i dont like the cheating trope .... and though she is in a different body she does have a husband and kids .... nonetheless i love the fated mates trope so that slayed

3.25 stars, 2.5 spice. Trigger warning for SA

My feelings about the first 25% of the book are so different from the rest that its a little jarring. I can totally see why some other reviews DNF'd at the beginning.

The whole 60 year old woman dying of cancer portion of this book felt very forced. She never really mourned her life (she mentions it a couple times, but if you lost everyone you knew and loved wouldn't you be more upset?) The way she interacts with everyone didn't really bother me (alot of other people seem to think she was really off-putting? But again if I were in her situation I don't think I would be exceeding nice either. My issue is that she never really acts like a 60 year old women. She comes across more like mid 20s. This set up really just feels like a stretch, it was an out of pocket way to try to get this women reborn in this Fae world, and I think it was unsuccessful.

Now, I also really didn't like the 'spice' at the beginning. I get that newly mated Fae are like bunnies (The Fae Chronicles from Amelia Hutchins is a good example of this, as well as probably a good comparision for another set of books with Fae, Faery, seelie and unseelie courts) but it could have been argued that it was not consensual, and that rubbed me the wrong way. It also seemed to be without any foreplay, which again I understand in Fae worlds during mating everyone is just ready, but that makes the transition into the spice scene jarring, and uncomfortable.

Okay, Once she actually starts settling into her new world I started really did like the latter part of this book. She is definitely a strong FMC, she is very stubborn, she wants to make her own impact and is really pushing against gender norms.
I loved seeing her relationships with the dragons, cats, the archivist and the castles. And that ending was really surprising! The way the book turned around in the end I do actually plan to continue the series, which is shocking because I considered DNFing it in the beginning.

I really enjoyed this book and I really want to read more books from this author in the future. I really loved the book cover as well.

ARC from NetGalley

This is one of the rare 2-stars that I actually finished. It could have been 2.5 if the ending wasn't so crap.

There were a lot of good ideas here, but good ideas do not a good book make. Catriona is supposedly in her 60s when she is captured, but she acts like a child all throughout. She is also ridiculously hot and cold, one minute lusting after Thelan and then next minute stomping her foot and having some kind of bitter inner monologue about how she has been stolen, raped, none of this was her choice, yada yada. It's really jerky and just not well done or believable.

I need to pay special attention to Chapter 5, the chapter wherein Catriona gets a butt plug. Now, it's a ceremonial butt plug, mind you, but still a butt plug. We're reading along, not quite enjoying it because the writing isn't very good, but then we read "Gwenda took delicate hold of the back pendant and pushed it against Catriona's anus." So Catriona is like no, no butt plug! oh well, okay butt plug. She then muses to herself about how uncomfortable it is when she stands, but, BUTT, she then sits down for dinner and there is no musing at that point. You just sat on a solid silver butt plug which was not comfortable to walk around with, but sitting directly on your asshole is cool? Pay attention, right now, if you happen to be sitting, to the situation of your own asshole. It's right there yeah? situated underneath you? If it was full of cold silver perhaps that would be uncomfortable yes? "When she took her seat, her knees gratefully buckled and warned her that they weren't quite up to bearing her weight again any time soon." So her knees buckled when she sat, which leads me to assume that it wasn't the most pillow-soft ass landing, yet she makes not a mental peep about it. Right.

Anyhoodle! This book is highly sexualized, which I am normally down for, but it's really done badly. There are several sex scenes, and they all blow. If you're here for the sexy bits, look elsewhere.

What happens in this book? Not a whole lot:

Do not recommend.

Received a copy for review.

I tried so hard with this book but the heroine was terrible. I cannot handle brattiness for the sake of brattiness. I also cannot abide consistent TSTL behavior.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I had not read much books on the Fae in awhile so decided to give this a shot. This is book one in series by an new author for me. I have to say that I honestly loved this. I could not put it down. The only thing that I wasn’t in love with was the ending. It was so abrupt I had to go back to make sure I did not miss anything. I loved the characters and the world that the author created and will have to look into more from her.

Pros: I love mate tropes in any shape or form they come in. Also this book is available on kindle unlimited (which was the location that I finished the story on)
Cons: I realized through reading this book that I just do not enjoy reading stories about terminally ill characters. in fact, I think I will be checking tw's in books here on out to avoid these in the story lines. even if some miracle occurs and the character ends up pulling through.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC!

First of all, this book should have come with a trigger warning for rape.

I contemplated DNF this book in several occasions, something which I never consider lightly.

This book promised a strong female lead and a romamtic, passionate story line. Instead the book delivered a simpering, weak-willed protagonist who was practically impossible to like and there was no romance or passion. Just crude sex scenes that felt like teenage fanfiction writing.

I wanted to like her and sympathise with her situation, but I found it nearly impossible. I tried to be understanding that she had been pulled into a very difficult situation against her will, but she made almost no attempt to acclimate to her new surroundings. Her behaviour was incredibly off-putting.

I'm usually a sucker for the mate trope, but it just didn't work here. The characters just didn't mesh well together, and despite pretending that there was choice involved, there wasn't.

The writing was confusing and the plot dragged on far too much. There was barely any character development and the story was full of contradictions, and spelling and grammatical errors.

Overall, I was intrigued by the premise of this poor but was left sorely disappointed.

3 stars

I want to thank the publishers and NetGalley for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is very fast paced. Catriona, the main character, has been diagnosed with cancer. Distraught from the diagnosis. She awakes in a new body and world. This world is filled with Dragons, Elves, and so many more mythical creatures.

The new world and its rules are very different from her own. Thelen, captain of guards, goes to the human world in search of his mate. I loved the whole mate trope in this book. I fell in love with the world in this book but struggled to connect with Catriona. She comes off as rude and dramatic to me. I hardly understood why she continued to do whatever she wanted and every time ended up almost hurt or killed. Thelen struggled with her in the book.

It took her a while to accept that Thelen can protect her from his world. She continued telling him that she was independent and could care for herself.

All in all I struggled to finish this book and I hate that. The book is well written and the world is easy to fall in love with. The main character however almost had me DNF this book, and I hate to DNF books. Had her character had a bit more understand and less dramatics, I would have loved this book so much! Definitely read it for the world and other characters!

I read about 60% of this book before I could not finish. Catriona is far too immature, selfish, and rude to be liked. While I wish this book had trigger warnings for rape, that wasn’t the most disturbing. The plot is muddy and confusing, the fae rules are more confusing, and the tolerance of Thelan for Catriona’s outrageous behavior is mind blowing.

It threw me off a bit that the fmc was an old lady in the begin but after a while it was fine. The writing is special and sometimes makes it hard to read but the story was nice and fun to read

This is a very easy romance read. If you like dragons, elfs, magic amd fae this might be the book for you. The heroine can be a little annoying at some points. She is kind of a brat and always whinning. Nevertheless the plot and romance is enough to keep you intrigued.