap or doing the dishes and Im so glad I found your channel
I’ve read the author describe it as a Slytherin romance. The two characters are supposed to be villains, extremely morally grey people who fall in love. I think if you know that going into it it’s a lot more fun! This book does not take itself seriously 😂 I had a great time with it!
I've been looking forward to this video since the vlog where you mentioned it. If you're looking for a new read would highly recommend the Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner.
Okay, so stories from the villain's point of view was a popular thing a few years ago and usually the way those stories were told is that the villains aren't actually bad, the good guys were the horrible ones all along. But this sounds like a much more fun villain POV story. Honestly the more Cari talked about how awful these people were the more interested I became.
OKAY OKAY OKAY... Down Comes the Night, debut by Allison Saft... I AM OBSESSED it was so so good such a solid enemies to lovers and it just got crazier and crazier in the best way!!!
the way you described this book is EXACTLY how I felt about Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco. SO ridiculous but like... I had fun? Like ironically hilarious but plot? What plot?
I didn’t like this book either, I had so many questions and was so disappointed. But everyone else seemed to love it! So glad to find someone else who I can relate with 😂
I have never read this book, and I don't think I ever will. It doesn't sound like my cup of tea. But thank you for taking the time to distinguish between what is bad versus what is just not to your taste. I feel that's really important part of reviewing things.
I just pulled an all nighter reading this book and oh boy I was just just like laughing the whole way. Sure I enjoyed some parts of the love story but she just shoved so much into one book. They spent so much time on her hiding her past for it to not matter at all.
Tbh, it may have felt like a fan fiction on crack, and the ending was a bit flat, but overall I loved it. Can see why it‘s not for everyone, but the dynamic between the two leads had me shrieking
Yeah someone should’ve warned you that this was not a serious read😂 I told a friend that I was tired of good heroes and that I just wanted a good villain story and they told me to read this one. I wasn’t disappointed😂
This review had me cackling so hard, I went ahead and actually bought the book to read, and it would suffice to say it felt like I was reading some 14 year old’s wattpad story in paperback format👀💀
this video makes my feelings for the book so valid fhsshf i was so confused why so many people liked it and why it was recommended by so many when it first got released lol also love how you compared the shadow powers thing to bluetooth LMFAO it is spot on