Thiis was pretty good overall. It did feel a bit draggy and preachy in parts. It did suffer from show not tell at times. There also could have been a little more character development.

I won't be able to leave a review for this book; I requested it in a past lifetime of my NetGalley use (over ten years ago) and it no longer fits with my reading interests. If I ever do end up reading it I'll come back and update this!

I loved this fantasy, and the main character’s arc. The worldbuilding was really interesting and developed — lots of sensory detail. That said, some parts of the character’s arc involving her weight — and her attractiveness in comparison to it — made me uncomfortable.

Would be interested to read more set in this world.

I wanted to have some fantasy in my book life, so I picked up this baby here. I'm glad I did because I had heard so much about it, and I wanted to know what all of the hubbub was about.
First off, I loved the idea behind the story. Not the Godstone part, but the idea that a princess is going off to marry a handsome king and become something much more than just a royal with a crown. However, I feel like the storyline could have been done better. I was all for Elisa being a bigger girl, heck I'm a bigger girl, and I like having a normal non-size zero in my stories, but Carson overdid it. Elisa was constantly thinking about food. She compared everything to pastries and just wouldn't stop talking about sweets and meat and more! Larger people don't think about things in terms of food.

Another thing that bothered me was how Elisa kept going on and on about her largeness. Like I wrote earlier, I'm a bigger girl. I understand Elisa's self-consciousness, BUT she wouldn't stop complaining about it.

The side characters of the story were enjoyable, but I didn't feel myself loving them. Rosario was probably the cutest one, and even then he kind of angered me at points. Humberto and Hector were my favorite characters, Hector more so, they were much more realistic than the other ones, or perhaps Carson just gave them better depth.

My biggest pet peeve with the story was the religious ideal. I had no idea that this story would be centered so much around religion. I'm not a big fan of reading about it in general, and this story is full of it. If I had known that, I probably wouldn't have requested it for review. I couldn't understand how Carson created this unique fantasy land, but she couldn't create a god/goddess who wasn't already provided from real life.

All in all, I'm a little disappointed with this read. It wasn't bad, but I don't really recommend it to anyone who wants an action-packed fantasy read.

3/5 stars

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. This in no way altered my opinion/review.

Elisa is the princess and 16 years old, and soon married to Alejandro. She is the bearer of the Godstone. She knows that she is destined to do something but clueless on it. She is overweight.

While traveling to her husbands city , the party is attacked. While she understands the loss of the men , she wonders why they were even attacked. She wants to learn more about the Godstone.

She gets kidnapped and walks through the desert, and learns more about the people. She is praying and walking more and wonders what her role is to become. While on this journey she starts fighting for the people , and learns more about herself. Elisa becomes a force to reckon with.

This book was religious but not over the top. Elisa stood firm and became curious about her service to God. I connected and understood her reasoning.It was great to see such a strong female character who was religious.
But I didn't like that it became a forced diet for Elisa while walking through the desert and hardly much food. Elisa didn't really wonder much about her husband. She does make dear friends while being held captive.

Best Line: He who serves must not lose purity of intent