It was okay. Guessed the plot twist way before it was revealed. I skimmed near the end because the endless paragraphs with the two of them pining for each other were boring. Also, I didn’t love that Shadow was first person POV while Cal was third person. It was a bit jarring.

This is normally a book I would love to love but in this case I hardly remember it. The characters weren't compelling, and the story was janky.

The material is very familiar if you've read enough YA. I didn't find any part of it that really stood out and made me want to recommend or even read the next one.

I expected a lot from this author after having loved Blue Bloods, but it didn't live up to the standards.

For a novel about assassin's, it also was not very dramatic like you'd expect.

Normally I am not one to DNF books but although I tried more than once, I could not finish it. It felt a bit incomplete and predictable, although very appropriate for its target audience and probably something I'd recommend for a younger YA demographic.

The Queen's Assassin was a huge disappointment for me, and I ended up not finishing the book. As such, I will not be writing a full review of the title. I did not like Shadow, and Cal was completely lacking in personality. I typically like dual POVs in a book, but Cal's are told from third person POV and Shadow's chapters are told from first person POV. That was very hard to enjoy, and really pulled me out of the story every time I had to make my brain adjust. I never got used to either, and it grew exhausting. The pacing is odd, and I've decided to move on to another book.

I really enjoyed this book! The world was very intriguing and this totally kept me hooked. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

The Queen's Assassin tells the story of Caledon Holt and Shadow. Caledon has been tied to the Queen in a blood oath that his father failed to fulfill. When he kills a high ranking nobleman to save a young farm girl, the Queen insists he be imprisoned to keep their reputation intact. The farm girl, Shadow, sneaks into the prison to help Caledon escape and convinces him to take her on as his apprentice. As they struggle to work together, their affection for each other grows, getting in the way of their mission. Told in alternating perspectives, with only a little bit of fantasy element in this first book.

The Queen's Assassin is fantasy, but didn't include much in the way of fantasy elements for the first book. It read more like an adventure romance than fantasy, but the rest of the series will probably include more fantasy. The story was a bit predictable, and moved too slowly for me.

Loved this story. Love this cover. Love this author. This is a go to writer for me and wonderful book!! Absolutely don’t miss

I received this copy for review. The YA trope of this novel was intense. The big secret was predictable, and the characters and relationships felt just like every other YA fantasy. I read about half and then skipped to the ending (which attempted to be a big reveal cliff hanger and ended up just causing extreme eye rolls on my part.

I've given this book several different tries and each time I've put it down. I wasn't the biggest fan of the writing style and I believe that was the biggest down fall I had with this book.

It was very recycled from all of the other Queen books out there in the wild world. I really wanted to like this, but I couldn't. It was a mess.

The Queen's Assassin follows the life of Cal and Shadow as they fight and protect one another. I have to say that I have not been a big fan of this author's past work, but the synopsis for this novel was just too good to pass up. I found myself struggling to get through this narrative. What I hoped would be action-packed and snarky was slow in reality. To add to this struggle to read, Shadow changes personalities halfway through the book, making the reader completely confused by her decisions. I don't know if I would recommend this to too many of my students.

This is the type of book I usually love. This one, I liked. I was ready to devour it since it was likened to Maas. The book was okay, but it was no Throne of Glass that captured me with the memorable characters from page one. The writing here was okay, but it was definitely a slow burn. The world building was good, and there was potential here, but it was still good not great.

I’m not sure why I keep trying with Melissa de la Cruz’s books. I’ve proven to myself that they’re simply not for me. Not bad, just not my cup of tea. With The Queen’s Assassin, I was hopeful that maybe it would put a fresh spin on the YA fantasy romances that are becoming more popular. It didn’t exactly live up to that, though, and came off as been-there-done-that and just not worth continuing the series for.

I had the biggest issue with the writing, specifically the pacing, which is something I almost expected? Which sounds awful but there you have it. It was all over the place, fast when things needed to slow down, slow when they needed to pick up. Just didn’t flow well. Additionally, the characters were just as inconsistent and seemed to change to suit whatever the plot required in the moment. Not to mention the romance had zero heat. I’m not looking for a super steamy relationship (I have adult romances for that), but the characters should have SOME chemistry to make the romance believable.

At its core, The Queen’s Assassin wasn’t a bad read and I pushed through it pretty fast, but it blended into the background almost immediately when compared to other YA fantasies in the last few years.

Nope. This book fell short for me. The author had good intentions but unfortunately it didn't hold my attention at all. I have read other things by de la Cruz but this one just didn't do it for me.

As much as I like Melissa de la Cruz, this book was just okay for me. I seemed like a really long exposition to get to the meat of the story. I don't feel like the characters or the plot really adding anything new to the cannon. It all felt like it had been done before. That being said, rabid fantasy readers will read and enjoy it and probably wait for book 2.

I would give this a 3.5. I’ve read other books by Melissa de la Cruz(blue bloods) and liked them. I enjoyed the story and it was a quick read. I loved Shadow and Cal together. Can’t wait for the sequel to see what happens next in their story.

Sorry I didn't love this book. I felt as if I had read this book before as it is similar to others previously purchased.

This is a great Read, with a fantastic Storyline, and an wonderfull written figures
I liked it a lot. And I hope of more great Books from this great author.

This was my favorite sort of fantasy book. It felt kind of medieval-ish, with kingdoms and royalty and such. And of course people learning magic – I always love people learning magic!

We’ve got warring kingdoms, spies, history, and tangled family lineages. What could be better? Shadow has been raised to join the court, but what she really wants is to fight with the Guild. When she finally arranges to meet the best person to help her learn to fight, she doesn’t bother telling him she’s supposed to join the court – then he might not help her follow her dreams!

There’s risk at every turn, and luckily Shadow seems to be a bit of a natural with the whole fighting thing, or else the book would have ended much earlier, and she would probably be dead. Not to be a spoiler, but the main characters we meet make it to the end. I enjoyed hanging out with Shadow and Cal. Shadow’s aunts were especially endearing, although we don’t get to spend a lot of time with them.

Overall, I’d give this book 3 out of 5 stars, and I’d definitely considering what comes next in the series. I’d recommend this one to fans of young adult fantasy books. Some adult fantasy readers may enjoy it as well, as long as their main motivator for reading isn’t steamy stuff – none of that here!