A Dance with the Fae Prince

As someone who enjoyed A DEAL WITH THE ELF KING, I went into A DANCE WITH THE FAE PRINCE with moderately high expectations. I was looking forward to learning more about this fantastical new world, and Elise Kova did not disappoint!For anyone reading this who has not read ELF KING, no worries--you absolutely do not have to read it! FAE PRINCE, while being in the same world, is not dependent on the events of the first Married to Magic novel at all.Alright, now onto my review. In FAE PRINCE, we meet Katria, a girl who is certainly in a "Cinderella" situation. Complete with the evil stepmother, poor living situation, and unhelpful half-sisters, the beginning of Katria's story is definitely recognizable. However, FAE PRINCE quickly distinguishes itself when Katria's stepmother arranges to marry her off so they can profit off of the union. Katria moves with her new husband into strange circumstances. She is not allowed into certain parts of their home, and she cannot see her new husband's face. Shortly thereafter Katria stumbles into a plot plunging her into the fae wilds of Midscape. Where the story goes from there I will not spoil, but suffice it to say that there is plenty magic and romance and strong heroines, all of which Elise Kova is brilliant at writing!My favorite part of the novel was definitely Katria. Like Luella in ELF KING, Katria goes through a wonderful coming-of-age arc that left me a huge fan of her. I loved how reading about Katria traveling the fae wilds gave the reader a clear lens into this new world. As, always, Kova's worldbuilding did not disappoint.All in all, I gave this book an easy 5 stars!5/5 stars

So usually I'm a harsh judge of novels. Five stars to me means I would read it again and again while four stars means I would read it through once but read several parts over and over. Three means I would read til the end but never again... And I never do one or two stars because that means those books disgusted me too much to even finish.Honestly, I don't know if I will read this book again and again yet. I just finished it like RIGHT now. This is the second book in the series and I will be starting on the third right away. I very much enjoyed the first book in the series and I enjoyed this one very much as well. So let me tell you my thoughts.The book is from the viewpoint of an abused young woman (I think 19ish...) who is sold in marriage to a stranger by her stepmother. She doesn't find out that her husband is a Fae prince until the night he is claiming the magic of the Fae Kings and she ends up accidentally intercepting the magic (as the description of the book says). This begins her quest to have the magic stripped from her and transferred to her husband. That quest takes her into the Fae world where humans cannot live without magic. Fae magic would eventually kill a human.I really enjoyed the world this author created and which she first alluded to in the first book of the series "A Deal with the Elf King." The Elf World was different than the Fae World and the next one will talk of the Vampire World... The three worlds existing side by side in a magical realm but not really comingling. I'm hoping the author mingles these worlds and continues the story past three books, but she hasn't introduced any huge problems that the three worlds would need to work together to solve. Honestly, if she tied the stories together more strongly, she could create an amazing tale... But unfortunately, she made these three standalone books so far.As for ratings, the steam level is a 3 out of 5. I would call this book a YA, but she did get a bit more graphic in this book than the previous book, but the previous one had more bedroom scenes... So I would also rate the steam for that one a 3 out of 5. The story follows a natural flow of character development and the characters are interesting and people you would want to visit again. The romance development is a touch forced because "the heroine doth protest too much", but that seems to be the way of most YAs today. Heroines always seem to be ridiculously stubborn... Still, it's a romance and I would have been disappointed if they hadn't gotten together so I can't really mark her down for that either.All in all, the world building and storyline were fantastic, as were the characters. That's why I gave it a five. And now I'm off to download her book three.

I like the first book in this series better. It stayed more true to Elf lore, whereas this did not stay true to Fae lore. This 2nd book in the series was pretty good but with some notable exceptions that kept me from truly enjoying it or embracing it and keep me from losing myself totally in the story.No spoilers:1 - In the 1st half of the book the writing sometimes jarred me out of the story. I don’t know if I can quite put it into words but the dialogue and interactions and development of the MCs relationship is a little off, not totally natural or flowing. This was a minor issue compared2 - I am trying not to reveal any spoilers so I have to be vague. The major plot twist you can see coming from the first 1/4 of the book. Although the way she reveals it officially is okay per se, it is not at all what I feel like was the best choice and was quite anticlimactic, and A LOT more could/should have been done with the h’s involvement in that. It was very weak and I kept anticipating a big, powerful reveal especially during the climax of the story and just ended up with blah.3 - The Fae characters never struck me as Fae at all. She didn’t stay true to Fae lore—like excessively tricky, capricious, slippery and devious. There was only a few weak allusions to those characteristics and they didn’t really work. (For example a young Fae boy is chastised by his parents for trying to trick the h.)In fact the author kept using the term “man” or other similar terms when referring to Fae characters which although seemingly minor was really jarring. Fae are not human and depart from them in character and culture in important ways. If you’re not going to stick to those characteristics then perhaps make up a new race and embue whatever traits you wish on them.The Fae hero prince has absolutely ZERO Fae characteristics. He is trustworthy, steady, upfront, and devoted, etc. and has not a capricious bone in his body. I actually liked his character in and of itself, but could not square it with being Fae let alone their Prince.In summary a breakdown of the numbers:Originality for this genre: 3.5. This is a tough one to score because it was original in that it didn’t follow Fae lore, but I’m not sure that was a positive thing. But the story itself is original.Pace: 3. The middle seemed to drag especially cause this plot twist hints were being dropped but no development was happening on that front.Character development: 3 (see also above comment). I felt like a lot more could’ve been done with the h and her role in the story and climax.Relationship development: 4HFN or HEA? Yes.Steam level: 3.53 (very passionate making and/or under clothing action; and/or behind close doors sexual acts)4 (minimally or moderately described on screen sexual acts)- I gave it an in between rating because although the sex takes place on screen it is veiled in very symbolic or vague language so it’s not explicit and it’s not detailed. It’s actually very creative and well done striking a beautiful balance.Cursing: noneMin. age recommended: 17General Questions:1. Are the character's developed in a way that makes me care about them? Yes.2. Did the dialogue flow or was it choppy/unnatural? -- Some choppy, unnatural or stilted dialogue between MCs that was somewhat distracting. This is not a major issue, but kinda bugged me for a bit.3. Was the writing level above average, average, awkward/stilted, or amateur?- Most of the book was above average, except where noted above.4. Were the events believable? Were you able to suspend disbelief?- the events were predictable, but believable for a fantasy. All except the characterizations of the Fae.5. Did any of the characters do anything that made you cringe in a "real people are not this dumb" way? - Not really. I have previously said what annoyed me about the role the h played.6. Is there anything you wish would have been different (without spoiling the story)? - YES as i mentioned several times already I wanted the h to discover herself more during the story and play a more powerful role in the story and and particularly the climax.- the climax and ending weren’t as exciting as they could have been because of the issues discussed previously.7. Anything notable? In general I think this author's works are very creative and I do enjoy them. Just had some issues with this one.8. What do you mean by your star rating? - 3.5 stars.- 4 stars for me means I enjoyed it; but it wasn’t a home run and/or some depth or aspect was missing or not quite right.- 3 stars for me means it was okay, or there were some minor/moderate disruption of enjoyment.

I loved the first book in this series and pre ordered this one.It's a very loose cinderella rewrite and the first couple of chapters were perfect.It didn't disappointed with the world and most of the characters...apart from the main character.The twist is basically shoved in her face so often from very early on and she almost has conversations that would reveal the truth but something interrupts. The excuse of the ancient magic is used over and over as if its supposed to explain away everything..I honestly had to stop myself from just skipping to the end I got that frustrated with her not realising who she was.The betrayal by someone very obvious was also a big let down. I was actually hoping the bigger twist would be Vera in the end but it was the predictable character unfortunately.It was a lovely read in many ways but I felt myself rushing because I was waiting for her to realize and getting very annoyed she didn't. I understand that she never felt worthy or special but the almosts and hints were so often j just ended up feeling like she was a bit stupid and it did ruin her character for me. It made me feel like she wouldn't be a very good Queen and I was actually hoping it wouldn't end with her in power. I didn't expect to feel that way but here we are. The first book was much better with its pace and didn't reveal too much too quickly so that was disappointing for me in this one. The main character's love interest was great as were the surrounding characters.I hope the next book in the series is as good as the first but I'll still read it after this one as the author has a really good writing style and has created a nice world to escape to.

I admittedly only got 44% of the way through before I threw in the towel. I enjoyed the beginning and it is largely well written ( I do find a mix of quasi old-fashioned and modern American irritating though, the “Oh yes, my dear. I’d be delighted, just figure out when you want to depart” that kind of thing). What REALLY turned me off was the main male character. I read romance fantasy to escape reality and that means book boyfriends who don’t stomp about expecting women to do everything for them while having constant moans and grumps. I have a husband for that.Lord Whatever your name is- you want your magic back? Proactively go and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT instead of snarling at people who actually do try and help you. He also gaslights them main female character constantly. If he can smirk, sneer or tease her for any of her perfectly plausible questions he does. I’ve never wanted to hop into a book more, punch a character and tell him to grow the hell up

"I want to shatter together and fall like silvery arcs of shooting stars as we descend from heaven of our making"A Dance with a Fae Prince has all the great troupes, with amazing characters and great world building throughout.- Cinderella feel- Forced Marriage- Slow Burn Romance- Fae PrinceI enjoyed the main character Katria, she has some great development through out and it was great to see her slowly becoming more sure of herself and learning to accept who she is and what she is capable of. I loved her determination to always be useful even when she was really out of her depth.I did enjoy Davian too, but not as much I loved the Elf King. I think maybe the chemistry was a little more on point for me in the Elf King. Where as I hoped for a little more angst between Katria and Davian, but that's just me! They still worked really well together and I love how Davian was so assuring and straight with his feelings."This man makes me want dangerous things"The ending and reveal was a little predictable, I guessed early on in the book what was going to happen. That being said it didn't spoil anything for me, it was a really satisfying ending.An easy and light read, I love how Elise creates these magical worlds that just suck you straight in.I'm loving the book covers to this world 'Married to Magic' they are truly stunning and I can't wait to see what will be on the cover of book three, plus vampires are making a comeback! I'm so excited for that.

I love Elise Kova's writing and world building, and here they're top notch. But in this book, there was a plot point I saw coming a mile off and waiting for it to happen - and it being thwarted through miscommunication (my least favourite trope) - sort of ruined the experience for me.Nonetheless, a well crafted read, and I would still recommend you get it if the blurb appeals to you.

I really enjoy Elise Kova’s style of writing, her descriptions of the fae world were very evocative and I found myself smiling at various points at the use of language. The characters moved the story along but for me the world they were in was the star. I found the middle part of the book dragged a bit as I wondered how long it would take until the penny finally dropped about who the true heir to the throne actually was (it took a long time!). If that was meant to be a shock twist then it really didn’t work for me. However, everything ended as it should and I was sad to finish the book. The free extra scene you can get from Elise’s website is well worth getting and sets the next book up nicely. I just wish we weren’t going to have to wait a year for it.