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Genre: ✨ Fantasy Fairy Tale Retelling | Age: Young (16+) | Buy: Amazon | ⭐ See star rating

RELEASE DATE: June 19, 2024

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Raiza has been a captive of the dragon Taromin for several years, and now she is planning her escape using shed dragonwings. Thadeus has come to rescue her, and now they must decide if they will escape by air or through the labyrinth.

Initial Thoughts

The multi-author series called “Hope Ever After” has been releasing over the course of this year and this is the first one I tried out. I thought it was extremely unique! I am not familiar with the Greek myths that are worked into the story, and I am very curious what those stories are so I can see how they fit.

The story started out a little slow (with a fast love story) and parts of it could be confusing, like the gemstone magic. But there were moments that drew me in and I ended up really enjoying it.

The Setting

This book takes us to a fantasy world full of dragons, castles, and woodlands. Much of the first part of the book takes place in the castle of a dragon and the courtyard surrounding it. We also spend some time in the labyrinth that blocks the entrance to the courtyard and the woods outside of that.

The Characters

Raiza, the heroine, is young but seems mature. She has spent most of her teenage years in isolation with her dragon captor tending to her courtyard gardens. There is an interesting circumstance surrounding her captivity that is not mentioned in the blurb so I think it could be a spoiler to share. Raiza has some weak moments and some brave moments and she felt kind of mythical in some ways, but I enjoyed her character.

Thadeus, the hero, is a gentle and steady man. He doesn’t get heated about anything but he is very bent on protecting the innocent. His gemstone power allows him to make beautiful music and see inside people’s thoughts in some way. I felt that he fell in love with Raiza a little too quickly, but they had experiences later in the book that made it feel more realistic.

The Story

We get to know Raiza and her situation with Taromin a little bit before Thadeus shows up to rescue her (even though she was about to rescue herself). Unfortunately, Raiza has done something to lose her healing gemstone powers when Thadeus arrives and they must wait longer than Raiza would like so Thadeus can heal from his many wounds.

Once they both manage to escape the castle, they end up helping each other escape a spooky labyrinth maze. This was where the story really picked up for me. I started to believe the love story and the magic became more interesting.

Later on, Raiza and Thadeus return to their “usual setting” as royalty and some twists happen that I really enjoyed. It turns out there is a bit of an unreliable narrator and I enjoyed that; the questioning of if there was anything else I couldn’t trust this person about is interesting to me.

There are a couple sweet kisses and no descriptions of anything unseemly, so I would consider this a very clean romance with a fairytale-style love story.

Happy reading!

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🤖 Always written and edited without the use of AI.