Love this series!!! It has all the high stakes adventure and touches of romance I desire in a fantasy!

I clearly overlooked the fact this was the last book in a series and was very lost when i started it.

went with the average rating as i did not finish this book but will look into reading the series as it does sound good!

I forgot to write my review when I read this months ago, so I cannot go into much detail.

I had a lot of fun reading book 1 and I thought book 2 was a nice sequel, but wasn't sure how I felt about this one going in, because of the circumstances that open the story.

This time we have different point of views, not only our two main characters, and it was very interesting getting new perspectives. Surprisingly, Griffin's was my least favourite one, because of the nature of his condition, nothing else, but I know they were important for the plot. Similarly, the first half of the book felt a bit slow, mainly because of those point of views, but that changed later on.
I really enjoy when different characters come together and need to work as a team, so I was really excited about those scenes in this book, and getting to know more about secondary characters that were not as important in the previous two books. It was a nice conclusion to the trilogy.

The Dawn and the Prince is the third and final book in the Kingdom of Curses and Shadows trilogy. I have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to review all three books on this blog. You can find the links to the other two reviews here. 'Cup' 'Curse' As this is part of the series I’ll have a spoiler-free review, then a section at the very bottom where I have a few spoiler thoughts.

There were many things I felt this book did well, and some things I felt were lacking and weren’t as strong as they were in the first two books. This book expanded on the world and the magic, going into depth as to how everything came to be, and how the heroes found themselves in the positions they are in today. I enjoyed that and it fleshed out the world Leitao created.

One of the most unexpected things to come out of this book was the banter between some characters. It was amazing. It had me laughing, smiling and rooting for them to sort themselves out and TALK. It was seamless how their conversations were strung together like they were real conversations and not forced at all. It helped bring the characters to life and show us just how different all of them were.

What I found off about this book was the pacing. Throughout the previous books, they have been fast-paced and engaging. I can normally read one of these books very quickly due to not being able to put the book down. But I didn’t feel this engagement until around 40% until then it was very slow going. It didn’t feel like it fit with the plot.

The final conflict was also wrapped up too quickly. It felt like there was this huge build-up from the first page and it was all to a very abrupt end, and I was left wondering why everyone went through everything they went through for such a short conflict. Overall it wasn’t my favourite of the series, but I still very much recommend it if you are looking for a quick fantasy romance that has pining characters, the miscommunication trope, mystery, strong female main characters, and princes whose egos make you laugh.

I will be picking up more work from Day Leitao in the future.

3 ⭐️

Thank you Day Leitao for approving me a copy.

Now for the small spoiler part.

How could Leitao give us two books of pinning between Griffin and Zora only to separate them? My heart. It got to the point where I was saying I didn't care if one of them was dying on the battlefield, as long as they got to see each other. Then Leiot gave us such a heartfelt reunion. It was beautiful. I honestly love them as a couple, they complement each other so much, Zora’s weaknesses are Griffin’s strengths and vice versa. I am so glad they had their happy ending, they truly deserved it.

The truth serum scene had me cracking up. Like seriously. Zoya was all innocent, and Larzen and Riadne took less than two seconds to admit they loved each other. They are an underrated couple, unexpected and very much wanted. They broke down their walls and showed sides of each other that I don’t anyone especially themselves knew existed.

Didn’t realise when requesting there were previous books so need to go read these first before I can review accurately , will write reviews once completed

It took me a little bit of time to get back into this series.

There was a lot of characters to remember! At the end of it, though, it was brought to a very satisfying conclusion to the whole trilogy. I definitely enjoyed it. Zora and her whole gang of friends/ acquaintances were all grown up, for lack of a better word,

To tell y’all the truth, it wasn’t anything I wasn’t expecting from her.

It was just so well done. The story came to a very satisfying and neat end.

I don’t know, there really wasn’t anything bad about the The Dawn and the Prince but there wasn’t anything to write home about either.

It just was.

It was pretty good! There was some awkward writing and the plot of the plot can be clunky at times (too fast here and too slow there), but overall the premise is really interesting and I'm still very invested in the romance (which is very important for a book like this).

**TW**
Death, violence, blood mentioned few times in detail, possession, s*xual ass*ult being hinted at

I was disappointed. For a finale..it wasn't final. There's still a bit of a plot hole towards the end of the book which leads the reader to believe the series is not over.

The book was so good and had so much potential until we reached the end. It was as though the author got bored of writing this series and just quickly tried to wrap it up. For everything that the characters went through...the solution seemed way too simple.
Another thing is the Solanas don't seem to have gotten the ending I believed they would have. I can't say much without spoiling it, but it just didn't feel right.

Besides the end of the book, the rest was great. The tension build-up was well written and kept me on my toes and the character development was quite evident in a few of the characters.
The shadow world was described in a bit more detail in this book and I must say I was intruiged! I'd love to read a book that's pov is set in the shadow world!

Riadne, I feel, had the greatest character development. She opened up more and appeared happier and more at ease. I must admit, I didn't like her at first, but she grew on me.

I do love Day Leitao's writing style, how the words run smoothly as you read and take in the tale. I am definitely going to read more books by this author but I do hope that perhaps this isn't the finale in the series. I know it says it, but it didn't feel like it.

All that being said, I do recommend the series as I thoroughly enjoyed it (besides the 'ending').

Really liked this conclusion to this series. A good book that finished off the series and wrapped up the mysteries of the Dark Valley really well.

Liked this world and all the characters as well. Glad I picked up this series.

First of all, I love the book cover of this novel. I know I already said it a few times already, but Day's book covers are always gorgeous! The Dawn and the Prince is the final book of Kingdom of Curses and Shadows trilogy. I really tried to enjoy this last book, but there were some things that just not for me.

The story started where the second book ended. It started quite slow at first but picked up the pace on the second half. The plot was quite predictable, and there were some Deus ex machina moments. The climax felt rushed and anticlimatic. Moreover, the romantic elements played a huge role in the story. I said in the previous book that I was not a fan of it, and it didn't work out well for me still. Although it was apprent that there were improvements in the writing, like there were action scenes and the world-building expanding, somehow I didn't completely fall in love with this book.

Overall, this series would be great for readers who like fantasy romance. I'm sure other readers will definitely enjoy it.

I lOHVED this book. the writing, the world building, the character arcs. perfection! Looking forward for the next one in the series.

The Dawn and the Prince is the last book on this trilogy and as sad as I am to see it coming to an end, I love the fact I got the chance to read all 3 books till the end.

The last book on this trilogy has been a full-blown adventure. I loved the fact we got to see Riadne even better along the way. She has changed SO much during this book - if at the beginning I thought she's kind of a crazy one, she actually showed how big-hearted she is and how hard she fell in love with Larzen and their relationship is crazy but such a romantic one.⁠
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This time the book also had darker tones along the way, with Zora, Larzen, and Riadne ending up on Rock Island the events happening on there can be triggering for some people if you don't like reading about beheading immortal beings (beasts), and some of the things they've discovered there really made me cringe because the young girls living in there and aspiring on a better life were so oblivious of the horrors the masters were doing there - everyone was oblivious this place even existed. As you already know I do love a book that contains some darker tones too and for me the darker tones were right on point.⁠
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I so loved, loved the encounter with Zora and Griffin - they've been way too long separated and their relationship has grown a lot from the beginning and I think they're my favorite couple. This book is really an amazing read if you love sorcery and swords, a good magical system, a young, naive but strong and powerful girl who has been fighting since childhood, and some dark fantasy peppered between the pages!

This feels like a horribly written fanfiction. The nobles say things like "c'mon" and "gonna", all powerful characters are rendered helpless, there's a lot of useless information and the dialogues are awful. If I could rate zero, I would

This book picks up the story right where The Curse and the Prince ends. In addition, at the beginning it has a summary of book 1 and 2, which I think is excellent because it happens to me a lot that when I do not read a series in succession, I do not remember anything when I start the next book 🤣.

The first thing I must say about this book is how impressed I was with the expansion of the story. Each saga, a trilogy for example, as a general rule starts with a little circle of the story, which is then expanded in the second book, and expanded a little more in the third, to give a full vision of the story. But this book begins with a small circle, it expands a little in the second, and in the third it explooooooodes. There was sooooo much we didn't know. Suddenly everything has an explanation, things I took for granted in previous books.

I really liked the description of Grota, especially since the place and the creatures made me think about Umadhún and the Sheks from the book Idhun's Memories. Truly more to the Szish.

The problem is that the new information was SO MUCH that it got to a point when I didn't know what to do with it. Unbelievably at no point did it get boring, but it was impossible to think that everything could be solved in this book. In fact when I was nearing the end I was very scared that things would not really be resolved.

Was everything resolved? Yes, at least everything important. The truth is that Day did it, but I would have liked one more book. I feel like so many things were added to the story that I would have liked more time to close each topic. In addition, there were some details that I would have liked more explanation.

Now, what I can't believe is that my favorite character ended up being Riadne. The growth of all the characters is quite good, but Riadne's is really spectacular.

While I love Griffin and Zora, and their relationship is excessively cute, in this book I was completely fascinated with the relationship between Riadne and Larzen, which is still cute but also excessively funny. And it made me want to hit Riadne more than once.

Probably the most important thing in history is hope. But great relevance is also given to relationships, and even abuse.
And Seth was an asshole, but that's a conversation for another day 😂.

This is why I don't give it 5 stars. Because it's not perfect, but I would still extremely recommend it as it's a nice, fast-paced, easy to read story. And the characters are wonderful. Besides, Day always does this amazing thing of teleporting you to these realms where you would love to be. (Well, I don't know if I would like to be in Grota, but you know what I mean 😅).

i've really been enjoying the Kingdom of Curses and Shadows series, it was a wonderfully done story with great plot elements and great characters. It was a great entry in this series.

The Dawn and the Prince is a satisfactory conclusion to a great series.

This novel picked up right from where the previous one ended. The dangerous adventure to save the Gravel Kingdom and Griffin begins.

Day Leitao does a great job at capturing the readers attention. The dual POV moves the story along wonderfully and readers are sucked in with the continuous battles from all corners of the kingdom.

The main highlights for me in this book were the world building and character developments. The world building was truly immersive and I loved reading of the different settings of Gravel; each one could be clearly visualised. The characters growing trust for one another was endearing to read. It was great seeing them all become allies despite their differences in the past.

Thanks @dayleitao_ya and @netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review. This was a fabulous series and one I urge all fans of YA fantasy to read.

This is book 3 in the Kingdom of curses and shadows. But there are summaries in case you need a refresher.
As it is book 3 we have alot of the world buidling already in place so I was able to just jump right in. The plot progresses really well. We have alot of adventure and romance is sweet. I loved how our story arcs resolved so that was interesting. I found the pacing of this book to be good. It was fast paced and really interesting. Overall I was happy with how this trilogy was wrapped. Really enjoyed it!

So I probably should have read the first two books... I found it very hard to follow this book. The writing was good, I was just confused.

A lot is going on in this book.
There are multiple view points.
It picks up right after the curse and the prince
Griffin must find his way back. Zora needs to figure out how to get the kingdom back and she meets unlikely allies.
I didnt like this one as much as the other two.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars
This is the final chapter of Zora's story. I was looking to see how this story will end after the cliffhanger of the second book. I liked it in general with all the fights, the adventures and the villains that made their appearances in this book. The thing is that it was really lacking and rushed to get to some ending . At first, the characters were interesting and then they became kind of immature teenagers who blush at everything. A lot of dialogues and some parts of the story could have been omitted. I loved Zora's strong and independent personality in the two first books but here I felt like the author was forcing her naivety and purity on us, let's be honest, I rolled my eyes so much during this reading that it started to hurt. It was becoming less Young adult and more teenagers if not middle graders kind of reading.

It wasn't my favorite book of the trilogy nevertheless it was entertaining and easy to read. I loved Larzen and Riadne that made the story more interesting to follow. I still have some questions about a number of things. Anyway, I like Day Leitao books and I wish to read more from her.