actually when or if one of the tribute became the queen , suddenly all the staff that tortured them during the trials was going to kiss their ass. so my question was why madame odell was so stupid lol. she interacted with a potential future queen daily, so maybe show a little bit of respect??

Thank you, Lor. One thing I’ve always hoped for in a bonded partner is someone who can make me become a better version of the Fae I am.” Characters: resilient and strong FMC. A kind and stupidly good-looking Sun King. Irritating (but kinda funny) Captain/escort. Curious and mysterious Prince of Aurora. Don’t worry, Lor. I am giving due attention to all the Tributes, as is my duty. But I am only a male and I am searching for my queen. I’m allowed to have my favorites.'' Lor is a prisoner in the Aurora Kingdom where she lived for years. Lor is very, very determined and strong headed. She will fight anyone ( literally, the amount of hair pulling and punches thrown by her🫢) who disrespect her, BUT she will also fight tooth and nail to protect her loved ones.The fantasy aspect of the book was the only reason I didn't rate this lower. The general premise behind it, although predictable, was relatively interesting, but just was not fledged out. Nothing really got the time to fully be explained. Imagine if The Selection was spicier and darker, but with fae and a touch of Plated Prisoner series! 🔥🖤

The amount of clown memes I have stored is really being put to good use lmao 💀. If u liked this book, please uh, cover your eyes 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️.Nadir is our second point of view character, a character who Lor sees as the villain throughout. He has the potential to be interesting but nothing below the surface is really explored with him, though it's rather set up that book two would lead to an enemies to lovers arc. That said, honestly, he's another character who was severely disinteresting, two dimensional, and who--quite frankly--didn't need a point of view. Nothing that happened in those sections is something that couldn't have been explored through a point of view in book two because all of his sections were set up for that. What the author set up can be summed up in this one line (paraphrasing somewhat) repeated throughout the book both in ACTUAL DIALOGUE and thematically/within the characters thoughts and feelings: physical/sexual abuse and coercion is the woman's fault because men are not able to control themselves. I’m unsure if this is a debut by the author or not, but there’s a definite unpolished and stilted quality to the character development and the dialogue was cliche and made me cringe way too often. The obvious villains and heroes of the book kind of fell flat because they were caricatures instead of truly fleshed out characters that would make me want to learn more about them. Like I said, I’ve read them five or more times in the past. But Lor doesn't belong in the Sun Queen Trials. She doesn't understand why she was freed, and she isn't a citizen of the Sun King's court. The other Tributes resent her presence and will stop at nothing to ensure Lor is wiped off the gameboard, permanently.

Lor is a sassy, take-no-shit FMC and she frequently is speaking her mind. That said, she also knows when it's probably best to keep her mouth shut. By being her most authentic self, she finds herself alienated in the beginning until the other women (only a few) start to realize that she's not a diseased street rat but rather a woman just desperately needing connections. Her tentative friendships with some of these women bring out her protective instincts and she earns even more respect as she goes out of her way to save some of them a few times. While she definitely still has her main adversaries, she gains the general respect of most of the women throughout the trials. That said, the alternate POV chapters from a certain someone made it difficult to fully invest myself in any connection Lor formed with the people of Aphelion. But, it should be mentioned that I can be cynical and am usually suspicious of any good deed in romantic fantasy books where the stakes are high. To try and avoid any spoilers, I will wait to explain that further until this book has been released. I can see the author tried to put the “surprise” aspect at the end with the “twist”🙄 but no it’s so predictable and I’m just so glad I finally finished it😭didn’t mag or healers question her prison brand on her shoulder? or was it normal for some umbra citizen to have those? i cringed every time atlas was in the scene. maybe it was me but his every remark felt condescending. Anyway if anyone would like to know specifically what the main character did, DM me as I won’t be posting spoilers here. For now though I’m too frustrated to continue with this book but that’s never to say you’ll feel the same way so as I always say, give it a try.

Yes, I understand that Atlas was supposed to be the villain, but that still doesn't take away from how underwhelming the romance was in comparison to the rest of the book. Saying that the characters 'felt an immediate connection' with one another, and adding in a few smut scenes doesn't add up to a good romance 😭😭😭. I'm not even joking, it feels wrong to even say that there was romance in this book, because it was a joke 😭. if atlas was master of illusion i wondered if he made his super fancy appearance and in reality he’s very repulsive like his personality (the truth about which we will learn only later🙄🙄🙄 we indeed learned it later). he was sleazy with his complements, they had bad aftertaste. I think the thing that made it so bad for me, was the blatant disregard of the h's characterization, all for the sake of insta-love 😐. Okay, hear me out. I really want to love this. The bachelor meets the hunger games? That seems amazing. The blurb sounds incredible, but the execution was terrible.if the sun king was getting to know all the tributes and smooching them in dark corners of the castle then how this book was different from the bachelor?? but thankfully i’ve read everything sjm written i so i didn’t invest in him. Tropes: new adult/adult fantasy, bride trials, day/night kingdom feud, hidden identity, rags to riches (kind of), slow burn The storyline is very unreasonable, unreliable, and nonexistent in the world building. Also mind you this book claims to have "The Hunger Games" but bro what even is the game here? One of the challenges is a random fun fact quiz what is this? Who wants to be a Millionaire?😬 The trials were a little wild to me, deadly games and competitions to win a man’s heart is a little too intense. This book was predictable in that it was very obvious that sun king was not the main mmc. He was giving Tamlin from acotar vibes tbh. It’s also a slow burn it has some romance but not with the character I wanted so I’m excited for the next book to see where it goes. Overall this was good, I still don’t really understand the world and the magic system and but I’m invested in the fmc and I’m excited for the next book!