The Eldritch Heart

A good YA fantasy read. This is the first book I have read by Cox. I don't think he normally writes LGBT characters, he did a good job though and it was very sweet. I love fantasy, so this was an easy book for me to pick. Cox has a good imagination, and it was easy to get immersed in this world.

The story is about a 16 year old princess. She is confined to the castle, because her kingdom is at war. Assassins are around ever corner, because the princess is foretold to end the war. The enemy believes she will destroy them. But all Oona really wants to do, is spend more time with her best friend Kitlyn. Kitlyn is a servant at the castle, but Oona loves her. When Oona is told she must marry for a strategic alliance, she flees the castle. Can Kitlyn find her before the assassins do?

This was a good adventure. The book is on the longer side. I did think it dragged a little in the first half, that was in the castle. You got to see the bond between Kit and Oona, it just is a little slow. Once the scenes outside of the castle happen, the book really picks up and is exciting.

This is definitely a YA book. While there are adult themes, there is not a lot of explicit content, besides some violent deaths. The characters are young and sweet, so there is some kissing and light touching, nothing more.

This didn't quite have the wow factor of a Breaking Legacies, but it was an enjoyable read. I do wish the ending was a tad more exciting. The "bad guy" of the book, relented pretty easily. I was hoping for a bit more conflict there. Besides that, the rest of the ending was a good, happy ending. If Cox writes another book with lesfic characters, I will absolutely read it. This is pretty easy for me to recommend to YA and or fantasy fans.

An ARC was given to me by Netgalley, for a honest review.

I was unable to review this book because of a conflict in my schedule. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused the publisher or the author of the work. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review for you and I look forward to reviewing for you in the future.

I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would. I requested it originally because I heard there was a main player – a Princess, no less – who was an LGBTQ character. Since, even in this day and age, this seems to be an underrepresented segment of society, I thought this work would be well worth promoting, or at least exploring. Turns out, I was right on both counts.

The author has crafted a wonderful adventure story full of intrigue, action, mystery, romance, and fantasy. It is truly a delightful tale, awash with magic and seemingly fueled with heart.

Despite how much I enjoyed the tale, I have to warn that it did start out SO boring! The first third of the book is world-building and stage-setting, but it just drags on and on. It is mostly full of the Princess Oona and her supposed hand-maiden Kitlyn both moaning, albeit mostly internally, about the drawbacks of their respective lots in life. Nearly everyone is especially and unnecessarily cruel to Kitlyn, which just became depressing to continue reading about.

There’s also an awful lot of teenage angst in the form of repeated “Does she love me?” queries, again mostly internal, from both characters, neither of whom can bring themselves to admit their true feelings. For, you see, Oona and Kitlyn, who once were the best of friends, now more Princess and servant, are in love with each other, but both are too afraid to act on it.

Eventually, due to other outside circumstances, things come to a head and the girls independently leave the castle where they’ve basically been imprisoned for years for their own protection. To say they are ill-prepared for the outside world is a bit of an understatement, but they each turn out to be loyal, creative, determined, kick-butt women in their own right. And after many adventures and mishaps, they finally get a shot at their own non-traditional happily ever after.

I liked how it wasn’t the usual trope of the charming prince rescuing the helpless princess. Instead, it was about two young women coming of age and growing into their own voices, while simultaneously trying to navigate an awful of distracting outside influences.

I must admit that I found the “love scenes” more uncomfortable than I had anticipated. In reality, they entailed nothing more than some kissing and light petting. But I don’t believe I’ve ever read anything of the sort that didn’t involve just a man/woman pairing. Consequently, it did take a bit of getting used to. And it definitely reinforced to me that while I don’t have anything against same sex couples, and in fact in real life have several close family and friends in such relationships, it definitely is just not my thing.

The ending is basically a happy one, which I was very glad of; even though the girls will undoubtedly have many challenges ahead in their relationship and due to various issues in their kingdom, they are poised to have a wonderful future together. Yet it did all seem to wrap up a bit too quickly. I would have enjoyed some more explanation as to what comes next, as much with the kingdom as with the main characters. It was definitely a shame how some very intriguing secondary characters were rather abruptly disposed of in the tale; I would have liked to know more about several of them.

Definitely a good read that I highly recommend though, especially if you are looking for sympathetic and realistic LGBTQ characters, and the type of kick-butt female lead who can be her own heroine.