I think Tessa's strategy is to take many of the familiar we are used to in the original story and flip it out. Now this book is marketed as ACOTAR meets Bridgerton…the Bridgerton part – I totally get as it features a social season in which all young women are trying to find a husband. One day the beautiful thoughts you penned down may disappear–aka you may have accidentally deleted it without knowing. My frustration when Ember was backed into a corner only enhanced my feelings and attachments towards the story and characters.

But when feelings emerge on both sides, she starts to wonder if there's more to their contrived courtship than either of them planned. It needs to be said that I liked this one much more than the previous book and that's saying something cuz the latter was a beauty and the beast retelling. It also follows Franco, a fae prince who is misunderstood and rarely lets people see/know his true self to the point that he lets people spread a reputation about him that is mostly a series of unfortunate misunderstandings. Her writing is that kind that pulls you in with the first line you read and lets you out only after you are broken, satisfied and a mess! Along the way, she has to pretend to be a princess and become the Prince Franco's new love interest.It was a delight to see them grow as characters and make it through the turmoil in the story and eventually get to their version of happily ever after that we look forward to in a fairy tale retelling. He was sweet, funny and caring, while also being really sensitive and vulnerable in a way not many male MCs are portrayed. But if you would like to read all books set in Faerwyvae, be sure to check out The Fair Isle Trilogy and Curse of the Wolf King. Being bound by her bargain and forced to act as a maid and do everything her step family wants, her life is anything but easy and all she wants is to escape. Their relationship was slow burn, going from hate to friendship and then to love, offering us delicious banter, touching confessions, sweet scenes and a little bit of steam.

None of that nonsense about a prince not recognizing a woman he supposedly fell in love with one beautiful night.

This cute little fantasy had me kicking my feet, blushing, giggling to myself, and consuming all five hundred pages in 12 hours. The plot was so much fun, the scheming was hilarious, the romance was *chefs kiss* and the characters were by far my favourite heroine and hero to be introduced in the entire two series that make up this world. The plot knots that Tessonja wrote her protagonists into were genuinely airtight in terms of difficulty and I was definitely satisfied with how she undid them with time. nbspHeart of the Raven Prince is a complete stand-alone novel set in the same world as The Fair Isle Trilogy. And Franco reminded me a little too much of Rhys (ACoTaR) but every dark-haired, tattooed, fae-male, with black wings reminds me of Rhys.

There were so many elements to this story that it nearly should have felt cramped or overwhelming, but it just worked. I liked 3/4 of this book very much, the main character did something I didn’t like and then a side character did something stupid. I also enjoyed that although this is stand alone the story and romance felt well rounded and complete at the end. I think they brought the best in each other and they both had much more to gain than a mate; Franco found love but also the strength to stop hiding his real self, to live up to his worth and to become someone great, while Ember finally managed to accept and actually love her power and discover a place where she belonged. Every character had a role to play, each plot point weaves its way subtly into the over-arching story, the book leaves everything with a perfect pay-off.I absolutely adore her and even through this book is only 490 pages long, we really got know her as a person and I loved that! Circumstances strengthen the string of fate and Ember finds herself in yet again another bargain where she has to pretend to be the royal princess and court Franco.

But when feelings emerge on both sides, she starts to wonder if there\'s more to their contrived courtship than either of them planned. She's waiting the last days to go by and she could finally be free, but something doesn't go as planned. Be it kindness shown unexpectedly, standing up for oneself and one’s future against someone you love, be it assuaging one’s own guilt and trying to do the right thing and fighting fear and doubt and hoping that love triumphs in the end and never giving up without trying at least once and allowing oneself to be vulnerable to failure. Of course, Franco and Ember crossing their paths for the first time doesn't go quite well, igniting a spark of hate in Ember's heart for the Prince. He is way more than just a Prince and the way we get into depth with his character, his backstory and his issues made me love him even more.She brought vulnerability where I expected power play, she brought honestly where I expected a game of lies and where I thought I’d see exactly Cinderella on paper in a Fae fantasy retelling, she brought a wonderful story touched by elements of Cinderella. With the social season in full swing, and bringing with it a horde of husband-hungry socialites, he'll do anything to delay the pressures of both marriage and the crown.