Castle of Dusk and Shadows: A Fae Pride and Prejudice Retelling (Fae of Brytwilde)

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Ok…rant over…oh wait…just a final general rant, can we just stop naming all fantasy novels like they are a 5 paragraph essay? You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. While her mother and sisters reconciled themselves to a future among dangerous immortals, Elle and her father studied forbidden magic, hoping to find a loophole.

Desperate to bring him back to life, she stumbles upon a plot involving the murder of a Fae Princess and the mystery of how her 'family heirloom' locket from her own father plays a part in grand scheme of things. Ok, here’s the deal…I generally liked the book, so maybe more than 3 stars, and I know it’s YA, so I also understand the general angstiness of the female protagonist, but OMG!

Slown burn full of tension and angst had me turning the pages quickly to find out what would happen next, not only with the mystery, but for their relationship too.

Sure, if she was 18 in today’s world then maybe I would believe that she was having such a struggle with her self and the death of her father, but she’s not. To be clear, the writing wasn't perfect, the characterization wasn't novel or in-depth, but nevertheless, the book held my attention and was so engrossing that I devoured it in a couple days.Chaos soon ensues, and Elle struggles to find her own gifted magic while uncovering the secrets of the ghosts surrounding the castle, including her recently-deceased Father. There is a lot of Elle’s internal angst that isn’t very poignant and so comes across repetitive and dull.

The pacing in this book is great with a good balance between action and character-driven scenes as well, which is hard to pull off, honestly. So obviously I picked this up because it was a clean romance, and I don't need too many personal (albeit fictional) details in my life.After her father dies suddenly, Elle’s family is forced to make good on their arranged marriage with the Prince and heir to the throne.

As time passes, Elle, much to her own frustration, finds herself unable to fight the growing attraction she has for her brooding and mysterious husband, whom she only wanted to use as a means to an end for her own family's salvation. I also enjoyed her quirkiness about the contrast of the Victorian-styled human realm and the "impropriety" of the Fae realm. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Since there are approximately 9 zillion fae-themed fantasies nowadays, even a couple new twists on familiar mythology and tropes is nice. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book and the set up, the middle lagged for me in bits, and the end felt wrapped up pretty quickly for a short book.It is one of those stories where I put it down, and couldn’t stop thinking about it so I had to pick it up again. I am more of the slow-burn type girl so when Fitz was the first to declare his feelings for Elle it had thrown me for a bit. The characters that Rachel wrote and brought to life are so lovable and you can't help but fall in love with them.