Lisette Marshall

I really loved the unique magic system in this world but I feel like we didn't get enough of it. We started off strong with Emelin learning how to use it and then she just stopped? The romance (I use that term lightly) took off and then the plot sort of stalled. I think this had the makings of a really good fantasy romance but there were a lot of misses that bothered me. The romance was more insta-love than I like. It easily could have been drawn out a little and not taken place in just over show more a week? That's a pretty short time frame for all this to be happening.

Creon was an interesting character and I wished we gotten to learn more about him as well instead of jumping into the lust filled "romance" so quickly. Emelin wasn't my favourite character but, again, she just needed to be fleshed out more. She was in her head SO much and she just came across as whiny. Creon was very clear on consent yet she didn't trust him not to play with her emotions? Didn't make sense. Yet he somehow was able to pull of a big plan in the end when her character, up until that point, wasn't portrayed as very clever. Her character was just too all over the place for me.

One thing that really bothered me was the language. Some times there was a lot of proper or formal English and then in the next sentence there would be some modern slang. It didn't fit and probably could have used some more editing.

A for effort but D in execution. show less

“Perhaps even nostalgia required some vague sense that my old life had at least been real, rather than a dream that was already fading now that I had opened my eyes.”

“Court of Blood and Bindings,” by Lisette Marshall

I loved this book so much. I loved the lore and story with the Fae, gods, phoenixes and the peril of the main character being human with magic in the Fae land. I loved how she was kidnapped by a winged fae man who cannot speak, it was actually sweet when they communicated show more with each other because he could talk to her. The color magic aspect was very interesting, my brain cannot let it go about how it all works. There was a ton of banter between the two main characters. Creon’s childhood trauma was so sad and really made me love him so much. With the way it ended I need to read the next book so bad! 5 out of 5 stars, perfect.

-Fae, gods, phoenix
-Magic
-Kidnapped
-Mute
-Enemies To Lovers
-Winged MMC

Thank you for the free copy, Netgalley.

“…if someone doesn’t know there is a choice in the first place, can you really blame him for what he ends up doing?” show less

I actually really loved this series. I think the magic system is fun and different. The MMC can’t speak so that was interesting as well. He’s probably my fav character. His growth and his struggles are so good.
A lot of the reveals throughout the series aren’t overly surprising but I still thought they were well done. Pretty much all the characters are morally grey, some more than others. I like how the romance aspect isn’t perfect. There’s still a bit of tension there so it still show more keeps you interested in what will happen to them… overall I absolutely recommend if you love fae and magic. And again, that ending was show less

Everything in this book is garnish for the main event which is just the smut.
Even the romance feels like a sideshow of the smut.
But don't misunderstand, there isn't actually much smut in here and you only get to it 9 hours in. But everything else is just building tension towards it.
You probably already know the type of book. This book is not unique or a particularly egregious example of this. But there really isn't much of anything beyond horny-suspense in this particular example.
The title show more implies similarity to acotar but beyond basic fae, this is only bait as so many books in this genre nowadays are. I am not even trying to draw a comparison here, this is just not similar at all.
Again, don't get me wrong, I wasn't reading this to get some sort of acotar fix. I just wanted to address the title and what it implies. show less