Rating: 2.75 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Reyna is a Queensguard who does her duty well. But the Queen is cold hearted and callous, and when Reyna finally reaches her breaking point, she abandons her post to live the life she’s always dreamed of with her girlfriend Kianthe, the Mage of Ages, the Arcandor. Kianthe is thrilled Reyna has finally left, and now they can open up their combination book and tea shop.
But even though Reyna and Kianthe find a new home in a forgotten town, where people live in harmony with each other, the world won’t just let them be. There are mysteries to be solved, dragon attacks to stop, and not least, a price on Reyna’s head for committing treason.
It’s one thing after another for this pair, and the townsfolk they’ve befriended, but their love in strong, and together they’ll do anything they must to get the happily ever after they desire and deserve. Even if it means facing the Queen.
This book is marketed as a cozy fantasy. For me, it falls short of that mark. It’s a fantasy through and through, but there are only moments in which the cozy component shines through. There is some humor and there are mishaps, but it doesn’t hit the mark of what a “cozy” story should be for me, as the stakes are too high for it to truly fit that category.
I liked the MCs. The story is told through alternating third-person POV, so we get to know them both well. But the chemistry between them was missing for me. The pair are together before the story even starts, and have been for a while, so we’re told of their love, and they constantly tell each other of their love, but I didn’t feel it as a reader. And it’s not because of the lack of graphic sex on page. Instead, it just felt like two women who were sharing space instead of an epic love pairing.
The narrative style didn’t really work for me. It was a whole lot of telling and not nearly enough showing. I felt, as I was reading, as if I was being talked at instead of being immersed in the story. It made it hard to sink into the tale. On top of that, every conflict that arose, whether it was internal or external, was immediately resolved. Now, normally I’m a fan of communication, and I did like that there was a lot of that in the book. But because of the quick resolution of every single conflict, there was no tension pushing the story forward. It just felt like a succession of moments. There was also very little world building, for as long as this story was, and only a surface-scratch of how magic works. It’s the first in a series, and several loose ends were left to set up for more stories, but there’s no anticipation there either.
All in all, I can objectively see how this story would work for some people. There is banter and a light feel, despite the high stakes. But for me, it missed the mark on too many things. All of that combined with an author’s voice that didn’t really work for me as a reader. I’ll not only be giving the rest of the series a pass, but I can’t recommend this book.
