With getting to know a gentle prince, unofficially exiled to his tower by an uncaring family, being introduced to a handsome, scared curse breaker, and experiencing the magic, both literal and figurative, between the two, the first half of this story kept me completely engaged.

However, the second half of the story felt much less compelling and somewhat predictable, which would have been fine, except that the ending just sort of fizzled for me.

Instead of the bad guys getting their comeuppance, the good guys (our heroic MC's) simply left, leaving the bad guys to enjoy the fruits of their labor, which I truly didn't find satisfying at all.

Also, the true story about the 'False Queen' was never fully revealed.

Did she cast a love spell on the King? Was she truly evil, a little evil, or not even the slightest bit evil? The answer is never revealed.

Or was the 'golden and glorious' King simply some asshole who burned his wife at the stake due to his own pride and fear of what his kingdom might think of him marrying a witch?

If the story had continued as it began, start to finish, this would have easily been a 4+ star read for me; however, with the somewhat blah ending and unanswered questions, it was about a 3-star story.