Married to Magic Series

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I really enjoyed this book! It was a quick read for me on my vacation, and it was the first book I have read that had Hades and Persephone feel to it, without being a complete retelling. After reading prior reviews about this book which mention Beauty and the Beast vibes I could not wait to dive right in. Let me just say I was not disappointed!

I loved all the magical creatures that were included in this story. Basically if a book contains elves and faeries I am all in. I loved Kova's writing style, although I worried Luella was going to be your typical basic heroine she was anything but. She is such a developed character, I adore her. Then you bring Eldas into the mix and their relationship just has my heart.

Considering this book was a standalone I am disappointed, but beyond stoked to read Kova's next book. I plan to reread A Deal with the Elf King once A Dance with the Fae Prince is released, but I knew I could not wait any longer. I hope to write a lengthier review once I am able to reread the book while not breezing through it on vacation.

Overall, I would recommend this book to any fantasy lover.

Reread:

I love love love this book so much. It’s even better a second time. The magical creatures and their descriptions are so in-depth. Plus Luella and Eldas’s relationship is so beautiful, I am forever obsessed. Although one thing I picked up was Eldas never learned Luella’s real name after she changed it, nor did she ever learn Eldas’s name. Which is a bummer because I was a huge fan of him calling her by her real name.

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Reread:

I decided to reread this book since Book Three comes out in August!!

This book is a complete favorite of mine. Honestly I just adore how it isn’t the same as book one. I really love reading book series like ACOTAR where it follows the same characters and creatures from book one until the very end. But SOMETIMES I get sooo tired of reading fae after fae or vampire after vampire. So to be able to read a series that changes the MC and what they are or what creature they end up with is just so relieving honestly.

Then the fact that technically speaking both book one and book two (and soon to be book three) are all happening in the same universe just different locations is so cool! In theory Luella and Katria could end up knowing each other in the end. So that is pretty cool in my opinion, such different lives and creatures living next door to each other!

Original:

Thanks to Elise Kova for the Advanced Readers copy!

So. Much. Better. Than. Book. One.

I loved this book. I feel like with book one Luella didn’t get to do half as much as Katria was able to do! Katria was able to experience adventures and near death experiences and new friends. This entire book just felt like never ending mysteries.

I loved the character growth and relationships that were built. And how it wasn’t an immediately lovey dovey relationship that was built. It actually felt in my opinion that it took some time to establish the bond between them. I also love a good book that allows you to predict what I going to happen in a way that slowly builds it’s way up until you’re yelling out “I knew it!” (Like when Katria ends up in the woods the first time and you just have a feeling you know what is about to happen)

Kova did a good job with the Cinderella inspired theme of the Prince saving her from her terrible, cruel and abusive family without it being so similar that it ruined the book.

Kova was more of an author I stumbled upon and always book her book on my TBR, and finally I had decided to read one of her books (book one of the Married to Magic series) and I am just so happy that I finally cracked open on of her books.

SPOILERS BELOW

Thank you Elise Kova for the eARC!

For starters, I was SO excited to read this book (ARC or not) especially after the first two.

Compared to the first two this one to me, definitely involved the "human" to a great extent. Which was great. For example, in A Deal with Elf King , the MC seemed to just be present. She obviously had a greater role in the entire book but as the book progressed it seemed like her roll was very insignificant. Then came A Dance with the Fae Prince , where the MC seemed to be more involved. There appeared to be more action scenes throughout in comparison to Book in the Married to Magic series. Now comes, A Duel With The Vampire Lord ! To me Floraine is significantly more badass compared to the other MCs for the sole fact she was involved in numerous fight scenes. Floraine definitely could hold her ground better than the other MCs in my opinion.

As always, *chefs kiss* on the world building. I adore how each book follows a different paranormal (not sure if that is the correct word) group. First the Elves, then the Fae, and now the Vampires. And they ALL correlate and they all reference each other to SOME extent. Kudos to Ms. Kova, I am obsessed .

Honestly, some of this book got a tad confusing for me towards the end. It seemed like most of the information was saved for the end and then crammed together. Which is not absolutely terrible, but compared to the rest of the book it feels as if it was super rushed. For instance, one moment days are going by and then before you know it weeks are going by. One positive of this is Kova did not force the book to drag on. So instead of describing each tiny mundane detail that was happening through the weeks, she chose to just skip through them and provide a brief description of what had transpired during the weeks she skipped past. This fact I can appreciate. I just am not a big fan of how things were not figured out until the very end only for the book to end almost immediately after everything was figured out.

Another aspect that I'm not sure I enjoyed was how it seemed none of the Vampires, Ruvan including, had any idea what was happening. Especially how nearly everything Floraine suggested Ruvan shot down saying "The Vampire King would not have done that" etc. Then only for Floraine to be right. Like come on, we did not even get a "I am sorry you were right the Vampire King was nothing like we believed him to be". You know?

One OMG moment was when Floraine ran into the Lost while she was by herself only to discover that it was the King's right hand man (forgot his name)!!! That was a good sort of plot twist.

Overall I enjoyed the book. I enjoy how you do not necessarily have to read the entire series but that it would make more sense if you did. I definitely think there were several good plot twists that I did not see coming: the Raven, who the Raven was, where the Vampire King actually was, the whole "history repeats itself" factor, the tunnel underneath between Midscape and the Human terrority. Just to name a few. I truly cannot wait until book four. This is truly a series in which I could have read all in a row for the first time. I cannot even imagine how smooth the world would flow between the three.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

• We have a more badass MC!

• The ending was a tad rushed.

• We have plot twists!

• We have a determined MC!