I will say, the little thingy thing between Paedyn and Kai's brother Kitt was giving enemies to lovers more than the actual marketed enemies to lovers. A lot of enemies to lovers nowadays is just insta-love where they're immediately attracted to each other but oh no they're enemies. Knife to throat. Witty banter. Whatever that means. That was Paedyn and Kai. Kitt and Paedyn's drama had the real sauce. Every time she saw him she was reminded of the man who killed her father, and slowly had to begin to see him as a real person and appreciate him for who he was. Enemies to lovers where they have to do work, challenge notions about themselves to be together, that's what's good. The slowburn. Idfk what endgame is, but I wish we got more of whatever was going on between Kitt and Paedyn rather than chapter after chapter of Paedyn and Kai. also finally a strong mc who isn't annoying half the time and making stupid decisions just for the plot. yay !!) But the best part of this book was definitelyyy the ROMANCE 🤭🤭🤭 I love a tension-filled romance in fantasies and when i tell this one had tension, it had TENSIONNN 😩😩🦋🦋 The chemistry was insanee and i was eating up their scenes like a starved man 🤌🤌 Kai was literally so obsessed with her and we love to see it. It also had all the good tropes- knife to the throat? Tending to their wounds? Who did this to you? Training scenes? Literally all in here ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 Kai and Paedyn are such a good couple 🥺🥺

Lauren Roberts | Official Publisher Page Reckless | Book by Lauren Roberts | Official Publisher Page

This was a good decent book. it was just that I’ve seen it all before? I mean it’s really a strong debut with a solid storyline and interesting characters and world building. However, it’s the kind of fantasy book where you could guess every single thing that’s going to happen in a typical YA fantasy book. It didn’t add anything if you get what I mean. This book was veryyy unoriginal 😬 I've heard it was inspired by Red Queen and the Hunger Games and this felt a little TOO similar to those. It's not anything particularly new ngl 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ No one knows this better than Paedyn Gray, an Ordinary posing as a Psychic to blend in with the Elites. When she unsuspectingly saves one of Ilya’s princes, Kai Azer, she’s thrown into the Purging Trials, a brutal competition showcasing the Elites’ powers. The Elites have possessed powers for decades, gifted to them by the Plague, while those born Ordinary are just that, banished from the kingdom of Ilya and shunned from society. No one knows this better than Paedyn Gray, an Ordinary posing as a Psychic to blend in with the Elites. When she unsuspectingly saves one of Ilya's princes, Kai Azer, she's thrown into the Purging Trials, a brutal competition showcasing the Elites' powers. I was slightly worried that my expectations for this book were too high, especially considering the letdown that was last year's most viral (and controversial) BookTok book that couldn't follow through on its promises.i was hooked from the beginning to the end. the plot was so entertaining and even though i haven’t seen hunger games, i need to watch it after seeing many people compare this book to the movie ( series? idk really) Remind me to to make you smile like that again, when you aren't dying, and I have all the time in the world to memorise it.” ~ THIS MANN there was so. much. tension. if men said the things in real life that kai says to paedyn, we would have no need for romance books. however, there was so much tension and banter to the point of becoming repetitive and literally putting me into a reading slump. (kind of a me problem, too, but i’m going to put a little blame on the book.) Only thing that was missing for me personally that would have brought this to a 5⭐️ would have been found family, true friendships being built. Both the plot and writing were also pretty good!! 🫶🫶 I really enjoyed the writing style and how easy it was to read, it made the book FLY by. There were also some seriously gorgeous lines that had my jaw on the floor. it was really good writing for a debut!! 😍😍 The plot was very entertaining and fast-paced. There was minimal worldbuilding and it was very easy to understand, so this is a great book if you want to get into fantasy! 💜💜

Powerless by Lauren Roberts - 9781398529489 - Dymocks Powerless by Lauren Roberts - 9781398529489 - Dymocks

If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for will if he discovers what Paedyn is . . . completely Ordinary. This was a really enjoyable fantasy romance!! 🤩🤩 super fast-paced and easy to read, major Hunger Games vibes and the romance had SO MUCH chemistry 💜💜🫶🫶 Also... I will say that I'm a fan of the Young Elites and that worldbuilding is similar but has better tangible impacts on the world. A lot of the time in YA fantasy worldbuilding will only be a precursor to plot without actually shaping the world). (ALSO. The fact that the desert was right next to the city and forests and shit was so funny to me like that's not how topology works at all). (ALLSOOOO this is so tiny I'm sorry but the fact that they have bananas in this setting just makes me believe that there was some equivalent of the Banana Wars in this fantasy world. and i'M sajifodjsof). I’d love to talk about Paedyn, but she has no flaws. She’s perfect. No weakness whatsoever. Her only weakness is the people she loves, meaning she herself holds no imperfection. In other words, Paedyn might as well be a deity because Roberts does not bother to portray her as human.

note: there are very minor punctuation/editing errors sprinkled here and there such as random quotation marks, missing em dashes in certain dialogues, extra periods, inconsistent ellipses formatting, and literally the name of the kingdom not being capitalized one time (as well as some contestants' last names). too many "!?" uses (okay that one is a me thing lol. why are we yelling so much??😺)